What to do with a glut of runner beans
Even with careful successive sowing or planting, runner beans always seem to come in a glut during August and September.
I don't think of it as a glut, but a welcome harvest and you can freeze them, or cook with them. Runner beans freeze well and cook easily from frozen. This means you can enjoy your own organic runner beans well into late autumn and winter. They also have an affinity cooked with tomatoes, which coincidentally are also plentiful at this time solving two gluts in one go.
Using up a glut of runner beans - cook with them Runner beans with tomato sauce
This is based on a Greek recipe called Fasolakia, which is a sort of tomato bean stew, and much nicer than it sounds. The Greek version uses a bean similar to French beans, but it works equally well with runner beans.
These are the basic Basic ingredients chopped runner beans, tomatoes, onion, garlic and dried oregano.
Ingredients combined pre cooking.
Finished dish Runner Bean and Tomato casserole
Ingredients for 4
Olive oil
Red onion
2/3 cloves of garlic depending on your taste
500 gm of prepared runner beans cut into small pieces
500 gm tomatoes - any type will do although I find the smaller cherry type produce the best flavour - halved or smaller depending on size.
500 mills of good quality stock- Veg stock or a good chicken stock gives the dish a depth of flavour
Dried oregano around 1-2 tablespoons depending on taste.
The cooking times given vary a lot with the beans. At the beginning of the season, when the beans are very young, they will cook and become tender quickly. Later in the season the beans are usually larger and tougher, and can take twice as long to cook.
This is a dish you can leave on the hob/oven simmering. Once cooked, it can be left to cool, it will re heat easily and freezes well.
Method
Gently saute the onions in olive oil until soft around 7-10 mins.
Add all the other ingredients including seasoning to taste
Simmer on the hob for around 30mins until the beans are tender and the tomatoes broken down to a soft consistency. Towards the end of the growing season when the beans are older, a longer cooking period is often required an extra 15-30+ mins, test for tenderness.
This goes well with simple grilled chicken thighs or salmon.
In addition, this dish can be made into a more substantial vegetarian supper by adding potatoes at the early stage with the rest of the ingredients. Also adding tinned pulses such as lentils or butter beans about 5 mins before the end .
This is a good way to use up both a glut of tomatoes and green beans all in one go and makes a tasty side dish or a light supper.
You can also cook in the oven if preferred it will need at least 1 hour on low 170C and again test beans for tenderness.
How to Freeze Runner Beans.
Freezing runner beans is quick and easy. The images below illustrate the necessary steps.
Check first that you have a good number of ice cubes in the freezer which will be needed to cool the beans quickly once cooked. Pick all the runner beans of suitable size, wash and clean them and prepare them by removing any strings and slicing into suitable sizes. Before you cook the beans fill a bowl full of cold fresh water.
Have a large pan of slightly salted water on a rolling boil, add the runner beans and just blanch (i.e. cook) for 2 mins. Drain the beans, add the ice cubes to the bowl of cold fresh water and add the beans. Stir them to distribute the temperature, and when fully cold remove from pan and dry thoroughly.
The beans are now ready for freezing. They can be cooked from frozen and having already been blanched, the beans will only require a further 2-3 mins to be fully cooked.
Selected runner beans
Runner beans selected for freezing they are best picked young before they can become tough or stringy
Prepared beans
Beans are prepared washed, topped tails and sliced
Beans cooling in iced water
Cool beans quickly by placing in a bowl of iced water
Drying Beans
It is important to dry beans thoroughly before freezing so there is no excess water
Home Grown frozen beans
Home grown frozen beans what a treat!
