Moldovan Green Beans

I posted recently about my difficulties in finding a good way to season green peas, and I’ve had the same difficulty with green beans.  I’ve tried what seems like a million different ways to cook them, but they just never taste right.

There is a restaurant chain in Chișinău called La Plăcinte (pronounced "pluh-chin-tay," plăcinte means pastry) that has a traditional Moldovan menu.  At La Plăcinte they have some of the most incredible green beans that I’ve ever tasted, so I came home and set about trying to figure out how to re-create them myself.  The recipe below is the result of my efforts, and I must say that they have gotten rave reviews from all three of us!



Moldovan Green Beans

Ingredients:

• 1 400g package frozen green beans (I know, fresh is probably better, but frozen is all I have)
• Bacon grease
• Olive oil
• 1 Medium onion
• 1 or 2 slices of bacon (The bacon I get is in long round chunks and the lady at the meat counter slices it for me, so I just use the end pieces of that.  Something thick enough to cut into chunks is best, but regular bacon strips will do too.)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Sweet Paprika

Instructions:

1. Melt a couple of heaping tablespoonfuls of bacon grease in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Empty package of frozen green beans into skillet.
3. Generously drizzle green beans with olive oil.  Very generously.
4. Chop onion and bacon, add to skillet.
5. Salt and pepper to taste.  I use a LOT of pepper in this- cover the beans with pepper, stir, and then cover them with pepper again.  Sprinkle with Paprika.
6. Sautee until dark and soft, stirring often.  To cook from frozen, this takes about 30 minutes.  Fresh would obviously take less time.  Add more bacon grease or oil if it starts to get too dry.

That’s it!  If anybody tries this, I hope your family enjoys these as much as we do.  It's definitely not the healthiest way to eat your veggies, but it is quite possibly the tastiest!