Personal Note
Whenever I have an Italian ingredient I always text Monica to see what I should do with it. She and I have such similar tastes and she always comes back with great ideas. I never grew up eating Romano beans, it was snake beans and green beans for me and I think that's why I find getting them so special.
Monica and I often walk down the street arm in arm and are sometimes mistaken for being a couple. I see the looks that people give us but I don't care. The other day we went to lunch at Capella hotel for my birthday. We were dressed up because it is a really beautiful hotel. Monica glanced around and whispered, "People think we're a couple." She has a short, blond cropped hair and I think we give off a GFlip and Chrishell Stause vibe.
"Really?" I said looking around the restaurant for people but there was really only the waitstaff around us.
"Can I take a photo of you?" she asked and I grinned a cheesy birthday grin. "You're so pretty!" she said. At that exact moment a waiter came to pour us water. When he left we both giggled at the timing. We talked about Monica moving back to Italy next year. I'm against the idea of her moving because I don't want my best friend to move so far away. "Let's just enjoy the time we have left together," she said and of course the waiter came back with our meal then. At that point I had to agree that we were definitely giving off couple vibes!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you enjoy cooking with ingredients that are new to you? Have you ever tried Romano beans?
Char Grilled Romano Pole Beans Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Recipe Overview
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves: 2 as a side dish
Ingredients Needed
- 300g/10.6ozs romano or pole beans (also called Italian flat beans)
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
For dressing
- 20ml/0.7flozs extra virgin olive oil
- 20ml/0.7flozs lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
- Salt and pepper
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 - First trim the ends of the beans but keep them long and whole. Have a large bowl of ice water ready. Blanch the beans in a frypan with simmering water for 1 minute (just until they turn bright green) and then plunge them into the ice water. Drain.
Step 2 - Heat a grill onto high. Take the oil and brush the beans on both sides and grill under blistered and charred. Turn over and then place onto a serving plate.
Step 3 - Mix the dressing ingredients together (olive oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic, parsley, lemon zest and salt and pepper) and then pour over the beans. Serve hot, room temperature or cold.