Carmen's Green Beans Catalán

Author Notes

Carmen, my second mom who lives in a town west of Barcelona, has a few rules about cooking. #1: Spanish ingredients are best; Catalán ingredients are even better. #2: There is no such thing as too much olive oil -- so long as it's Spanish (see #1). #3: Cook with love (always). As someone on the receiving end of her simple, homey cooking, I can fully attest to the effectiveness of these rules. Here is a version of her recipe for green beans and tomatoes, one of the dishes I always hope she'll have on the table when I'm there for lunch. One of the secrets to this dish is generous amounts of olive oil, so when you think there is a "reasonable" amount, add a little more. The other secret, which is counter-intuitive to me, is to cook the beans very well. You don't want bright green, al dente beans; they should be dulled in color and fork-tender, and if they wander into the soft category, even better. In Spain, I find ground laurel easily in the markets. It's very finely ground bay leaf, and contrary to all the rules about not buying ground herbs, this stuff adds an amazing flavor to this dish. In California, I've found it in Mexican and Latin American markets in the spice section where it's called "laurel molido," but if you can't find it, a big bay leaf will do. In either case, what you'll get is a flavorful sauce that you'll want to sop up every bit of. As they say in Catalonia, Bon Profit! —vvvanessa

Test Kitchen Notes

This recipe fed one of my favorite guilty pleasures: fully cooked vegetables. No toothsome green beans here, they were perfectly al dente after their half hour tomato bath. I did add a couple splashes of water as it simmered since the bread seemed to invite the sauce to stick to the bottom of the pan.The bread played a wonderful part in the recipe though -- it married the flavors of the garlic, tomatoes and olive oil to perfectly complement the green beans. The beans performed as the main attraction with a meal of wine-and-garlic sautéed chicken and white rice. Olé! —Avalon Fiesta