Soylent Green Beans

The food pyramid is no longer. It's now a plate, and green is it's predominate color - for vegetables of course. In fact, adults are suggested to consume as much as 2 cups of green per day. As such, I am constantly looking for healthy, tasty ways to prepare fresh greens beans. My favorite method is courtesy of my Aunt Jane and involves a lot of bacon and butter- but her recipe, while it tastes good is in no way shape or form good for you. So the quest continued until I stumbled upon a recipe for green beans with almonds in the Gourmet Cookbook. And voila! My new favorite - fresh green beans, a little butter, just the tight amount of garlic, and finely ground almonds (to the point where they are so pulverized they no longer resemble a nut). All in under 15 minutes, mind you. Now, I recommend using a food processor to grind the almonds beyond recognition - I was lazy once and thought I could pound them into submission with a meat mallet, but I just made a mess and they weren't fine enough to adhere to the beans. Got Green?

Soylent Green, the 1973 Charleton Heston sci-fi vehicle. The year is 2022 and the earth is over populated, hampered by a climate that is getting increasingly hotter, poverty, unrest and a food shortage. Hmmmm. The government provides food in colors: Red, Yellow and ultimately Green wafers that are good and supposedly good for you. Heston portrays a tough, no nonsense cop, who while investigating a suspicious death uncovers the truth about Green (alledgedly made from plankton) is really finely ground humans - leading to the great movie line: "Soylent Green is people!" This reminiscent of course of the classic Twighlight Zone episode "To Serve Man" where aliens (who look like humans except for their large foreheads) come to earth, obstensibly in peace and present their plan to the humans in a book with the same title. The stupid humans think that the aliens are here to obey, little do they know that it is really the name of their cookbook and they plan on eating the humans. Clearly, our fear of canibalism has made for some great TV and movies. I don't know what all the fuss is about - afterall, I often like to give the name "Donner" when I make a restaurant reservation - and no hostess yet has hesitated calling out "Donner Party of 4, your table is ready".


The Recipe:

1 pound green beans, trimmed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup skinned (kind of nasty when you think of it) whole almonds, finely ground in a food processor
salt and freshly ground pepper

cook bean in a 3 quart saucepan of boiling well-salted water until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes;drain. Melt butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until it just begins to turn golden, about one minute. Add almonds and cook, stirring, until they begin to color slightly, about 2 minutes. Add beans and cook, stirring, until tender and heated through, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serves Man (4 to be exact)