Steak Dinner with Roasted Green Beans and Fennel

 We had a super-easy and delicious dinner last night.  A simple steak on the grill along with some fresh tomatoes tossed with EVOO, balsamic and fresh basil from my garden and a new green bean side dish that I just recently found on the while surfing the net for recipes for our gourmet group that we are hosting in a few weeks.

The green beans, or thin haricot verts if you can find them (or, as the author of the blog where I found the recipe calls them, Harry Corvair), are roasted in the oven with diced fennel.  My husband and I both thought they were wonderful! 

The fennel adds a wonderful, rich flavor to the beans.  When they come out of the oven, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a handful of freshly-grated Parmesan cheese are added.  Oh, yum!  This is a perfect side dish for a grilled steak.

I had to buy a fairly large bulb of fennel which was too much for the green beans so I carmelized the rest of the fennal on the stove with a little EVOO and  S&P and added it as a topping to the steak.

I can't believe I wasted so many years not cooking with fennel!

The recipe is adapted from the food blog, Foodgasms. I loved this blog!  Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that the author has posted anything new in quite a long while.    

Oven Roasted Green Beans and Fennel 
Recipe adapted from Foodgasms
Printable Recipe

Serves 2 as a side dish~

1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed, washed and dried
1 small fennel bulb chopped, white part only, core removed, about 1/2 cup
Splash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Kosher salt, about 1 teaspoon
Freshly ground black pepper , about 1/2 teaspoon
A Squeeze of fresh lemon juice,, about 1 tablespoon
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese about 1/4 cup

Preheat oven to 450˚. Chop the fennel bulb into a fine dice. Add the clean, trimmed green beans to a baking sheet and toss with the chopped fennel. Add a splash of EVOO to coat the green beans and fennel without drowning them in oil, add the salt and pepper and toss to blend. Roast until the beans reach the desired al dente stage, about 5-7 minutes

Remove from the oven and immediately add the squeeze of fresh lemon over them and add the fresh grated Parmesan and toos.

Serve immediately.

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