Sorry, Taunton, it's too good not to post

I made a rather unremarkable beef stroganoff for dinner tonight, with somewhat tough meat served over noodles that I had to rescue from where I accidentally upset the entire colander into the sink. It was one of those kinds of cooking nights.

The meal was saved by the green beans below, which were so good we actually used extra noodles to dip up the sauce after all the beans were gone. Lacking the fancy All-Clad saute pan recommended in the article, I used my straight-sided cast iron skillet, which worked wonderfully. It's finally achieved the state of seasoned nirvana where even messy fried gloppy stuff like this sauce wiped out with hot water ... which means I'll probably catch something on fire in it next time I cook, warping the skillet past the point of salvaging. Or something.

Anyway, the beans kicked ass. Try them soon.

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Fast and Flavorful Vegetable Sautes - Chinese Restaurant-Style Sauteed Green Beans
From Fine Cooking March 2008 issue, page 45

1 Tbs less-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbs honey
1 Tbs unsalted butter
2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
12 oz green beans, trimmed
Kosher salt
1 Tbs minced garlic

Combine the soy sauce, honey, and 1 Tbs water in a small dish and set near the stove. Set a shallow serving dish near the stove, too.

In a 10-inch straight-sided saute pan, heat the butter with the olive oil over medium-high heat. When the butter is melted, add the green beans and 1/2 tsp salt and toss with tongs to coat well. Cook, turning the beans occasionally, until most are well browned, shrunken, and tender, 7 to 8 minutes. The butter in the pan will have turned dark brown.

Reduce the heat to low, add the garlic, and cook, stirring constantly with a heatproof rubber spatula, until the garlic is softened and fragrant, 15 to 20 seconds. Carefully add the soy mixture, scraping the honey out into the pan. Cook, stirring, until the liquid reduces to a glazy consistency that coats the beans, 30 to 45 seconds.

Immediately transfer the beans to the serving dish, scraping the pan with the spatula to get all of the garlicky sauce. Let sit for a few minutes and then serve warm.

Serves two to three as a side dish.

You can find a link to the original pay-to-read-it article here, along with a photo of the finished dish. If you've never read Fine Cooking, I can highly recommend it. I don't subscribe anymore, but I'm thinking it's time to sign up again. Note to self: Ask for subscription for birthday or Mother's Day.

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On a related note, after dinner I finally pulled the grease screens out of the vent fan and washed them for the first time since we moved to this house, and possibly for the first time since the microwave was initially installed. I can think of a whole lot of interjections and descriptions, but let's just say ... ewwwwwwwwwww. Really ewwwwwwwww. Like, "I had to scrub out the sink after washing them in it, since there was a ring left when I drained the water" ewwwwwwww. Do yourself a favor and go clean your vent fan screens now, and try to remember to do it more than once a year, okay? Because ... ew. Just ew.