It’s really strange sometimes, what you remember.
Or at least, it’s strange what I remember.
Several years ago, my husband and I decided to spend a long weekend visiting Washington DC.
My husband picked a nice steakhouse for one dinner (I call him my ‘meat-and-potatoes-guy’ for a reason).
There was live entertainment – someone playing the piano – which I kind of loved because you rarely see that anywhere.
Tables were filled with older men with white hair, in suits – clearly politicking (this was DC).
And I had the most delicious green beans.
I don’t remember anything else about the food, just the green beans.
They were cooked in a richly flavored tomato-herb sauce and absolutely the best green beans ever.
I created my own version at home – oven-roasting the tomatoes with some herbs and garlic really makes all the difference in my sauce.
And I thought I should post the recipe now, since green beans are coming into season and it’s still cool enough to want to turn on the oven.
I don’t often think about foods I ate six years ago (I swear!), but those green beans with that rich tomato-herb sauce were amazing-tasting enough to be memorable.
Here are all the main players for today. This recipe is quick and simple!
Begin by preheating the oven to 400 degrees F.
Mince a few cloves of garlic.
Next up: fresh oregano!
I used to think of oregano as useful only for adding delicious (nearly) calorie-free flavor to my dishes.
But I’ve learned it’s also full of antioxidants and vitamins. Fresh oregano is packed full of anti-aging vitamins (Vitamin K and Vitamin E), and studies have shown oregano to have 4 times more antioxidants than blueberries! Definitely a superfood to consider adding to any dish.
Grab a few sprigs of oregano and pull the leaves from the stems.
Pile up the oregano leaves and chop them up.
Place a fine mesh strainer over a large mixing bowl and strain some chopped tomatoes.
Use a spoon to stir the tomatoes around and force all the liquid through the strainer and into the bowl.
When you’re left with just the chopped tomatoes, spread them out on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Set aside the bowl of tomato juices for later.
Arrange half of the minced garlic over the chopped tomatoes.
Then sprinkle on half the oregano.
Season well with salt and pepper.
And drizzle some extra virgin olive oil over everything.
Then place the tomatoes in the oven to roast.
Next, prepare the green beans.
Green beans are never at the top of the list of the most nutritious foods, but they actually have been shown to have strong anti-aging benefits. Green beans are full of antioxidants that protect your eyesight and your heart and keep your skin and bones healthy.
Grab a small pile of fresh, rinsed green beans, line them up, and chop the ends off both ends of the green beans.
Heat some extra virgin olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat.
Saute the rest of the garlic for a few minutes, until it’s softened.
Now it’s time to add some of the reserved tomato juices you set aside earlier.
Also add the green beans and the rest of the oregano.
Cover and let the beans simmer for a few minutes, until they’re tender but still a bit crisp.
Transfer the beans to a serving platter and top with the roasted tomatoes.
The fresh, crisp sautéed green beans taste so amazing with oven roasted tomato, garlic, and herb sauce.
Try this recipe when you’d like the side dish to be the star of the show – it may be the most memorable part of the meal!
Here is the complete recipe:
This is down my alley … lovely – lovely … great photos too, so rich on colors. So this goes on file too.
That sounds wonderful, fresh and delicious. I’m bookmarking to try later this week!
What a lovely way to spruce up plain old green beans! I love this idea!
Looks great! Can’t wait to try these!
That’s great! Enjoy 🙂
This sounds incredibly good! Unfortunately, I would have to use dried oregano as I’d never find it fresh here.
I’ve used dried oregano for the roasted tomatoes and it works just as well 🙂
Yayy, I love it when I hear a positive shout-out to D.C. (being that’s where I’m from and all)
Glad we gave you such a great food memory 🙂
I lived in DC for one summer and loved it! 🙂
am so going to try this one… 🙂
That’s great – let me know how it works out for you 🙂
Strong anti-aging properties eh? I’m just off to the supermarket to buy myself a basket or two of green beans! They look delicious 🙂
Too funny – thank you!
I think it’s amazing that you remember what you taste and are able to replicate it on your own. Wish I could!
We had green beans last night and my kids love them…I will certainly be trying this recipe soon x
Mmmmmmm. Green beans are absolutely one of my favorites!
This looks delicious! The red and the green as so striking. I might try this with asparagus- it’ll be at the farm stands soon around these parts!
That’s a great idea – I have to try this with asparagus now too! 🙂
This looks delicious. I’ll admit – recipes with a lot of ingredients or more steps than: microwave this – sometimes intimidate me, but you present food that actually won’t take a long time to make – and doe not have a lot of difficult steps. Plus the pictures really sell it – you want it on your table that night! I have nominated you for the Kreativ Blogger Award – you can check it out here:
http://mycolorcodedlife.wordpress.com/2012/04/19/kreativ-blogger/
Think I’ll try this tonite with the asparagus that’s in the ‘fridge – see if that works. Plus pull out those trusty pantry tomatoes. Thanks for the idea!
I’m definitely trying this with asparagus too – I think it’s a great idea 🙂
I love green beans! And we also had some delicious green beans with tomatoes a while back. So far I hadn’t been able to recreate it. But then, I WAS using canned beans, so what could I expect?!
This looks absolutely gorgeous! Pininteresting it! Yum!
Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
As soon as I saw this, I thought “this looks soooo good!” I love green beans and nothing brings me more happiness than pairing them with tomatoes, another favorite of mine. Can’t wait to make this (I’ll probably roast tomatoes from my plants once they are producing).
By the way, are you on Pinterest?
Sigh. Heavy sigh. I’ve tried several times to sign up but I always get an error message when I try to submit my username/password. Wish there was an actual person (or at least at hotline) I could call. Hoping to figure this out soon so I can start using Pinterest!
You actually persuade me to eat my beans – this looks delicious 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Your green bean dish with roasted tomato sauce looks awesome! What a great method of preparing a nutritious veggie dish! I love green beans – actually just had a bunch of green beans in stir fry last night – would love to saute some more up with roasted tomatoes. Yum! Have a great weekend, girly!
This post really made my mouth water! Just looks so good, will try when my beans have grown!
Roasting the tomatoes must really add to the taste of your dish. And it looks so pretty the way you served it.
These beans look delicious! I love interesting vegetable side dishes and this looks like a winner.
I will definitely be trying this!
BTW this is a fabulous post AND Jittery Cook has awarded you the Versatile Bloggers Award! Check it out at http://jitterycook.com/jittery-honours/
What a fun twist on some veggies! Will have to try this soon! 🙂
These look great! I actually have some green beans hanging out in my fridge, so I may have just found what I want to do with them! I love when you can make such a statement with very few ingredients. (Also, cooking the beans in the tomato juices is so smart!)
This looks and sounds beautiful. I have a new appreciation for green beans having successfully grown them for the first time last year.
I am bookmarking to make this when I harvest my homegrown beans. I live in the U.K and smiled at the packaging of some of your ingredients featured on your blog, made me smile, how countries differ in packaging.
This looks delicious and your photos are really lovely!
Hi there! Thanks so much and thanks for stopping by! 🙂
that looks sooo good!
`I stopped by because a comment you made to Canadian Cinephile showed up on my email. I just wanted to see what your blog was about. I definitely like what I see. Your recipes are right up my ally. Choclate,penut butter ,green beens, and Tex Mex. After seeing your green bean recipe (my favorite)of course I’m going to have to try it. It made me realize that I should post my recipe for asparagus that I do on the grill. AND IT’S HEALTHY!
Thanks for the inspirations . I posted my recipe for asparagus and it already has recieved several likes.