The Simple Bean

First, my philosophy about green beans. If they look good in the store, they usually disappoint. The really velvety beautiful ones always seem to me to be tough and not so great. But that wouldn't be common wisdom. It's just me. So, look for pretty, unspotted, nice green ones. What else can you do?

Prepare: Using a paring knife cut the ends off. Your dad uses scissors. Some folks line them up on a cutting board and chop off a whole line of ends at once. I favor my great grandmother Chapman's method which is to dump them into the skirt of your apron and take them, and a bowl to put them in, out onto your rocking chair on the front porch. I figure the apron/porch thing isn't going to work for you -- or for me anymore as far as that goes. So just cut the ends off. At this stage you can rinse them, throw them in a plastic bag with a paper towel to absorb moisture and toss them into the fridge for a couple of hours until you're ready for them.

Boil water. You can steam them or boil them like spaghetti. The time -- 8-10-12 minutes or so -- depends on the beans and how you like them. Avoid cooking them until they're yellowish green. That's too long. Test as you go.

Get them out of the water however you do. But very carefully. One trick is to drain them and then return them to the pan over a medium flame very briefly to dry them off. Careful with that. Just a few seconds. And kind of move the pan around.

Toss on any additions. Butter. Not too much. 1/2 tablespoon or so. (I use Smart Balance Spray.) Lemon juice. Just a squeeze. Salt, pepper to taste.

If you want to, add sliced or slivered almonds, pine nuts, etc. Have them ready to toss in when the beans are done and the butter or whatever is on. A quarter cup is probably plenty. You can toast almonds or pine nuts in a skillet over a medium high flame. Watch them constantly. (They'll be white ... and then burnt. Just like that. ) And have a plate to turn them out on as soon as they start to brown. Dump them over the beans and toss around.

Yum. I wish I were going to be having Olympic Chicken with you tonight!