Friday, February 18, 2011

Pancetta Green Beans

What's not to love ?
                                                 


Per Nana:

Great recipe!   
  Not too satisfied with the green beans from Giant Market this week, however,  they did turn out well in this recipe.  
 I think the pancetta had something to do with it....
The dish was very tasty.  
 I served it with sausage and braised fennel.

 The fennel recipe comes from Dorie's Broth braised potato recipe. (bonne idee)  While I was shopping for the green beans, I was also planning the recipe for next week - short ribs.     
                         
I could not seem to find star anise so I asked the produce manager.
  The result was a lovely fennel bulb that
 I had no clue what to do with.  
 I researched it later on AOL and duh, that was no star anise.
I then did the next best thing and looked up a recipe for fennel. 
  The result was great.  Next time I am going to do Dorie's recipe with the potato.  The flavors were fantastic.

Per Tricia:
It was as easy and delicious as anticipated. 

 I love green beans cooked this way and have done
 this with bacon in the past. 
 
 It was fun to share the pancetta additional with the family and they loved it (even while my sons previously
"did not like" green beans). 
  
While the final result was hardly a healthy spin on green beans, it was delicious and was certainly less guilt ridden than some of our other recent posts.....




25 comments:

  1. That was a good idea to serve the beans with sausage and braised fennel!

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  2. What a wonderful mother-daughter blog! My mom lives down the street and I try to invite her over, or deliver samples of most everything we cook. I bought our short ribs today and am really looking forward to those, especially since it looks like it will be a cold and rainy weekend.

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  3. Very nice! Try the Spanish/ Latin section of the grocery store for the star anise - I have found that a lot of the decently stocked grocers carry it there(the Badia brand is what we usually have up here).
    I would never have thought to braise fennel - but it makes sense (you can braise celery, right?)
    Glad everyone loved your low guilt beans!

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  4. Yes, I have also found the star anise in the Mexican foods sections and also in the Asian food store...the Asian food store is cheaper.

    Well, look at what you learned this week...fun, isn't it. Nice post.

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  5. I actually find the star anise in the bulk section of natural food stores/co-ops.

    I so love fennel! I have tried to grow it, but so far I have only gotten lovely fronds and no bulb. I don't think the growing season is long enough here. Maybe I should start them now?

    Your beans look very yummy!

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  6. I love the Tricia and Nana approach to recipes! Wouldn't this preparation be awesome with Brussels sprouts too?

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  7. Looks like the perfect side dish - beautiful job! :)

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  8. This post made me laugh out loud! I loved it, and I love how the two of you do this together!

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  9. I too love reading both your takes on the recipes and how fun to be doing this together! I'm glad you both enjoyed this one.

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  10. Great post! I love the 2 points of view. My beans from the grocery store weren't that great this week either but the pancetta saved them! Good to know for the future. :)

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  11. That's too bad the grocery guy didn't know fennel from star anise, but I get his mistake since fennel has an anise flavor. You might want to check Penzey's spice shop if there's one near you. Thanks for sharing :)

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  12. Hi guilelessgourmande - Yes, there is a Penzey's and we love it. A friend from work told me about their catalog years ago and I couldn't wait to get down to Chestnut Hill (lovely at any time) when they opened their store. My 14 year old even gave me a gift certificate from them for my birthday..saying he wanted more good food and knowing I needed stuff for Dorie's ingredients. Next time I will try to remember :) Tricia

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  13. Lovely, this looks so tasty! I agree, pancetta can definitely rescue under-the-weather green beans! ;) That fennel dish looks fantastic too!

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  14. I got a laugh out of how the grocer gave you fennel when you asked for star anise. But it sounds like it was happenstance because you liked the fennel. It looks really soft and yummy. And I love your green bean pictures!

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  15. Tricia and Nana, Congrats on being nominated for the Stylish Blogger awards! It is always nice to be recognized for the things that are important to us. Your blog is fun to read.
    Star anise..not easy to find unless you have an ethnic market that sells spices in your neighborhood. A close second might be whole alspice if you have it. Check out your nearest market that sells indian or asian ingredients; you are sure to find star anise there. They look like little brown stars.
    Now, out to find short ribs for next week! BD

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  16. gorgeous! I can't wait to try this recipe

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  17. I love your blog concept! Both of plates look beautiful and delicious!

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  18. Im glad you enjoyed hte Green beans! We loved them over here too!!

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  19. The fennel sounds delicious. It must make you glad the grocer erred! Both versions of the beans look lovely.

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  20. It sounds like it went so well with the sausage and braised fennel. I'll have to look up that recipe. Both of you did a great job with the green beans and pancetta!

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  21. Love your blog! Inspirational!
    Great photos and love the double content with it's own take and events!

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  22. Another great post by the famous mom and daughter team! Such a nice recipe and the sausage and braised fennel sounds so good! Loved all the photos this week!

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  23. YUM! You girls rocked this dish and the suasage and braised fennel sounds amazing!

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  24. This looks DELICIOUS! I cannot wait to see more of these fantastically prepared dishes. I was looking through some of the previous posts and got so hungry I had to go get a snack!

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  25. I know the Penzey's in St. Louis had star anise the last time I was in there, so you should be able to pick it up there with your gift certificate.

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