floral background

Thursday, February 17, 2011

FFwD Pancetta Green Beans






I have never loved green beans more in my life than I did with this recipe. I made them with the FFwD tortilla on 2/4/11, but I think this dish would be great with anything!

I will always be thankful to this recipe for introducing me to a love at first bite, cooked pancetta.

I purchased Volpi pancetta. Volpi is a local Italian meat manufacturer; their headquarters is in my neighborhood. According to their website, they are America’s oldest manufacturer of hand-crafted Italian meats. I’ve never had something from Volpi that I didn’t love. Since I was buying pancetta, a cut of meat I’d never purchased before, I knew that whatever was in the Volpi package would be a quality product. If they’re in your supermarket I’d recommend trying them out sometime.

The green beans were lightly cooked, then chilled to stop the cooking.

I cut the pancetta into smaller pieces with kitchen shears before tossing them into the skillet. The pancetta fried up so light and crisp. It was so fragrant when cooking, it made me want to sit down and eat the entire skillet right then forgetting about the green beans. I had very little fat to drain off when done cooking. There was the 1 tablespoon Dorie said to retain, and then I drained out maybe 1 teaspoon.

I had started out with a 4 ounce package, so I put half in with the green beans, and the other half in the tortilla. The green beans cooked up wonderfully, and I don’t think the butter was even needed; the pancetta grease would’ve done the trick.

Before serving I put the pancetta green beans on a paper towel to catch a little of the fat and grease. I loved the finished green beans!

I also cooked up some pancetta for breakfast on Valentine's day, because we loved this in our house!


Be sure to visit the other bloggers at French Fridays with Dorie!

15 comments:

  1. Yours look beautiful!!! I love your larger pancetta pieces...more yummy flavor with a crispy bite :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I bet these were amazing with the tortilla! Beautiful job!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've never tried Volpi pancetta, I may have to check and see if they have it at my local grocery store.

    The finished dish looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good idea to make these beans along with the tortilla. Great dinner idea.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A great side for the potato tortilla, which definitely benefitted from a boost of color! Very nice.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow- neat info about the Volpi pancetta and thanks for sharing the link. Glad your household enjoyed this -we did as well. Nice reminder that a little bit of a new ingredient (and it wasn't crazy expensive) can make a huge difference.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I loved these too. I don't know if I can eat green beans without pancetta ever again after this recipe! :) Your's turned out beautifully!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wasn't this a good recipe? So easy too! And it goes with almost anything.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love that you had a Double-Dorie dinner - using two of her recipes. Yum! I thought these green beans were delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you for the tip on Volpi! I'll have to check it out. I'm with you about wanting to just eat the pancetta straight out of the pan...good for you to hold out and actually add it to your beans and tortilla. I love the picture of the pancetta frying!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Did your green beans taste like pancetta on their own, thanks to the fat? I have to try this recipe again. I've never had Volpi products, but I'll keep an eye out for them.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I think we all loved the pancetta! Thanks to this recipe I finally set foot in the Italian deli near my house. They have a great selection of italian wines, italian flour for pizza, fresh and dry pasta and amazing ciabatta. I used the leftover pancetta today in a salad :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Isn't it great when you prepare two dishes at once and have only to write twice? I wish I had combined some of mine:)
    We loved the pancetta in this dish. Kids devoured every speck off their plates, and that's what counts for good in my house.
    I am looking forward to making those ribs:)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Good idea to serve pancetta with the tortilla. Love pancetta!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for all the great comments everyone! This dish was just amazing, I love pancetta now!

    ReplyDelete