Recipe: Gingered Green Beans

12 servings

- 1 gallon water

- 2 tablespoons salt

- 2 pounds fresh green beans

- ¼ cup canola oil

- 2 tablespoons peeled, grated fresh ginger

- 2 teaspoons sugar

- 1 to 2 teaspoons kosher salt

1. In a large 6-quart pan, bring the water to a boil and add the salt. Meanwhile, trim stem ends from beans, leaving them whole with the tapered "tails" intact. Add trimmed beans to the boiling water and cook 5 minutes. (Start the cooking time as soon as the beans are put into the water.) The beans should remain bright green and be tender with a slight crunch.

2. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process. Drain well, then scatter beans over a paper towel-lined baking sheet to dry. Wrap well in dry paper towels and refrigerate. (The beans may be prepared up to this point a couple of hours in advance and finished just before serving. Remove from refrigerator 1 hour before reheating.)

3. Put oil in a large sauté pan and add the ginger. (If you have a microplane grater, the easiest way is to grate the ginger directly into the pan.) Over high heat, sauté the ginger until it is sizzling, about 1 minute.

4. Add parboiled green beans to the sauté pan and sprinkle on the sugar and salt. Cook until beans are heated through and perfumed with the ginger, about 2 to 3 minutes. Serve at once.

From "Entertaining in the Northwest Style: A Menu Cookbook" by Greg Atkinson