{Recipe} Roasted Green Beans

I like green beans.  My most favorite kind of store canned green beans are Green Giant Kitchen Sliced.  Alas, I have not seen them in a long time.  I will buy Green Giant cut green beans when I can find them at a decent price (like during the Holiday Season from Thanksgiving to New Year’s many stores have them on sale.  I bought lots at $0.48 a can!)

Home canned green beans like my mother in law used to do are fabulous but I’ve never learned how to can veggies.  (yes, it’s on my never ending list of things learn and do).  But the best green beans are fresh or frozen and steamed or better yet roasted. 

I’ve been on a “roasted vegetable” kick lately and have found that most vegetables, if they must be cooked, are better when roasted, especially with butter and lots of chopped garlic.

At one church potluck I had these wonderful green beans.  They were so different from anything I had ever had before.  Thankfully it was a good friend who brought them so I bugged her about it.  Her husband actually did them.  I didn’t get an exact recipe just the idea of what they did.  I created my own version:  Asian Style Roasted Green Beans.  The “Asian Style” comes from the use of soy sauce and sesame oil.

What you need:

Green Beans (string beans ~ Fresh is best but I tend to use the frozen Organic String Beans from Costco) how much?  As much as you need LOL.  I don’t measure out the beans (or other ingredients) but I tend to use enough to form a   layer in my lasagna (11x15) pan.  I’ve also done fewer beans in a 13x15.
Chopped Garlic I love garlic so we tend to use 3-5 cloves depending on size<
Soy Sauce (or Braggs Liquid Aminos): maybe 2-3 tablespoons.  I just drizzle it over.
Sesame Oil: again I don’t really measure but about 2 tablespoons.  I drizzled it over.

Put it together: layer green beans in bottom of baking dress, sprinkle chopped garlic over the beans and drizzle with oil and soy sauce.  I use a wooden spoon and kind of stir things up a bit so that the beans are more coated.

Roast: at 400 degrees for roughly 30 minutes. I like my beans a little more tender than just tender crisp but I don’t like them completely wilted.  I start checking around 35 minutes.  The beans are done when they are as browned and tender as you like them.

This is my “go to vegetable” now when I make Teriyaki Chicken.  It really goes nicely with the chicken and the rice.  I do want to experiment a bit more with different types of roasted green beans.  I’m thinking something with feta and bacon would be extra yummy!  I might even just try omitting the soy sauce and using dots of butter instead of sesame oil and maybe increase the garlic for some garlic roasted green beans to serve along side a beef roast.

This post is linked up to Try a New Recipe Tuesday over at Home to 4 Kiddos