I took lots of pictures this time to make this look like it was a lot of work, which it wasn't. Haricots Verts a la Creme ("Creamed Green Beans") was another pretty easy and tasty side dish to make. Hang on, this goes by fast!
I started with a big ol' pot of boiling water to blanch the beans to get started. After that they were drained in a colander and then put into a large skillet over moderately high heat. Remember, you're not frying the beans your just drying them out. That's one of those cool cooking tips from Julia. To help keep the beans from being soggy and mushy, tossing the beans in the pan evaporates the water before moving on to the next steps.
Some salt, pepper, and about 3 tablespoons of butter were tossed in with the beans. This was the fun part -- I got to toss stuff in the pan! After flipping things around for a bit to evenly distribute the spices and butter, two cups of cream were then poured into the pan. The lid went on to hold the moisture in and the beans were boiled slowly for about five minutes until the beans were soft and the cream had reduced by about half the volume.
Julia suggested adding 3 tablespoons of tarragon or parsley -- I chose tarragon which is one of my favorite herbs. We had these as a side dish but they were so good I'd be willing to eat them by themselves. As a matter of fact, there were some leftover and they turned into my lunch later on!
If you've never had beans like this, you've missed out. Definitely much better than simply pouring on a can of cream of mushroom soup onto a can of beans. Try it, you'll like it!
Bon Appetit!
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