Green Beans with Brown Butter and Toasted Almonds

Green Beans with Brown Butter and Toasted Almonds is a nice twist on traditional green beans.  The nutty flavor of the brown butter coats the freshly cooked green beans and is tossed with crunchy toasted almonds.  This is a nice addition to a holiday table. 

Green Beans with Brown Butter and Toasted Almonds

Each year I am amazed at how fast Thanksgiving rolls around.  All of the sudden I blink and we are talking about turkey, cranberries, stuffing, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. Hopefully you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with good food and family.

I think the side dishes are a second thought to the main attractions for many people, but for me they are just as important. As I start to think about the next holiday I know that I will need that balance of fresh vegetables and salads to go along with the meats and potatoes.  It is nice to serve up simple side dishes that are a little different than just plain green beans or carrots {try these Honey Glazed Carrots}.

One of  my favorite vegetable side dishes is green beans.  I can eat them plain but enjoy spicing them up a bit for special occasions.  These Simple Garlic Parmesan Green Beans are one of my favorite ways to eat green beans, but I think we have a contender with these Green Beans with Brown Butter and Toasted Almonds.

Recently I attended a cooking class where we learned how to make a variety of Thanksgiving dishes and these Green Beans with Brown Butter and Toasted Almonds was on the list.  I have eaten these time and time again and always enjoy the nutty brown butter butter that coats the crisp green beans and the crunch of the toasted almonds.  When I made these last weekend Mike walked in the house and asked what the delicious smell was, and that my friends is the smell of brown butter. Heavenly!

When thinking about your holiday table this year I hope you will add these green beans to the mix.  Not only do I adore the flavors in these Green Beans with Brown Butter and Toasted Almonds but the dish is simple to make, so you can spend your time preparing the rest of your meal. You can even parboil the green beans up to a day ahead of time to cut down on the cook time the day of your gathering.

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Green Beans with Brown Butter and Toasted Almonds

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Green Beans with Brown Butter and Toasted Almonds is a nice twist on traditional green beans. The nutty flavor of the brown butter coats the freshly cooked green beans and is tossed with crunchy toasted almonds. This is a nice addition to a holiday table.

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Ingredients

• 1 lb. fresh green beans, ends trimmed {or you can use Haricot Verts which are thin French style green beans and you won't have to trim them}
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup silvered almonds, toasted
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium high heat.
2. While the pot of water is boiling heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the almonds and stir often until golden brown. Set aside.
3. Once the water is boiling add the green beans and boil for 5-6 minutes, or until the green beans are tender to eat. Drain and set aside.
4. In the large skillet that you toasted the almonds in add the butter and heat over medium high heat for two minutes stirring until the butter melts and smells nutty.
5. Turn the heat to low and add the green beans and half of the almonds into the skillet with the butter and gently mix together for 1 minute.
6. Remove from the heat and add salt and pepper to taste. Pour the green beans into a serving dish and garnish with the remaining half of the toasted almonds.

Notes

You can parboil the green beans ahead of time to cut down on the cook time when you are preparing a large holiday meal. To do this cook the beans in a large pot of boiling, salted water until just crisp-tender which takes about 2-3 minutes. Remove the green beans from the pot and immediately place in an ice bath. Pat beans dry. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until ready to use {you can do this up to a day ahead}. When you are ready to make the green beans you will skip the step where you boil the green beans and instead add the green beans into the melted brown butter and heat for 3 minutes.