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Useful properties of green beans, due to the presence in the vegetable of many trace elements and vitamins, are well studied, and the product itself is loved by allmi who cares about their health and just delicious food. But try to remove the green from the garden, the pods can only be in the summer months, because for a long time to keep the beans juicy and crispy will not work.
In order not to deny yourself the pleasure and prepare useful side dishes in the offseason, the green beans are frozen for the winter. This is the most simple and affordable way in which the pods do not lose neither taste, nor texture, nor useful properties.
How to freeze green beans for the winter?
Before harvesting the pods, you need to choose the right raw material for freezing. So that the beans in the finished dish were tender, but dense, and when eating hard beans and fibers were not felt, pods of milky ripeness were collected from the plants, in which:
- just begin to form fruits that do not have a juicy soft pulpand loose skinned;
- flaps have a smooth green or yellowish, depending on the variety, shade and easily damaged by the nail.
The thicker and juicier the leaflets of the pod are, the simpler it is to prepare delicious side dishes, salads and casseroles from frozen green beans. Many housewives send pods to the freezer, vegetable raw materials only by washing and cutting off the rough parts. In this case, when it is necessary to prepare the beans, the thawed pods will lose their rich color and become brown. To avoid this, green beans must be blanched. How to freeze green beans for the winter, and if there are any other peculiarities for this process?
With previously washed green bean pods, cut the rough part where the stem is attached.
For convenience of storage and cooking of beans, the pods are cut into pieces from 2 to 5 cm long.
From boiling water, the beans are transferred to ice water, which fixes the color and cools the raw material in three minutes.
The green beans, thrown back on a colander, are dried.
Green beans ready to freeze for the winter are laid out in tight-fitting bags.
Vegetables of this type can be stored for up to 4–6 months. But it is important to remember here that such a product cannot be re-frozen. Beans not only lose their appearance, but also most of the vitamins.
In the industry for freezing green beans use a jet of very cold air. Therefore, the process lasts only a few seconds, and the pieces of the finished product turn out crumbly, without stuck together lumps and inclusions of ice.
To freeze the green beans for the winter in a similar way at home will not work. But:
- scattering the already blanched and dried pods on a shallow pan;
- then sending it to the freezer, you can get high-quality crumbly beans for any culinary delights.
The temperature should be as low as possible and the layer of pods should be minimal.
How to cook green beans, frozen for the winter?
A variety of frozen dishes are prepared from frozen green beans, ranging from vegetarian soups and light dietary side dishes to hearty main courses with mushrooms and meat, salads and casseroles.
At the same time, almost all such recipes for preparing frozen green beans are quite simple and do not require much time.
Recipe for making boiled beans
Most often, boiled green beans become a component of a culinary dish. Pods fried in vegetable or butter are a little less common in recipes for preparing frozen green beans.
Preparing such a blank is not at all difficult.
- Beans, without defrosting, boiled in salted water. And after boiling the vegetables should be on the fire for no more than 5-7 minutes.
- It is easier to fry the pods thawed at zero temperature. In this case, they will not soften and will not give too much water in the skillet. The frying process also lasts no more than 6 minutes.
How to make green beans already in this form is an excellent addition to baked or boiled meat, a plate and sea fish. But if desired, sweet pickled onions, soy sauce and crushed rye crackers are added to the juicy green pods.
Such a salad will satisfy hunger, invigorate and be a good addition to baked potatoes or minced meat products.
In early spring, a light salad of fresh radish and green beans with the first greens and shallots will help bring summer closer.
There are many options for such simple dishes.
Due to its neutral taste, beans are combined with tomatoes and potatoes, sweet corn and legumes, pumpkin and pasta, mushrooms and other ingredients.
How else can you prepare green beans, frozen in summer and badly needed in winter, when the body experiences a natural deficiency of vitamins and fresh vegetables?
Nourishing salad of green beans, boiled potatoes and eggs
For this dish you will need:
- 300 grams of frozen green beans;
- 500 grams of potatoes, boiled and cut into slices;
- 3 hard boiled eggs;
- 1 small, not sharp onion.
Beans are boiled, discarded on a sieve and dried. Eggs are cut in half or in quarters. Onions cut into thin half-rings.
The pods, along with slices of potatoes and onions, sprinkled with butter, baked with the addition of salt, pepper and spices to taste. Well emphasize the taste of sliced garlic slices, added a few minutes until cooked. Vegetables are removed from heat when a ruddy crust forms on potatoes.
A mixture of a spoonful of lemon juice, a couple of tablespoons of Dijon mustard and 70 grams of olive oil is prepared to fill the salad. If necessary, wine vinegar, salt and spices are added to the sauce. You can decorate the dish and add brightness with the help of eggs, green basil and lemon zest.
Recipe for the preparation of green beans with tomatoes and garlic
For 400 grams of frozen green beans for the winter you will need:
- a spoon of vegetable oil;
- a few cloves of garlic;
- 8–10 cherry tomatoes;
- salt to taste.
While the pods of the beans are boiled, the butter is heated in a pan, in which they put the garlic and spices, cut into thin slices. In this case, basil and oregano are best for vegetables. Then tomatoes are added to the dishes, and boiled beans in a couple of minutes. On fire, the dish spends 4–5 minutes in total, after which it can be served with beef or duck.
Green beans with roasted onions and mushrooms
Salad products:
- 300 grams of fine peeled onions;
- 500 grams of green beans;
- 5 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
- 300 grams of fresh champignons or other mushrooms of choice;
- soy sauce spoon;
- 4 garlic cloves;
- sprig of thyme;
- lemon juice, pepper and salt to taste.
In a frying pan, melt 3 spoons of butter, in which small, seasoned with salt onions are well fried. With stirring this process can take up to 30 minutes. During this time, you can boil and cool previously, frozen green beans for the winter.
A spoonful of butter is heated in a saucepan, to which is then sliced mushrooms are added. They should be fried for about 10 minutes until they turn red. Then the remaining oil is poured into this dish and garlic, thyme, salt and pepper are put. Half a minute later, when the aroma appears, the saucepan is removed from the heat. Hot vegetables and mushrooms are mixed, seasoned with lemon juice and soy sauce and served to the table.
Noodles with chicken and frozen green beans: a recipe for making soup
For cooking, you will need:
- 200 grams of green beans;
- 200 grams of boiled chicken breast fillet;
- 1 liter low-fat chicken broth;
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger;
- spoon of chopped garlic;
- 1 small onion:
- a few feathers of green onions;
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil;
- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce;
- cilantro and basil.
Chopped garlic, ginger, chopped onions and bean pods are fried in oil, then the beans are carefully removed, and the rest of the vegetables are added to chicken broth. Soy sauce is also poured in here, sliced chicken fillet is put in, and if necessary, salt and pepper are added. Another 10 minutes the pan remains on the fire, then the soup is seasoned with thin noodles, and then, shortly before being cooked, the beans are added. The finished dish when serving decorate with greens.
