Green beans with garlic, lemon and chili

The Olympic Games are on now in London, but so far I've hardly noticed it (except for in the newspapers, where everything is about the Games). I live next to Lord's cricket ground, one of the venues, but there is no more people here than usual. Well, I guess archery isn't really a big public sport... Actually feels like less people overall in central London, and less people for sure at Marylebone station in the mornings.

If the weather is good I might go and try to see some of the triathlon in Hyde park on Saturday, but don't think I'll see anything else. I'm already quite bored with the Games to be honest. The chance of this blog turning into a sports blog is close to zero....Though I thought the opening ceremony was much better than I expected, I really liked that they paid tribute to NHS. Universal healthcare rules! I will never ever understand why people in the US are against healthcare for all.

Anyhow, I was starving when I got home today and wanted something warm and comforting as summer apparently is over after just one week. I rummaged through the freezer and found a bag of green beans. I love green beans (haricot vertes if you want to be fancy) as a side dish or in a salad for example, and I usually have a bag in the freezer. This dish takes no more than 10 min to do, it's buttery, spicy and delicious, and is enough for four as a side dish or two as a main. This will go well with almost any type of fish, meat or bird. I went for the supereasy option to have it with just a simple omelette. Quick, easy, cheap, and tasty. Go and cook it now!


Green beans with garlic, lemon, and chili (serves 2-4)
400 g green beans, fresh or frozen
0.5 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 lemon, zest
1 red chili, finely chopped
1 tbsp light soy sauce

If you use fresh green beans, start by steaming the beans lightly. If you use frozen, cover with boiling water for 2 min and then drain

Heat up a large frying pan with the olive oil

Add the green beans, fry for 3-5 min until the beans and pan is really hot

Add butter, garlic, lemon zest, red chili to the pan and stir until the butter has melted

Remove pan from the heat to prevent the garlic from burning

Stir in the soy sauce

Taste and add more soy sauce or salt if necessary

Smaklig måltid!