Late-summer green bean dish relies on ‘good’ olive oil
After spending all winter and spring hankering for crisp green vegetables and juicy heirloom tomatoes, we are reaching maximum saturation.
If you overzealously planted your garden, or the CSA boxes are overflowing, you need some ideas to incorporate the Wisconsin summer bounty into delicious dishes.
The timing was fortuitous: I saw a social media post from my friend Marge Porter with a photo of green beans simmered in high-end olive oil with potatoes and tomatoes. Then I visited a friend who had so many green beans she was at a loss about what to do with them all. She wasn’t letting me leave without taking at least a few pounds.
What struck me most about Porter’s post was her emphasis on the olive oil. The recipe calls for a full 1⁄2 cup, and she made a point that cooks should “use the good stuff.”
Coincidentally, Porter works for a specialty food importer and distributor in Minneapolis called Great Ciao. Great Ciao has been sourcing amazing ingredients from around the world since 1995. (Please note, Great Ciao is a wholesale distributor and sells only to retail stores and restaurants, not to individual customers.) And because of her job, she has access to a lot of great olive oil.
“Even though the olive oil in this dish is cooked, it’s worth it to use the bottle you’ve been reserving because a lot of the flavor here comes from the olive oil,” says Porter. She loves using a bottle that has peppery or grassy notes.
Great Ciao carries about 12 to 14 different olive oils at any given time. They are gearing up for taking retail and restaurant orders for the upcoming harvest, “olio nuovo”—the extra-est of extra-virgin olive oils. The company takes pre-orders for the late October/early November harvest and bottles arrive just in time for the holiday season.
If you’ve ever wondered how some of the most exquisite oils, vinegars, chocolates and cheeses from Europe end up on a shop’s shelves or a restaurant plate, it is likely because of a company like Great Ciao. Owner Scott Pikovsky ventures to Europe several times a year to meet with farmers, cheesemakers and producers directly to taste their prodused ucts. If he likes them, he brings back samples for staff and if there’s consensus, they will import it.
This is a boon for the Midwest, because much of Great Ciao’s imports land directly in Minneapolis, instead of trickling in from the East Coast. (Outpost Natural Foods has purchased products from Great Ciao, as do several Milwaukee restaurants.) Great Ciao carries about 1,200 different items, ranging from cheese and chocolate to rice, oils and olives.
Porter, who has culinary training and to teach cooking classes, was a cheese buyer and specialist at Whole Foods and Hyvee before coming to Great Ciao nine months ago. She developed this recipe for a class focused on using end-of-summer vegetables after visiting Italy and eating something similar.
“This recipe incorporates your pastperfect green beans, extra tomatoes and everything you have in one dish. The potatoes make it hearty, and I love to make anything you can cook in a whole bunch of olive oil.” Anna Thomas Bates is a mother, Here’s what Porter has to say about this recipe: This preparation is popular throughout the Middle East and the Mediterranean. The Italians, Basqu, and the Lebanese also make a very similar traditional green bean dish.
“This is a good dish to use the larger beans we often get toward the end of the growing season, as they are meant to cook for a long time until very tender. The goal here is not ‘tender-crisp’ beans.” In a large pot, warm olive oil and sauté the onions until very soft. Stir in garlic and sauté a few more minutes.
Add green beans, tomatoes, potatoes and 1⁄4 cup water and season with salt and pepper. Stir well, reduce heat, and simmer covered 50 minutes or until beans and potatoes are very tender. Stir occasionally during cooking, adding more water if needed to keep things from sticking. The tomatoes will cook into the olive oil and water to create a sauce. Near the end, mash a few potato slices into the sauce to thicken. Just before serving, toss with minced parsley.
writer and cheesemaker living in southern Wisconsin. Email her at tallgrass kitchen@gmail.com.