tHaricots Verts a la Creme -- most normal people would translate this name to be Creamed Green Beans but in our family this was translated tonight to mean "Green Worms with Ghost Blood." Welcome to my world. Perhaps I should explain?
My favorite sous chef, Elizabeth, and her family (I suppose I'm related to them too but I prefer to think of them as her family in these situations) love to have "themed" dinners from time to time. Themes like "Miniature Food" where we eat things like baby gherkins (instead of full-size pickles), Lil' Smokies (instead of full sized hot dogs), baby carrots (instead of full size), and cornish hens instead of chicken. You get the idea. But as they say on TV -- "But wait, there's more!" Not only does Elizabeth's family like to have themes, the creations being served often involve the use of food coloring. Lot's of food coloring.
You're probably wondering what that has to do with my wonderful French cooking? Well, tonight her family decided to have an early Halloween themed dinner with jelly "eyeballs," cheese "spiders," "monster" fudge, and other similar delicacies.
Since I had to be a participant, but wanted to also complete another of Julia's recipes, I needed a Halloween theme and the next thing I knew my green beans were "worms" and the white cream had turned into "ghost blood." But don't be fooled, these were really creamed green beans and they were really really realllllllly good. Not only that but they're really quick to make.
It started off with a couple pounds of green beans that were blanched (boiled for about 8 minutes) like every other green bean recipe Julia has. After the beans were blanched, they got tossed in a large pan for a couple minutes to remove any remaining moisture and then...yep, in went a couple tablespoons of butter. Not much of a surprise, eh? A little salt and pepper were tossed in for good measure and then a couple cups of creme was poured in. On went the lid and everything "boiled gently" for about 5 minutes.
Towards the end the final spice was added. I was able to try a new potion -- tarragon. I don't know that I've ever had that spice before but I like it. Have you had it? Tarragon has a bit of a licorice flavor, but not as strong as anise (and definitely not as strong as a piece of licorice candy). These were pretty good and they are definitely on the list of things to make again. Now I'm looking forward even more to making tarragon chicken!
A great side dish that I'm sure would be really good with "normal" food too!
Bon appetit!
What a fun idea. Have to do it again next year.