Green Beans Amandine
From Cook's Country
When French cuisine started to become popular in this country, green beans amandine was one of the signature recipes. A simple dish of tender green beans tossed with crisp, toasted almonds and a light lemon-butter sauce, it was refined yet not intimidating. Unfortunately, the green beans amandine recipes we tried yielded limp beans swimming in pools of numbingly acidic sauce, with soft, pale almonds thrown on as an afterthought. For our Green Beans Amandine recipe, steaming the green beans with a little water in a covered skillet produced consistently crisp-tender beans. Dry-toasting the almonds in a skillet before browning the butter produced a flavorful mixture of golden brown nuts and browned butter. Adding lemon juice to the hot butter-almond mixture took the edge off the juice, leaving behind a subtle, balanced flavor.
Serves 8
Use a light-colored traditional skillet instead of a darker non-stick skillet for this recipe to easily monitor the butter's browning.
- 1/3 cup sliced almonds
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 2 pounds green beans, stem ends trimmed
- 1/2 cup water
- Salt
1. Toast almonds in large skillet over medium-low heat, stirring often, until just golden, about 6 minutes. Add butter and cook, stirring constantly, until butter is golden brown and has nutty aroma, about 3 minutes. Transfer almond mixture to bowl and stir in lemon juice.
2. Add beans, water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to empty skillet. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until beans are nearly tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove lid and cook over medium-high heat until liquid evaporates, 3 to 5 minutes. Off heat, add reserved almond mixture to skillet and toss to combine. Season with salt. Serve.
