Garlicky Green Beans with Oyster Sauce is another delicious way to prepare the rest of the green beans that we harvested last summer and stashed in the freezer. Frozen green beans aren’t as versatile as fresh. You won’t get that verdant color and crisp-tender texture that fresh green beans offer, but no matter – the frozen green beans in this recipe are meaty, the oyster sauce adds a richness that’s surprising and satisfying, and the heat of the chili crisp is zippy and exciting.
I could eat Garlicky Green Beans with Oyster Sauce along with a bowl of basmati rice every day and be happy. I know I’m lucky. It’s such a luxury to eat out of the garden all year long, even in New England. The freezer really does make such a difference – there are myriad ways to preserve the bounty of the garden, but the freezer is reliable and easy, and in most cases you can just pull veg out of the freezer and add it to whatever dish you’re preparing – no need to thaw it first. The freezer delivers the garden to your kitchen, and dinner is served!
Garlicky Green Beans with Oyster Sauce
Ingredients
- 6 cloves garlic
- olive oil
- 1 pound green beans
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 T tamari
- 1/4 cup oyster sauce (gluten-free)
- 1/4 cup chili crisp
- 1 T sugar
- black pepper
Instructions
- Prep the veg – Peel and roughly chop the garlic. If using fresh green beans, wash them, snap off the ends, and de-string them, if necessary.
- Sauté the garlic and beans – Heat the olive oil and add the garlic. Cook until it begins to a get a bit of color, then add the beans and the chicken broth. Cover, and cook until the beans are very tender, adding water as necessary, to completely cook the beans. Continue cooking until the liquid is reduced by half.
- Add the sauce ingredients – Turn the heat down to low. Add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, chili crisp and sugar to the pan. Toss to coat and season with black pepper. Cooking on low until heated through.
- Finish – Take off the heat and pour into a serving platter or individual bowls.
Our garden beds have expanded over time. We started with just a few tomatoes, and now we have a network of raised beds; we grow most of the veg we eat throughout the year. Sometimes more than we can eat. But we don’t grow melons or canteloupe any longer – they take up too much real estate. I’ve wondered if I would show up at the farmer’s market with a bag full of beans, might someone want to make a trade – a bag of beans for a watermelon? I wouldn’t presume to ask, but I wouldn’t mind establishing a few barter relationships. Otherwise, I should probably start growing more flowers for the table. But we can’t eat dahlias, so here I go again.