This week's selection from French Fridays with Dorie is Green Beans with Pancetta. I have only used Pancetta once - a long time ago - so I'm a bit curious as to how it would taste and how it would compare to bacon. Now bacon, that's a different story. I love bacon. In fact, I currently have some in the freezer :).
Anyway, back to pancetta. The recipe tells you to dice it and then saute on the pan. It does not, however, tell you to render the fat. Which basically means that once you get a nice pool of fat on the pan, you pour it off to a bowl. I like doing this with bacon as well. It makes them crispier, and also it's healthier. Ha, if you can call pancetta or bacon healthy, that is. But you would be amazed to see how much fat ended up in your bowl. I definitely do not want all that clogging my arteries.
While the pancetta is rendering, I boil some water. Once it comes to a boil, add some salt and throw in all the green beans. I set the timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, drain the green beans and immediately plunge it into a bowl of cold water with lots of ice. We are shocking the green beans so it stopped cooking. This also maintains their bright green colors.
Finally, leaving 1 Tbsp of the fat on the pan, add some butter, toss in the beans and cook, add in salt and pepper and stir in pancetta.
Tasting impressions:
It is pretty good. Green beans is one of the top favorite veggie in the house so am loving this one. As for the pancetta, it's not bad, but I still prefer bacon :).
