Green beans quickly blanched, then tossed in a sweet and sour mix of vinegar and sugar, a few seasonings and bacon, make up this old fashioned spicy, tangy dish.
Sweet and Sour Green Beans
You're either gonna love these or hate them, but then again, if you've ever even heard of them, well... ya probably already know that! Another old-fashioned dish, spicy and tangy, sweet and sour, I find them absolutely addictive. The more I eat, the more I want.
I love a good pot of slow stewed green beans, but some Southerners literally boil the death out of them, until they are barely green and mostly gray really, and frankly lots of folks still do love them that way. Trust me. There is a world of difference in slow stewing and boiled to death. For this recipe, I like to blanch them just to a crisp tender and then toss them in the hot vinegar sauce to warm them through. That way they retain just a bit of crunch and their pretty bright green color.
I think this recipe is best with whole green beans, and until fresh garden beans come in, I like to use frozen. You can use pretty much any kind of green bean though - the flat Italian style green beans work great for this dish, as do French style, and even plain ole cut green beans. In a pinch canned green beans work, but try to go with frozen over canned if possible.
This is a fairly mild sweet and sour blend of 1/4 cup of sugar to 1/4 cup of vinegar, so these aren't as pickled tasting as say, the Copper Pennies Marinated Carrot Salad that I recently posted. You can, of course, certainly adjust the sweet to tangy ratio to your own taste by using more or less vinegar and sugar. My preference for this dish is red wine vinegar, though you can absolutely use your own favorite. I also used the fabulous Slap Ya Mama hot pepper sauce.
At the time of writing, I had fresh basil growing in the garden, but not tarragon, so I wrote the recipe that way. Use what you have access to however, making the adjustments as needed between dry and fresh herbs. Remember to also taste and adjust the salt and pepper at the end, before transferring to a serving dish. Enjoy!
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