Baker-Moutoux Family Recipe - Fancy Pants Green Beans

Family time is not family time without a table full of food at a Moutoux/Baker/Knight house. Many of our Saturday evening meals serve as test time for new recipes. If we all devour it, love it and gotta have more of it, the dish becomes a keeper.
Then comes the hard part...naming it. Usually the task of name-picking is mulled over a sampling of adult beverages. The names that now grace our recipes often have funny stories or poke fun at something related to the night of our first tasting. Such recipes such as Ug's Shrimp and Fancy Pants Green Beans come from a night of full drinks and full bellies.

Fancy Pants Green Beans obtained its moniker from a comment Nathan made after seeing my sister, Mandy's new take on the classic Southern Green Bean. You know, the kind your grandma simmered in butter and ham for hours til mushy and delicious? Well, that is how I grew up eating green beans.
As a girl raised to love Southern comfort food, the thought of crunchy green beans is paramount to taking your tea unsweetened. It's just not right and try as I might, I just can't love a crisp green bean.

As for my less than tactful husband, he too, felt there was no way he would like these beans and said "What kind of green beans are these? The kind fancy b*#&!es eat? (Yes, I do live with a man with a slight case of Sailor's Mouth but hey, it adds a little spice to life!) That was it, the beans were named.
As usual, Mandy made believers out of us for the umpteenth time and we now hold a place in our hearts for this fancy pants take on the classic pot of green beans.

Mandy's Fancy Pants Green Beans

Servings: 4
Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 20-30 min

Ingredients

1 lb fresh green beans
1/2 red pepper sliced
1/2 white onion sliced
8-10 cloves garlic
3 TB EVOO

Directions
1. If they aren't already trimmed, cut or snap off the stems.
2. Fill a large stock pot and fill with water. Bring to a rapid boil and add a dash of salt
3. Add the green beans to the boiling water and cook for 8 minutes or until tender but be careful not to let them get too soft.
4. While the green beans cook, slice the pepper and onion into long thin slices and chop up all the garlic. ( To chop the garlic faster, use a food processor).
5. Heat the oil in a large skillet over med-high heat.
6. Add the peppers and onions to the skillet and cook 5-6 minutes. Next, add the garlic and cook another 5-6 minutes.
7. Dump the green beans into a strainer and then run very cold water over the strainer. (This stops the cooking process so that they keep their bright green color and do not turn to mush).
8. Once the green beans are cooled, dump them into a skillet with the peppers, onions and garlic. Add a splash more oil and stir well.
9. Put a lid on the skillet and let saute over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

*If you want to change the recipe up just replace the red pepper with an orange one and replace the onions with a few shallots. The added sweetness tastes great with the heavy garlic!