Photos by Rikki Snyder
For the first summer in a long time, I'm not growing a vegetable garden. Sad! We've been wanting to move, and I didn't want to put all the effort into growing vegetables just for someone else to eat if we ended up selling the house — I'm selfish like that. Of all the veggies I grew over the past few summers, I'm going to miss the freaky long beans the most.
Long beans were reliable! They were the only vegetable that I could count on getting a lot of. Maybe because each bean is enough to feed a family of four. (Okay, I'm exaggerating. But just a little.) When you grow regular beans, you need to grow a whole lot of plants to get a decent amount, but just 4 long bean plants in one square foot was more than enough for us and by the end of the summer, we'd be sick of beans.
Why don't more people grow long beans? Grow long beans! Your neighbors will be impressed.
Although our long beans looked kind of funny, they tasted like regular green beans, and harvesting so many of them throughout the summer months, I came up with lots of easy recipe ideas for them. We had variations on this Green Beans with Lemon Parmesan Panko recipe many evenings last summer, but it wasn't something I had written down until now.
I like to roast my green beans, but if you're one of those people who are morally opposed to turning on the oven during summertime, steaming or grilling works just fine too — the main objective here is just to get your beans cooked. Once they're cooked, you toss them in fresh lemon juice, and top with with garlicky toasted panko, lemon zest, and grated Parmesan cheese.
Oh, and about the cheese! Whenever we do a recipe that uses Parmesan this comes up: in the US, it is possible to get vegetarian Parmesan cheese — I usually buy the Whole Foods 365 brand or Organic Valley. Avoid using imported Parmesan because it's never vegetarian. And if you live in Europe, you'll want to substitute the Parmesan with vegetarian hard cheese.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds green beans trimmed
- 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons light olive oil or any other high smoke point cooking oil, divided
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 large clove garlic minced
- ¾ cup panko breadcrumbs
- Zest from 1 lemon
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF. Put a rimmed baking sheet in the oven while it preheats.
- In a large bowl, toss the green beans with a tablespoon of oil and a few pinches of salt and pepper. Once the oven has finished heating up, remove the baking sheet from the oven and carefully transfer the beans onto it. Roast for about 15 minutes, stirring halfway through the cooking time, until the beans are tender, but still crisp.
- While the beans are cooking, heat the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Stir in the panko and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until it's toasted and golden brown in color. Transfer to a small bowl and let it cool slightly, then toss the panko with the parmesan cheese and lemon zest; season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Transfer the green beans to a serving platter and drizzle them with fresh lemon juice. Top the beans with the panko mixture and serve immediately.
How exciting! I don't blame you, I would charge them extra in the purchase price to reap the fruits of my labor! LOL
These look SOOO good! I planted a bean plant this year and all it's done is try to grow all over the place and produce nothing. I have no idea when it's supposed to harvest but I thought it would by now. Veggies laugh at me when I try to plant them in my container garden. Though my herbs have given me a hearty chuckle this year as well.
Bush beans or pole beans? My bush beans didn't do much - I'd never get enough from them for a meal, maybe 5 beans every few days. Pathetic! The long beans did much better for whatever reason. Maybe since they're Asian, they liked the heat and humidity we get down here.
Hi Kiersten!
I think you just might be my green bean soul sister! I too, love growing beans because they are easy and I too love roasting them. Although I confess I'm more boring than you, just roast them in the oven with a little olive oil and sliced almonds so I'm eager to try your lemon/garlic/panko/parm spin!
Sorry you're not doing a garden, but your situation is understandable (although the harvest would be a great selling point!!) But yes, a lot of work and you might not reap the rewards so sad.
We have so many green beans and like you, I love how they just keep coming but I do need new ways to spice them up or they do get boring! Pop over and pick some of mine =)
I wish I could! There's nothing like green beans fresh from the garden. I miss that! But next year, I will have an even bigger garden to make up for it. 😀
I cannot wait to move into a real house and grow my own garden! Freaky long beans will be a must (as will loads of Parm to top 'em off!)
You're moving really soon, right? When we were in Madison, I had a plot in a community garden. It was a pain not having it right out the door, but it was a fun way to meet our neighbors and grow a few veggies - not many, because my plot was teeny tiny. 🙂
Yum! This looks like such a great side dish Kierstan - love the different textures 🙂
I definitely wouldn't have put effort into a garden if I thought I was moving. It's not selfish, it's time management 😉 These green beaners look soooooo tasty! I've been enjoying green beans more this summer than in summers past, so I'm all about these fresh and fun recipes! Love it.
I always get excited about corn and zucchini, but I kind of forget about green beans. Very uncool of me because green beans are delicious!
Hey Kiersten!
Since hubby and I are meat eaters, I would most definitely make these beans as a side dish!
They are a perfect side dish, even for a meat eater. 🙂 Thanks for commenting - it's nice to see you here! We're still trying to figure out what we're going to do with the house stuff - we keep going back and forth about it...
I've never roasted green beans. Can't wait to try it!
Oh, you have to try it! It's my favorite thing to do with them. 🙂
I love green beans, what a mouth watering topping!
Wow I would love to have home grown veggies!! Thus is such a great idea! Thanks for showing a simple yet delicious recipe!
Kristen, these sound AMAZING!!! I can't wait to try a gfree version of this dish at our house.
This looks to die for!
I made these tonight and they were fantastic! Loved the recipe - thanks!
I'm so glad you enjoyed them - thanks for your comment! 🙂
I absolutely love roasted green beans too and this crunchy topping seems like the perfect way to jazz them up!
I love green beans and during summertime I eat plenty of them! I simply can't get enough! So you can imagine how much I love this simple, yet delicious recipe, and I'll be trying it out asap!
xo, Elisa
I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
I just got romano beans in my CSA, which I've never tried before, and I'm thinking they need to get this lemon parmesan panko treatment! Thanks for the easy side dish idea! Though...I might just eat enough of these to make it a main meal!
I love having sides as a main dish. That's one of the perks of being a vegetarian! 🙂
Hi Kiersten, just stopping by to let you know that this dish is delicious. I made this as a side dish last night and it was gone in seconds. I skipped the cheese but still so very tasty. Thank you!
Thanks for your comment - I'm glad you enjoyed the green beans! 🙂