Tangy Green Beans with Bacon & Onion

My grandmother is probably the strongest woman I know. As long as I have known her she has worked tirelessly to care for and feed her family. Having raised six children on a dairy farm, this was no small task.

This woman whom I’ve admired my whole life is nearly ninety years old. It is so hard to believe, but seeing her only once every year or two seems to blatantly point out the passage of time. She has taught me so much without even trying… how to serve a family, how to keep a home (spotless!), how to feed a large crowd, how to keep a garden well into your eighties.

When everything else was railing against it, she taught me that keeping a home and nourishing your family was not just an important job, but a necessity. This woman who I call my grandmother is much of what I aspire to be.

So it is fitting that growing up this was the only green bean dish that I truly liked. There were the canned ones we ate on a regular basis and the green bean casserole at Thanksgiving, but I never really cared for either. But this dish always got my attention and I would eat it happily after I watched my grandmother spend a hot afternoon snapping thin green bean after thin green bean. Thankfully, as a farmer’s wife, bacon was a welcome addition to any dish.

Much like my grandmother this dish is hearty, frugal, comforting, with a bit of kick… the perfect lunch companion at the end of summer.

Tangy Green Beans with Bacon & Onion

• 1 quart of green beans, trimmed & snapped
• 3-5 slices of bacon, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1/2 medium onion, sliced
• 1 Tablespoon butter (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• salt & pepper to taste

1. Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a large skillet. Add green beans with a pinch of sea salt. Cook until desired tenderness. Drain and set aside.
2. In same large skillet add bacon and fry over medium low heat until the fat has rendered and the bacon is crispy. Add onion and fry in bacon drippings until tender.
3. Add the cooked green beans back to the skillet and add butter (if there is little bacon drippings) and red wine vinegar. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
4. Serve as a side dish, over a salad as lunch (my preference), or over rice to stretch it even further.