GREEN BEAN AND POTATO PUREE (ITALIAN) Mary planted an awful lot of romano beans this year, and frankly, I'm getting a little tired of 'em. So the other night, instead of going with the usual bowl-o-beans, I decided to try something more adventurous, a Genovese combination of green beans and potatoes. This is a much-simplified version; the real thing would include eggs and cheese and would be baked in a pie shell. But call it a polpettone or just call it a bean-and-potato puree, it's a nice vegetable combo and not TOO much work. Snap off the ends and remove the strings from enough romano beans (or other string beans) to serve two, and cook them in boiling salted water until they're quite soft, 20 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, peel one baking potato, cut it into 1-inch cubes, and simmer them in boiling salted water for about 20 minutes. Run the beans through a Foley food mill into a pan, then do the same with the cooked potatoes. Add salt, pepper and fresh-grated nutmeg to taste. Add water to the combined puree, a little at a time, while stirring to get a good mashed-potato consistency. Pour into a bowl and serve. The leftovers look like they'd go mighty well with about a cup of chicken broth to make a thick soup ...
|
