Just gorgeous, was what I thought when my eyes fell upon a purple variety of string beans when I was perusing the Belleville farmers market Saturday. Of course I had to pick up a carton. The farmer tells me that the violet hue changes to the same colour as French green beans as soon as you turn the heat under them. It's such a novel thing and I couldn't wait to share and cook them with my kids and watch the magical transformation together.
My kids were more than happy to help sort out the good beans and tear off the stem tips into a bowl.
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| Oh my what a large bean you have there Sébas! |
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| The green interior contrasts vividly against its outer purple. |
A simple steaming and then a light sauté was all I was doing to treat the beans. Steaming helps make them tender and retain its natural flavour, and sautéing will coat them with additional flavour.
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| Ahh... we can see the purple beans gradually taking on the green colour as it steams! |
I was making a chicken roast and when it was done, I poured its chicken juice and oil onto the beans and sautéed for a minute, sprinkling a bit of sea salt. Otherwise, cook one minute in a Tbsp. olive oil, sprinkle 1/2 tsp. of chicken seasoning and finish with sea/kosher salt to taste.
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| Digging In!! |
The beans were a perfect side to go with the roasted chicken, Ceasar salad and pan-fried onion potatoes. Two of my boys were not big bean eaters, but they proved me wrong tonight... was it the fun "magical" colour change that did it.. or was it simply that the beans were so darn tasty with all that chicken goodness?!
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