Herbed Purple & Wax Beans

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb mixture of wax and purple beans
1 shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons minced thyme
1 teaspoon minced parsley
olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
In a skillet, saute the garlic and shallot in olive oil until translucent. Add the beans, lemon juice and zest. Cook until the beans are tender, just a few minutes. Sprinkle with herbs and spices. Stir to coat.

My thoughts:

This is one of those recipes when less is really more. I love when wax and purple beans come back in season in the fall because it lets me put off switching to squash as my sole local fruit for vegetable for a couple of weeks. Not that I dislike squash but that's pretty much all that is available until April, so I like to take advantage of whatever is still in season. Plus they are just so fresh and crisp, I don't know anyone who could resist them. Purple beans do lose their color as they cool so if they are tender enough, I just barely heat them through so they stay as purple as possible. I don't think they need much more than a simple dressing of lemon juice and herbs to make them sing. Just take care not to over cook.