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String Beans and Peas, Panaches
Plunge a half pint canned string beans and half pint canned green peas into a pint boiling water with half teaspoon salt and boil for five minutes; drain on a sieve and place both on a hot dish. Place an ounce butter in a small frying pan with three tablespoons fresh bread crumbs and toss on fire until a nice light brown; pour over beans and peas and serve.
A five-minute side dish built on the buttered-crumb finish rather than on the vegetables themselves. Two things to know: the measurements are by volume, and the boiling step is a reheat, not a cooking step.
- Half pint means a cupVegetables here are measured by volume, not weight. A half pint is one cup of drained beans and one cup of drained peas; a standard 14-15 oz can of each drains to somewhat more than that.
- An ounce of butterTwo tablespoons. Enough to coat three tablespoons of crumbs without leaving them greasy.
- Five minutes is too long nowCanned vegetables are fully cooked in the can. Modern canned beans and peas need only a minute in the boiling salted water to heat through; five minutes turns the peas to paste. If you substitute frozen, three to four minutes is right for beans, two for peas, and they should go in separately.
- Fresh crumbs, not dryThe recipe specifies fresh bread crumbs, meaning soft crumbs torn or grated from a day-old loaf. These brown unevenly and stay slightly chewy, which is the point. Packaged dry crumbs absorb the butter instantly and scorch.
- Watch the panBrowning three tablespoons of crumbs in butter takes two or three minutes over medium heat and goes from light brown to burnt in seconds. Keep them moving and pull the pan off the heat while they are still a shade paler than you want.
- Keep the two vegetables distinctPanache means variegated or parti-coloured, used of two vegetables combined for contrast; the recipe's direction to 'place both on a hot dish' leaves the arrangement open. Drain them well before plating or the crumbs will go soggy on contact.
- YieldTwo cups of vegetables serves three or four as a side.
Panaché is French for variegated or parti-coloured. The buttered-crumb topping does the same work here as any such finish: a little fat and crunch over something plain and watery. What dates the recipe is its easy reliance on cans.