What's On the Side: Fresh From the Garden Green Beans with Shallow-Lemon Butter Sauce

Over the weekend we harvested our first crop of string beans from our container garden. Since only a handful of beans were ready to be picked, I whipped up a simple shallot-lemon butter sauce to serve over the fresh beans. As to the rest of our garden, things are progressing. Our herbs are still growing like crazy -- I really need to start making some basil pesto -- and it looks like we may have some tomatoes on the way. I peeked at the roma tomato plant today and one tomato is just beginning to blush a light red. I'm quite excited to try some tomatoes freshly grown in our own backyard!

String Beans with Shallot-Lemon Butter Sauce (printer-friendly version)

makes 1 serving

1 cup fresh string beans

kosher salt

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon garlic pepper

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the string beans and blanch in the boiling water for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and drain the water.

2. While blanching the beans, melt the butter in a medium saucepot over medium-high heat. Add the chopped shallots and saute until softened, about three minutes. Stir in fresh lemon juice and garlic pepper. Continue to cook for an additional minute or so, then reduce heat to low.

3. Add the cooked string beans to the butter sauce and stir until the beans are all evenly coated. 4. Serve immediately.