Roasted Almond-Garlic-Lemon Green Beans of Fabulousness

And yes, the title basically says it all. I topped and tailed all 3 lb of green beans earlier this afternoon, and used about half of them for this recipe. (That really is one of the few downsides of the farmers' market -- I have to use the food FAST, since it's not underripe and/or stored cold like grocery store produce. But this time it was mostly my fault -- the beans were a little wet when I got them, and then I refrigerated them in the plastic bag that they came in. They probably would have been OK if I'd dumped them into the veggie bin right away.)

The recipe is the illegitimate child of a Cook's Illustrated recipe and something random that I found online. And damn, it's good.

1 to 1.5 lb fresh green beans

1-2 T oil (prefer olive, but canola is fine too)

1/2 fresh lemon

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup sliced almonds

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450F. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil (optional but makes cleaning up a zillion times easier). Put the beans on the cookie sheet in a single layer and toss with the oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes, then stir. Return beans to oven for 6-8 minutes. Meanwhile, use a vegetable peeler or lemon zester to zest the lemon. Mince the lemon zest and put into a small bowl. Juice the lemon into the bowl, add the garlic and stir. Take beans out of oven, mix gently with the lemon-garlic sauce, and sprinkle with almonds. Roast for another 6 minutes until beans are wrinkly and lightly browned. Let cool for about 5 minutes before serving to allow flavors to blend.

They were pretty perfect as is, but next time I think that I may add more garlic (as if anyone's surprised), and thinly slice the lemon rather than zesting and juicing it.