Char-Grilled Romano Pole Beans, The Ultimate Side Dish!

Romano or pole beans are also called Italian flat beans. These beans are a real treat if you can get your hands on them. Here we char grill them until they're deliciously tender and then drizzle a light, lemony, herb vinaigrette on top! These are a perfect side dish for a lunch or dinner spread and go with any sort of meats and can be served hot, room temperature or cold!

Romano beans go by several different names like pole beans, helda beans or Italian flat beans but they all refer to a flat green snap bean. These are different to borlotti beans that resemble the shape of the romano bean. They can be eaten raw or cooked but I prefer them cooked. They have a texture that can hold up to long amounts of cooking or they are also great lightly cooked too. These flat beans grow up to 25cms or 10 inches long.

I have to admit that whenever I get Romano beans in my vege box I get a bit excited. Like I've been given something very unusual and special. I usually make this Romano bean recipe out of them but I was saving my fresh tomatoes for another dish. I actually recommend doubling this recipe because they're SO good. Don't worry if they look burnt, they don't taste burnt. I keep them in the fridge for snacking on whenever I get hungry. And if you can't get a hold of Romano beans then you can try this recipe with regular green string beans!

Whenever I have an Italian ingredient I always text Monica to see what I should do with it. She and I have such similar tastes and she always comes back with great ideas. I never grew up eating Romano beans, it was snake beans and green beans for me and I think that's why I find getting them so special.

Monica and I often walk down the street arm in arm and are sometimes mistaken for being a couple. I see the looks that people give us but I don't care. The other day we went to lunch at Capella hotel for my birthday. We were dressed up because it is a really beautiful hotel. Monica glanced around and whispered, "People think we're a couple." She has a short, blond cropped hair and I think we give off a GFlip and Chrishell Stause vibe.

"Really?" I said looking around the restaurant for people but there was really only the waitstaff around us.

"Can I take a photo of you?" she asked and I grinned a cheesy birthday grin. "You're so pretty!" she said. At that exact moment a waiter came to pour us water. When he left we both giggled at the timing. We talked about Monica moving back to Italy next year. I'm against the idea of her moving because I don't want my best friend to move so far away. "Let's just enjoy the time we have left together," she said and of course the waiter came back with our meal then. At that point I had to agree that we were definitely giving off couple vibes!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you enjoy cooking with ingredients that are new to you? Have you ever tried Romano beans?

Char Grilled Romano Pole Beans

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serves: 2 as a side dish

• 300g/10.6ozs romano or pole beans (also called Italian flat beans)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

For dressing

• 20ml/0.7flozs extra virgin olive oil
• 20ml/0.7flozs lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• Salt and pepper

Step 1 - First trim the ends of the beans but keep them long and whole. Have a large bowl of ice water ready. Blanch the beans in a frypan with simmering water for 1 minute (just until they turn bright green) and then plunge them into the ice water. Drain.

Step 2 - Heat a grill onto high. Take the oil and brush the beans on both sides and grill under blistered and charred. Turn over and then place onto a serving plate.

Step 3 - Mix the dressing ingredients together (olive oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic, parsley, lemon zest and salt and pepper) and then pour over the beans. Serve hot, room temperature or cold.