Easy way to fix green beans

So if you've got a big mess of lovely tender fresh green beans, the first thing to do with them is to snap off their little stem ends. But do leave the cute little tails - they're delicious. While you're topping the beans, bring a pan of water to boil on the stove; salt it well. When it's at a rolling boil - that is, boiling madly - put all the beans in at once. Let them cook for about 5 minutes and then immediately pour off the hot water and run cold water over the beans until they're cool.

Then you can do two things. You can put them in the fridge in a covered dish to eat later, dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and a little bit of diced shallot or onion and a pinch of salt, or you can eat them immediately with those same ingredients. A bit of cooked bacon is delicious too.

The French would eat these as part of a nice dinner by reheating them quickly on the stove in a saute' pan with melted butter. YUM!

Got these beans from Elizabeth Taylor. She's at the far end of the first row of the Moscow Farmer's Market, on the left.