Say it with me: green bean slicer. Now, I am not a gadget girl. No herb mincers for me. I even threw out my pastry cutter because 1) it takes up space, and 2) I hardly ever used it, because 3) my fingers work better than it ever could.
But when I saw this green bean slicer–yes that is it’s stated purpose on the package–at Community Thrift about 5 years ago (I was accompanying my Very Tall Cousin Sam who needed a jacket because he had lost his; he also needed a pair of socks for a job interview and talked a woman at a shoe store into opening a package of three to sell him a single pair), I couldn’t resist. If I remember correctly Very Tall Cousin Sam and I both thought the $1.75 price tag was a bit out of line, but I just had to see if it worked.
It does. If you want really thinly sliced green beans. Which, when I make green beans with onion paste from Madhur Jaffrey’s Invitation to Indian Cooking (p. 150, my copy just opens to the page since my dashing husband adores them so), I do. So it’s a match made in heaven. Except for the 357 days a year when I don’t make green beans with onion paste. Then I have to make space in my limited cupboards for a truly absurd gadget.
The green beans were part of a glorious meal. Again, I was cleaning out the fridge, but I felt like cooking. Ernie was home because he had broken his arm in two (2!) places the afternoon before (yes, if you’ve worked in pedatrics or at an emergency room you know quite well he fell off the monkey bars) so I was home with him all day and by 3 felt the urge to cook. Cook a lot. Ernie wondered if guests were coming. Luckily, when I start cooking dinner at 3 in the afternoon I can log it as “work” as long as I come up with a recipe or two in the process.
So with the green beans (to which I added some diced red pepper–both sweet and hot), we also had some spicy sauteed okra (I declare myself a genius for brainstorming this recipe), potatoes in cilantro “sauce,” some spinach in yogurt, and spicy lemon pickles. Everything but the pickles had ample amounts of cumin seeds. Yum.
gin vermeer | 17-Jul-10 at 6:45 pm | Permalink
I have been trying to find a green bean slicer just like the one in your picture. Do you know where I could find one? Is there a brand name or any other info on the cutter so that I could possibly contact the company that made it?
Thanks!