Easy veggie side dish helps ring in the new year

BY Betty Williams

Can you believe this year is just days away from being over? Done. Finito. Every year I am amazed at how quickly the time has passed and every year that timespan seems to be passing quicker and quicker.

Recently, I watched an interesting movie (I’ll admit, it was a rom-com) about traveling through time and between parallel universes. You could say I wasn’t in the Christmas spirit at the time (hint: it involved a flocked tree), so a holiday movie was just not my jam that day.

The film was about a man who received a magical key from a mysterious stranger. Used on any door, the key allowed the man to travel to an alternative reality, a parallel universe. The catch? There was no going back to the universe he just left.

In true romantic comedy fashion, the plot involved the main character trying to win back the girl that got away. However, in this movie, he was chasing her through numerous alternate realities. Confusion and confrontations were the result, plus some surprises.

Sometimes films will include a character eating a meal, but surprisingly most don’t. Have you ever seen a Marvel superhero digging into a plate of pasta? Or a Cold War spy enjoying an omelet? How about an angry female protagonist eating something with protein?

No, dear reader, most film characters, like in the film I watched, only drink coffee or alcohol. Golly, how do they expect to overthrow the evil superpower, 1950s Russian army, or middle-aged conservative guy if they don’t have any gas in their tank?

Now if only the lead characters would throw a few ingredients in a pan to cook and then chow down on it. Speaking of which, this week’s recipe is just that: a few ingredients thrown in a pan. No measuring required.

Remember last month’s column where we talked about not having to measure ingredients? Since then, I have become so captivated by this style of cooking. No measuring cups! No measuring spoons! No weighing ingredients on a scale! It is very liberating.

This week I came up with a clean-out-the-vegetable-drawer side dish. It involved some fresh green beans I had forgotten to put in a recipe (it happens), one of many onions that reside on my kitchen counter, some garlic (ditto on the kitchen counter), and a few orphan tomatoes.

There was some extra chorizo that was left from something else I had made earlier in the week, so I threw that in as well. The result? This week’s recipe. It was delicious with the roasted chicken that I made for dinner. Even my non-vegetable eating man-child liked it (mommy loves you, honey). Did I mention no measuring is required?

By the way, I won’t tell you the ending of the rom-com. It’s not that I don’t want to spoil it for you (and I don’t). It’s because I didn’t see the ending. Our Internet had a glitch about 20 minutes from the ending of the movie and I was too tired that evening to try and figure out why that happened. If you have watched it (mind you, the whole thing) and if you happen to see me over the holidays, please don’t tell me the ending yet. I plan on finishing the movie this year and in this universe.

Photo by Betty Williams

Green Beans with Chorizo and Tomato

Serves 2 to 4

Ingredients

• Two handfuls of fresh green beans
• 1 small onion
• 6 inch piece chorizo
• One handful of cherry tomatoes

Directions

Rinse and trim green beans of any stems or hard ends. Peel and chop onion. Cut cherry tomatoes in halves, if desired. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chorizo, breaking it up with a spatula. Cook chorizo until nearly done and fat is rendered. Add onion and saute until translucent, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add green beans and tomatoes and give it a good stir. Cover pan and let cook until green beans are just starting to get tender, around 4 or 5 minutes. Remove cover and continue to cook until green beans are tender crisp, about 3 minutes more. Serve warm.