Green Beans with Accidental Garlic

My "famous" side dish was at first, or at least I thought, a complete disaster. I, well... I don't know how to say this so I will come out with it... I overcooked the garlic. But, I was a college student, and I couldn't afford to throw the veggies away and start again, so I pushed on. Incredibly, the water from the string beans reinvigorated the garlic, gave it back its life, resurrected it. The garlic took on an almost candied taste, crispy and without a lot of bitterness. So take advantage of this "mistake" and try it at home folks!

You'll need:

• A pot of salted, boiling water
• about a pound of green beans, haricots verts (pronounced, inexplicably, "harry coh vare" for the French-speaking and "harry cots verts" to those whom will be laughed at), or perhaps long beans that have been cut in half or in thirds. No promises on the long beans, I've never tried using them. Snip both ends off, the easiest way being to take a big handful and line them all up until they are roughly all equal in size (remember drawing straws? Same idea), and then cut both ends off the handful with a sharp knife.
• about a half bulb of garlic, finely minced. Again, as I have stressed before, I haven't ever seen garlic over-used.
• kosher salt and ground pepper
• half a packet of Sazon Goya.
• about three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. I like to measure by upturning the bottle and rotating over the pan in three circles.

Flash boil the string beans for about 5 minutes. Green beans have a built-in thermometer that allow you easily tell when they are done. They get reallllly green. Once you see them change from a light green to a hyper-green, they are done. Strain in a colander and set aside

In a large skillet (large enough to take all the green beans), heat the olive oil with a little salt and pepper. You can add a pinch of crushed red pepper too if you like. Throw in the garlic and cook it until it gets brown and crispy. If it looks overdone, its done perfectly! Just don't let it get black.

Throw in all the green beans and toss with a wooden spoon until the skins of the beans blister. Remove with tongs onto the serving dish and sprinkle with the Sazon Goya and then pour all of the oil and garlic over the string beans.

Serve onto plates with tongs, being sure to get some of the garlic on top of each portion.

I favor a nice roast chicken as the protein, and yellow rice. The oil and garlic goes nicely with the rice as a sauce. Simple, unexplainable, mysterious, and tasty.

Mangia!

James