sprinklefingers

here’s a shock - the recipe i’m about to update you on does not involve a combination of butter, flour, eggs and sugar. honest to god, that’s pretty much all i’ve been eating lately (dear food diary, yesterday i ate three sticky buns and one string cheese. love, sprinklefingers.) instead, this update involves the marinated & bacon wrapped green beans i told you about not too long ago.

see, we’re having a sweet little family over for dinner tonight and i figured i had to serve more than bonbonbunbuns, sticky buns, chocolate chip cookies and chocolate pudding. [as i’m typing this i’m thinking to myself, “HOLY CRAP! that sounds like the best dinner, ever!” but, because there are children involved, i’m serving squash and green beans. i’m 100% positive my own child would disown me if he knew the alternative to green beans would be sticky buns & cookies, but no matter. plus, we’re having company over and i can’t look like some yahoo who feeds her kid chocolate as a meal. i’m making a proper dinner and that’s that.]

green beans. wrapped in bacon. let’s focus:

in the original recipe i instruct you to blanch the beans for three minutes in boiling water then to cool them down in ice water. i’m here to tell you now that this step is completely unnecessary. eliminating blanching allows you to prep this green bean recipe in record time and the results are, if i do say so myself, even more delicious than the blanching-version. why? because without blanching the beans hit the oven at a roasting temperature with no precooking at all. the result? a bean with a bit more bite which, when paired with the bacon, is a great combination of textures. besides, who doesn’t love roasted green beans? or any roasted vegetable for that matter?

easier marinated & bacon-wrapped green beans

you need:

• 3 lbs green beans, washed and trimmed
• 8 oz unsalted butter
• 1 t dry mustard powder
• 1 T packed light brown sugar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced fine
• 1/2 t kosher salt
• 1/4 t freshly ground pepper
• dash or two of cayenne pepper
• 24 oz bacon

to make the bundles:

1. melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. stir in the mustard powder, brown sugar, garlic, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. let the mixture sit over medium heat, stirring all the while, until combined and fragrant.
3. pour the butter mixture over the beans, cover the casserole or sheet tray with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight at a minimum, two nights maximum.
4. preheat the oven to 375.
5. slice your bacon in half cross-wise so that you have double the amount of slices than you started with.
6. make a tight bundle with 9 beans. wrap half a piece of bacon (somewhat tightly, without tearing the bacon,) around the bundle and secure with a toothpick.
7. repeat until you’ve used all of your beans.
8. place the bundles in the same casserole or sheet tray that you used for marinating. 
9. roast for 45 minutes or until the bacon is completely cooked.

here’s to easier green beans followed by dessert!