The recipe for boiled green beans and potatoes was first published on my blog in 2015 and since then I’ve made it often. It’s one of my favorite side dishes. In my opinion, the best green beans are those from June to the end of October, more robust and mature compared to those in April or May. Perfect for the main courses that are prepared from May until the end of October, at most mid-November if the winter cold hasn’t yet arrived. Think also of a nice Green Bean Salad with Tuna and Hard-Boiled Eggs, spectacular to take to the beach.
Green beans are legumes and their season runs from April to October, so from summer to autumn. Many might consider them vegetables because unlike fava beans, peas, chickpeas, and beans, where only the seeds are eaten, the entire pod of green beans is consumed.
Having revisited the photo for this recipe this morning, I took the opportunity to change the format from article to recipe to make this grandma’s recipe even more complete with details and information. However, I wanted to keep the preface from 2015. Often on the Facebook fan page (if you’re not a follower, you can sign up by clicking here) I talk about ingredients I didn’t eat when I was little. Green beans were one of those things I really didn’t want to eat. Imagine now I prepare them once a week during their season. I want to leave this piece of the past to remember one of the most important figures in my life, Chiesa Felice, the Director of the Tourist Village where I worked in 2015. An immense man I had the fortune to know. Below, in quotes, you’ll find the old introduction. If you don’t want to read it, continue after the quotes.
“Yesterday afternoon, the Director of the Tourist Village where I work gave me a nice bag of green beans from his garden, so I decided to prepare them as a side dish for dinner. There’s a premise to be made, I don’t eat boiled green beans no matter how much you beg me in all the languages of the world. As I have written a few times on the blog, if I don’t eat something, I don’t cook it. For my boyfriend, though, sometimes you have to adapt and satisfy him. So I called my Grandmother Sandra, and I asked her “how do you prepare green beans with potatoes?” She replies in the Marche dialect: “oh my daughter, it’s easy, boil the water, throw them in, throw them down, and then pull them up!” This would be her recipe for boiled green beans with potatoes according to my grandmother. Fortunately, she explains better, drops her dialect, and reveals her recipe for preparing this side dish.”
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On the blog, you will find many potato recipes, here are some more ideas:
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer, and Autumn
- Energy 181.76 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 23.00 (g) of which sugars 6.93 (g)
- Proteins 4.74 (g)
- Fat 9.83 (g) of which saturated 1.45 (g)of which unsaturated 0.28 (g)
- Fibers 6.58 (g)
- Sodium 402.68 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 250 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 14 oz green beans
- 3.5 oz potatoes
- 1 pinch salt
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pinch pepper
Tools
- 1 Pot
- 1 Pan
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Wooden Spoon
- 1 Colander
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Peeler
Steps
Start the preparation of boiled green beans with potatoes by cleaning and cutting this last ingredient. With the help of a peeler, remove the skin from the two medium-small potatoes you’ve chosen. Then take a wooden cutting board and a knife. Cut into many pieces of the same size to facilitate cooking the potatoes.
Now clean the green beans, remove the ends with your hands or a knife. I cleaned so many green beans as a child with Grandma Licia, she sat me at the kitchen table with two bowls, one for the green beans and the other for the ‘head and tail,’ as she called them. “This way you help grandma!”.
Now that we have both ingredients ready, we can proceed with cooking.
Pour plenty of water into a pot, place it on the burner, and bring it to a boil. Before adding the potatoes, salt the water. The cooking time is approximately 25 minutes, always test with a fork, if they pierce easily, they are ready. So, add the potatoes and let them cook alone for about 10 minutes. After this time, add the green beans and continue cooking for another 15 minutes.
Then drain the cooking water using a colander. Now take a nonstick pan, pour in two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and add the boiled potatoes with the green beans. Sprinkle with salt only if necessary, so taste it first, and sprinkle with pepper. Mix for a few minutes in the pan.
Then serve the green beans with potatoes hot. As always, I wish you bon appétit!!!
Note: Grandma Licia used to add a small splash of lemon when sautéing the green beans in the pan. I don’t like it much; I prefer a little more extra virgin olive oil. But if you’re curious or like the mix, you can try it. There are now also lemon-flavored oils available for sale.
Tips:
Grandma Sandra recommends cutting the potatoes into cubes of the same size, so you don’t end up with some potatoes that are overcooked and falling apart and others that are too hard and raw.
She also advises boiling the green beans until their intense green color remains vivid, so as soon as they can be pierced with a fork without effort, they are ready to be drained from the cooking water.
