Veggies

Roasted Green Beans and Shallots

low carb vegan recipe

Did you know that green beans aren’t beans? With this veggie, we eat the unripe young fruit that has yet to mature into full blown beans. They are more like ‘someday beans’ but since they are green, they’re name isn’t a total falsehood. Rest assured, though, that they are still legumes, but no one wants to call them ‘baby green legumes,’ presumably.

It’s this developmental (not mental) immaturity that makes green beans so low carb. If their beans-to-be were, well, beans, then they would be loaded with carbs in the way that most beans are. Green beans quite literally nip carbs in the bud, by nipping them at baby bean stage.

These legume younglings are rich in vitamins K and C, as well as iron, folate, manganese, antioxidants, some good ol’ protein, fiber of course (that’s a no brainer), and quercetin, which is a flavonoid with senolytic effects, since it helps the body eliminate zombie cells !

Woo hoo, you can kill zombies eating this stuff! That’s also a no brainer (there’s some kind of missing joke here, about zombies and brains.). Aren’t you glad I don’t try to be funny with every recipe in this book?

Now that you have a thorough scientific understanding of green beans, here’s one low carb vegan way you can eat them fast and easy.

A bag of trimmed green beans (~680g)
3 whole shallots
2 tbsp herb flavored extra virgin olive oil (Tuscan, Milanese Gremolata or Provençal)
2 tbsp grapefruit (or other citrus) flavored white balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Makes 6 servings.

Preheat the oven to 400°F/205°C.

Put swimming goggles on so that cutting the shallots doesn’t burn your eyes. Always remember to wear swimming goggles when cutting, chopping or dicing any member of the onion family. If you also need reading glasses to read this recipe while slicing shallots, you can get prescription swimming goggles.

Slice the shallots into small pieces and combine with the green beans in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the oil and vinegar, then pour onto the green beans and shallots. Toss and add salt and pepper to taste.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the green bean and shallot mixture evenly across it. Roast in the oven for 40 minutes.