Lemon Garlic String Beans

This dish is one of the first side dishes I learned to make really well. It's easy, but so flavorful, it's good enough for company. I've made it with just green beans several times. This time I found some great looking yellow wax beans and I thought the mix would be nice. It did not disappoint.

Notes: I use two different cooking methods on this. First, I steam the beans and then I saute them. The steaming gets them tender-crisp and the sauteing give them extra flavor and cooks the garlic.

This is such a great dish for beginner cooks. It doesn't have a ton of ingredients and since it's not complicated, it gives you a chance to work on some cooking basics like mincing garlic. You can cut the stem ends off the beans, but honestly it's faster for me to just snap them with my hands. I wrote the recipe the snapping way.

If you're new to cooking with lemons, the zest is your friend. The zest is the colorful part of the peel---the part above the white pith. The pith is bitter, but the zest has all the essential oils and lots of lemony flavor. I have a zester that I use to take off the zest, but you could just as easily use a microplane. Just be sure not to take off lots of pith along with your zest.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound of wax beans
1/2 pound of green beans
5-6 cloves of garlic
1 lemon
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Directions:

Start by prepping the beans. Snap of the stem ends and snap the larger ones in half. Set aside. Mince the garlic and zest the lemon.

Add a small amount of water (just enough to cover the bottom) to a large skillet that has a lid. Heat the skillet on medium-high until the water starts to simmer and produce steam. Add the beans and steam the for about 10-12 minutes until the green beans turn emerald green (darker, but still obviously green).

Drain the water out of the pan and return to heat. Push the beans to the sides of the skillet and add the butter in the middle of the pan. When it melts, add the garlic and lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper. Stir everything together and saute for about 5-7 minutes until some of the beans just start to brown.

Turn off the heat. Slice the lemon in half and squeeze the juice over the beans. Toss to coat, serve and enjoy!