Deep South Eats: Oven Roasted Green Beans

When we used to go out to nicer eating establishments, I noticed that my dear husband loved to order the fresh green beans. It was a food I was not familiar with cooking and maintaining their crispiness. A few years back, I found this recipe in a loaned copy of a Cooking Light cookbook. I made these bad boys and from that point forward we became hooked at our house. There is rarely a week that goes by that these don't grace our plates with their presence.


One of my favorite things is that there are so many ways you can change this up...balsamic vinegar, different herbs and spices, nuts, etc.


Ingredients:

• 1 pound of fresh green beans, washed and trimmed
• 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 lemon, seeds discarded

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees
• Line a jelly roll pan or rimmed cookie sheet with foil and place in oven for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, toss green beans, oil, salt and pepper together until beans are well coated.
• Lay green beans on pan in a single layer.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes or until crisp-tender.
• Upon removing from oven, squeeze lemon juice on top of green beans.

I love these served with toasted walnuts, pecans or almonds. They are even delicious with a little fresh lemon rind or drizzled with balsamic vinegar instead of lemon juice.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light.