French Green Beans with Caramelized Onions and Almonds

Sometimes the hardest part of deciding what to  cook for dinner isn’t the main entrée, but actually coming up with a side dish. My go to vegetable side dish is French green beans. They pair nicely with most proteins. And they are fairly quick and easy to cook.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pound of French green beans (haricot verts)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/3 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1 small red onion cut in half and sliced

DIRECTIONS:

1. Boil water in a saute pan. Add 1 tablespoon salt once water is boiling.
2. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath for the beans. (Large bowl with ice and water.)
3. Carefully add the green beans to boiling water for 1 minute.
4. Blanch green beans by removing them from the boiling water and immersing them into the ice bath.
5. Clear saute pan of remaining water and wipe down with paper towel.
6. Bring saute pan back to stove on medium high heat.
7. Add oil and butter and combine using a wooden spoon.
8. Once oil and butter begin to ripple, add garlic, red pepper flakes and almond slices and stir.
9. Next add red onion slices and stir every minute until onions are translucent and caramel in color.
10. Strain green beans from ice bath and add to saute pan. Combine beans and onion mixture for 2 to 3 minutes until beans are heated throughout. 

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