FFWD: Green Beans with Pancetta

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 :).

FFWD: Spiced Butter-Glazed Carrots

Would you believe me if I told you that I made both My Go-to Beef Daube and Leek & Potato Soup but forgot to take pictures of them?

In my defense, it was late and I got lazy, thinking that I would just take pictures of the leftover the next day, which of course never happened. Note to self, next time, just take a picture anyway, even if it's a crummy quality, because having some pictures is always better than no picture.

The beef daube was very good. It made me think of Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon. The only difference that I noticed was the turnips and the lack of pearl onions. The leek potato soup was good as well. Nothing special, but hearty, and it's a good thing to come home to a bowl of warm soup after a long day.

Anyway... I digress. Let's move on to this dish, shall we?

There could not be an easier dish to make. Melt butter, sautee 1/2 an onion and garlic until they soften. Then add the cardamom pods and ginger, saute a bit more. Add the carrots, mixing it good so they are all coated with the butter and spices. Add some chicken stock, bring to a boil, then let simmer for 10 minutes or until they soft. In my case, by the 10 minute mark they are very tender and fragrant.

Tasting impressions:
Very good and tasty. And healthy to boot. I made this with 6 carrots because that's all I have but next time I'll make a bigger batch of it.