Blanched Green Beans

Blanching is a simple technique to keep vegetables, and in this case green beans, crisp and tender. Blanching essentially involves boiling the vegetables briefly and then immediately chilling them in ice water.

This process will preserve the texture, color, and flavor of your vegetable. It's a process that also allows you to do some of the prep-work ahead of time when preparing a meal for a crowd and is a good step that can be done a day ahead of time when preparing a large meal like Thanksgiving.


INGREDIENTS:
1 pound green beans, ends snipped off
2 1/2 quarts water
salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring 2-1/2 quarts water to boil in large saucepan over high heat; add salt and green beans, return to boil, and cook until beans are bright green and crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes.


2. Meanwhile, fill large bowl with ice water. Drain beans in colander and transfer beans immediately to ice water.



3. When beans no longer feel warm to touch, drain in colander again and dry thoroughly with paper towels.


4. Now your beans are ready for the rest of your recipe....

While I demonstrated blanching for green beans here, the process of blanching is the exactly same for all other vegetables. I can't think of one vegetable that would necessitate a different blanching procedure. I will update you though if I think of one!!