The lowly green bean

[Aerows]

is one of my favorite vegetables, even behind Brussels sprouts and carrots. Collards, spinach and turnip greens flow freely at meals in my home, but it is the lowly green bean that I love most.

Anyone else love them? I just shake a little hot pepper sauce on them, and it is the dream vegetable for me.

[fizzgig]

1. i love them

i like to toss them in a pan until they start to blister just a bit. i bet they're damn tasty roasted.

[Aerows]

2. Oooo

That sounds good. I'll have to try that!

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. A most superb veggie! our 3 favorite treatments....

1. Just blanche - put in boiling water for 4 minutes - drain, serve with melted butter, salt, pepper and chives

2. Blanche as above and drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. Put some oil in a pan, add black mustard seeds, garlic and red pepper flakes - once the seeds start to pop, add the beans and some salt and pepper and saute until blistered.

3. Blanche and chill as above. Melt some butter in a pan - add the beans, salt and pepper - then some seasoned bread crumbs. Stir often over low heat until the crumbs toast.

[Aerows]

5. Just blanched sounds perfect :)

I'm going to HAVE to try that one. I'm going to see if I can get some going in my garden, too.

Any tips on when to plant, my friend?

[Ino]

6. I'm going to try #3!

My favorite is to toast almond slivers in butter, and drizzle over the cooked beans.

[Auggie]

14. Try them grilled or roasted too

[LeftofObama]

4. My all time favorite vegetable!

I stopped over at my mom's house not long ago and she had some green beans on the stove. I went in to stir them and she had the heat a little too high and the ones on the bottom scorched. I was picking out the scorched ones and ate them. OMG they were SO good! My mom looked at me like I had grown another head or something. I just love green beans.

I recently heard of a recipe where you dip them in buttermilk, roll them in flour seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and fry them. I think I'm going to try that some time soon.

[Aerows]

13. I can't see myself frying them

but I do love them! Thanks for the idea and I will think about it.

[madinmaryland]

7. I love them, also. Raw, steamed, cooked in stews, they add a wonderful

flavour to whatever you are cooking.

A little bit of crushed garlic really kicks them up a notch when you steam them.

[Aerows]

11. It's the best green vegetable on earth

I hope to grow some this season.

Well, I still like spinach and collards, but I have plenty of those so now it's going to be green beans

[Auggie]

8. My father-in-law was a high school and college basketball coach for many years …

and the only vegetable all his teams could agree upon for pre-game meals was … green beans.

[Aerows]

12. I think it is the only one

that doesn't have an icky after taste even if it is cooked wrong, but still is a vegetable. Then again, cooked right, they are delicious.

Just wait for peas to come up in a "I love this green vegetable" discussion.

[applegrove]

9. We are having them tomorrow. I will try the hot sauce on them.

[Aerows]

10. It's the tabasco peppers suspended in vinegar and salt

that makes them. I think they call them "sport peppers" in other places. It can wake up greens from the dead and make you crave them!

[alfie]

15. By far my favorite veggie

I must admit I cook them the old way....put them on the stove early with bacon or ham bits for flavoring and let them simmer all day. Near the end take the lid off and let the liquid cook down until about 20 seconds short of scorching. Some diced fresh onions, cornbread...heaven. My favorite green bean is the Malibu bean. I can't get the seeds locally, but found them on the net. They are slightly sweeter than any other green bean I have ever tasted. They are a pole bean so have a long season.

[dem in texas]

16. Julia Child's Green Beans

I always cooked green beans like my mother, put in some bacon and simmer forever on the stove. The one day when the Food Network first started, they ran all the old Julia Child shows (in black and white). On one of the shows she cooked green beans with tarragon. Drop the fresh beans in boiling water, cook 5 minutes, drain and put in bowl of ice water to cool them down. Drain. Heat butter in skillet, add the beans and sauté, seasoning with a little salt and pepper and sprinkle on some fresh chopped tarragon. This recipe is a family favorite and we call them Julia Child green beans. For his birthday meal, my big old cowboy son always wants chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and Julia Child green beans.

That said, my late mother-in-law who grew up in Western Kentucky used to make candied green beans. She cook the beans with bacon and some sugar and a few dried red peppers. After a long simmer, she'd let the liquid in the beans cook away until all she had left was a sugary syrup. Good taste with the sweetness and hot peppers.