Side Dishes/ Pecan Praline Green Beans

I am a child of the sixties. I was born in '58. I don't think "cuisine" had been invented yet. It was the days of "meat and potatoes" and the nascent frozen food industry. T.V. dinners were just coming into their own, T.V. trays were necessary so the family could sit in front of the boob tube and consume their victuals. Not much nutrition there. Not much family time around the table either.

Every mom knew in her heart that meat and potatoes were not a balanced meal. Enter the vegetable. Not fresh from the garden, not even fresh from the factory farm. I can't remember ever buying fresh vegetables. We had canned vegetables. They were utterly wretched. Speaking of wretched, that is what the sight, smell, and taste of them caused in me; wretching. They were soooooooo bad. The worst of the worst: canned peas and canned green beans. Is it any wonder I ate no vegetables until I reached my teens?

Well, I became a parent, and I too realized that children should eat their vegetables. Green beans included. What to do? Raise your own green beans. They are easy to grow, and nothing tastes better than fresh from the vine green beans, eaten the same day they were picked. A french chef friend of mine was so impressed that I was growing green, yellow, and purple "green beans" that I thought he would cry. He said "I haven't seen these since I left France." Kids will eat veggies much more readily if they "know"their food. Seeding, watering, feeding, and picking one's own veggies will make them taste immeasureably better.

If you can't convince people to eat their green beans for their own sake, buy Garlic Green Beans from SPICY CITY chinese restaurant in Kearny Mesa. Their garlic green beans are the best I have ever had from a restaurant. Or, make these for them. I developed this recipe for our kids who would have nothing whatever to do with green beans under any circumstances. Our son Sam and son-in-law Jerry were avowed green bean haters, and shockingly, always have seconds of these. Pair these green beans as a side dish with the salmon with honey mustard sauce. Enjoy.

Pecan Praline Green Beans

2/3 pound green beans
4 slices bacon
1 shallot
2 cloves garlic
¾ cup chopped pecans or pine nuts
2 T balsamic vinegar
2 T brown sugar
2 T butter

Green beans can be steamed ahead till just tender when pierced with the end of a knife.
Cook bacon. Set aside. Drain grease, leaving perhaps 1 tsp drippings. Saute shallot and garlic in pan, add nuts, stirring to toast. Add balsamic to deglaze pan. Add brown sugar along with 2 T water. Add Butter. Toss steamed green beans to cover with sauce.