Fresh Cranberry Beans and an Announcement

Our little market had something I hadn’t yet seen in the few years we’ve lived here: fresh cranberry beans. I had never cooked fresh beans before, so I was excited to get my first chance. And cranberry beans are just screaming to be made into a blog post since they’re so pretty and quite photogenic.

Fresh Cranberry Beans with Oregano and Lemon

• 1 pound fresh cranberry beans
• 1 well-packed tablespoon fresh oregano
• zest of half a lemon
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and freshly cracked pepper

1. Start by shelling the beans. (1 pound yielded about 1 1/2 cups shelled beans.)
2. Put the beans in a medium-sized saucepan. Fill with enough water to cover the beans by an inch. Cover and heat over high heat until boiling. Add about 1 teaspoon of salt. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for about 30 minutes — until beans are soft.
3. Drain the beans, then toss with the oregano, lemon zest, salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve immediately.

Serves 1-2

Despite the fact that I just instructed you to “serve immediately,” after further testing is has been confirmed that the beans are quite good chilled as well.

*********************************************************************

Now onto the announcement. We have a new blogger! My sister, Larissa, asked if she could contribute recipes. You might recall her from the carrot cake recipe. Like me, Larissa does not require a gluten-free diet. However, our grandma has Celiac disease so she does gluten-free baking from time to time. She also just likes to cook. I figured the more recipes the merrier. I look forward to seeing what she whips up and I hope you do too. :D