One Pan Green Beans, Mushrooms and Shallots

Servings 8 -10 Servings

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
4 shallots sliced thinly (about 1 cup)
8 ounces sliced mushrooms I used white
1/4 cup water
2 pounds fresh green beans washed and trimmed
fresh lemon juice
salt
1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds

Instructions

Melt butter in a large saute pan. Add shallots and saute over medium heat until shallots are beginning to brown. Lightly season with salt. Your butter will also be browning at this point. (Don't cook on too high of a heat or your butter will burn.) Remove the cooked shallots to a separate bowl or plate with a slotted spoon, leaving the browned butter in the pan. Set the shallots aside.
Add sliced mushrooms to the pan and saute over medium heat until browned, plump and tender. Lightly season with salt. Remove mushrooms and set aside along with the shallots.
Add the fresh green beans to the pan along with the 1/4 cup of water. Bring to a low simmer, then cover, allowing the beans to steam until almost to your desired tenderness, about 8-10 minutes. Check tenderness with a fork.
Remove cover, season with salt and continue to cook until any residual water in the pan has evaporated.
Add the shallots and mushrooms back into the pan (making sure to scrape any butter from the bowl back into the pan) and toss to combine and reheat. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.
Transfer mixture to serving bowl, squeeze lemon juice over all (I use about a half lemon's worth, but do it to your taste) and then top with toasted almonds. Serve.

Recipe Notes

*If your water evaporates before your beans are cooked to your liking, just add another couple of tablespoons.

*If you like mushrooms but don't want them to be such a big part of the dish, cut the amount in half. Then, instead of sliced mushrooms, chop them into smaller pieces so that the smaller amount can disperse easily through the whole mixture.

*I used sliced white mushrooms, but you can use whatever mushroom you love or even a mix of different types.

*I used regular garden fresh green beans in these photos, but I would normally buy a bag of fresh haricot verts. Both are good, use what you love.

*I toast my nuts in the toaster oven, using my lowest toaster setting, which is "1." I repeat that setting until the nuts are just beginning to brown on the edges. Nuts can burn quickly and this helps me keep my eye on them. You can toast them in a dry frying pan on the stop top stirring until lightly browned.

*For best overall flavor, I have you season each layer of the recipe, the shallots, mushrooms and beans. Do so lightly, you can always adjust the seasoning at the end. If you use salted butter, decrease the amount of salt you use.

*I prefer making this right before serving, but you can make this dish ahead. Just under cook the beans in the final step a bit so that when you reheat them, you don't over cook them. You can reheat them in the microwave or regular oven in a large casserole dish (adding a tablespoon or so of water to help create some steam) until the dish is heated through and the beans are to your desired tenderness. Add lemon juice and toasted almonds just before serving.