French Beans with Butter and Herbs

Ingredients

• half an ounce or an ounce of butter
• a little chopped parsley
• a small pinch of powdered sugar
• pepper
• salt
• a small quantity of lemon juice

Method

1. 1

   Warm French beans in a stewpan with butter for 10-15 minutes.

2. 2

   Add parsley, sugar, pepper, salt, and lemon juice.

3. 3

   Serve with fried croutons.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The housekeeper's guide to preserved meats, fruits, vegetables, &c (1880), page 104. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

a little chopped parsley. They can be now pressed into a mouid and served with the pickled pork or bacon, some- what similar to peas-pudding. When the beans are served with white sauce, or in oil, or on occasions when they have to be eaten by themselves and not with some kind of meat, the dish should always be ornamented with a few fried crofttons of bread. Cooks do not suffi- ciently value this very cheap rform of garnishing. They have simply'to get a BLACKWELL'S little fat, which must of course be deep enough to entirely cover the bread. Very often stale pieces of bread are wasted in households, though some- times where economy is considered they are reserved for making bread-pudding. But one very useful form indeed in which they can be turned to account is that of making fried crofttons, to be ; served with other dishes, such as hashed meats. The cook should exercise her ingenuity in cutting the stale bread into some fanciful shapes, such as hearts, stars, etc. The odd pieces of bread can be cut up and used for making bread- crumbs, or can be put by for bread- puddings. Take a small deep stewpan — the smaller the better — and fill it to within an inch of the top with lard or dripping, and see that this is really smoking hot. Then throw in the pieces of bread, which in a minute or even less will turn a beautiful bright golden- brown colour. These are far superior to that miserable garnish known to English cooks by the name of “ toasted sippets.” The same fat can be used for the purpose over and over again. It only requires to be occasionally clarified, which is done by mixing it with some boiling water, when all the impurities will sink to the bottom of the pan, and when the fat is cold it can be taken off, and the bottom scraped. The fat is now as good as ever, and will keep good for months. Fried crofttons of bread should always be placed round any kind of vegetable when it is served by itself. HARICOT VERT. — French beans are an exceedingly popular vegetable, but when fresh they are apt to be very expensive. Indeed in many of the London restaurants a shilling is charged for a portion of French beans, as many know to their cost who are fond of haunch of venison, and are too good judges of good living to have veni- son without that necessary accompani- ment, French beans. French beans are now preserved in tins. The beans can be warmed in the tins by simply im- mersing the tin in boiling water for about twenty minutes. Then open the tin and turn out the contents, serving at once, or the tin can be opened as it is and the contents turned into a saucepan and wanned up. The nicest way, how- ever, of serving French beans un- doubtedly is to serve them as a course 69 HOUSEKEEPER'S GUIDE. by themselves. This is an almost in- variable proceeding abroad, and the custom might be copied in England with considerable advantage. The great fault to my mind in the English style of living is the great mixture of various kinds of meat and vegetables on the plate at once. For instance, it is a very common thing to see a person with a plate before him containing hot roast sirloin of beef, Yorkshire pudding, horseradish, mealy potatoes, and French beans. I do not deny that this is an excellent dinner, but for my own part I would much prefer to have the French beans served up on a dish to be eaten by themselves. Their flavour is deli- cate and delicious, and to mix them with hot gravy, horseradish, Yorkshire pud- ding, etc., is simply to spoil them. French beans when served by them- selves require moistening with some kind of sauce. One of the best sauces to serve with French beans is a good bechamel, but sauce supreme is better. I have described under the heading of financiere ragout the difference between bechamel sauce and sauce supreme, and I have also given receipts for making both ; when, however, these sauces can- not be obtained the French beans should be placed in a small stewpan with about half an ounce or an ounce of butter. They should be tossed lightly and wanned up for some ten minutes or a quarter of an hour. A little chopped parsley should now be added to them, and a email pinch of powdered sugar, a little pepper and salt, and a small quan- tity of lemon juice. The French beans can now be served in a vegetable dish surrounded by small fried croutons of bread (see Haricot Beans). French beans can also be served moistened with a little pure olive oil. The stewpan in which they are warmed up can be rubbed with a slice of onion, or if the flavour is not objected to, a piece of garlic. A little lemon juice should be added before serving, as well as some chopped parsley. French beans are also sometimes served as “ French beans with fine herbs.” Take the beans and strain them, and boil them in a stewpan with a small pat of butter, enough to make the beans thoroughly moist. N ow add together a spoonful of finely- chopped parsley that has been previously boiled and about half a teaspoonful or rather more of finely-chopped shalots. Add a little nutmeg, some pepper and salt, and a small quantity of lemon juice

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.