Green Beans With Lemon, Garlic & Parmigiano Gremolata

With the Milanese sauce, these beans shine at room temperature and could be done a day in advance. They will hold at room temperature about 2 hours; after that, chill them. This recipe is from "The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper", by Lynne Rosetto Kasper & Sally Swift. Cook to Cook: You’ll need 2 large, shallow pans for the beans. Ideally they should be straight-sided sauté pans, but big slope-sided skillets work, too. Improvise lids with cookie sheets or foil. Serves 10 to 14 as part of a large meal.

• Ready In: 25 mins
• Serves: 14

Ingredients

• Beans

•  good tasting extra virgin olive oil
• 3  lbs green beans, stem ends trimmed
•  salt and fresh-ground black pepper
• 1  cup water

• Gremolata

• 5  large garlic cloves, crushed
• 1⁄3 cup water
• 2  shredded large lemons, zest of (organic preferred, after all, you are eating the entire rind)
• 1  cup Italian parsley, leaves tightly packed
•  salt and fresh ground black pepper
• 1 1⁄2 cups  coarsely-grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

Directions

1. 1. Lightly film the bottom of 2 straight-sided 12-inch sauté pans with oil. Heat them over medium-high heat. Add the beans and generous sprinklings of salt and pepper, and sauté for 2 minutes, or until the beans begin to brown. Add 1/2 cup of water to each pan and immediately cover it. Turn the heat to medium-low. Cook the beans for 15 to 20 minutes, checking them often for burning and adding a little water if necessary. You want the beans very tender.
2. As the beans cook, make the gremolata. Put the garlic and 1/3 cup water in a coffee mug and microwave 1 minute, or simmer in a small saucepan to 1 to 2 minutes (this mellows the garlic just a little). Then, in a food processor, mince together the garlic (with its liquid), lemon zest, and parsley. Salt and pepper the mixture to taste.
3. When the beans are tender, uncover them, cook off any liquid in the pan, and turn them into a serving bowl. Toss the beans with the gremolata and the grated cheese.