Loubieh bil Zeit

Lebanon has an ancient tradition of producing high-quality olive oil, which is used to sauté vegetables in a number of traditional dishes. One of the most popular is loubieh bil zeit, literally “green beans in oil,” a traditional Lebanese mezze in which romano beans are braised until tender with tomatoes in olive oil. It is a very easy vegetarian one-pot dish. In this recipe you can use green beans or fava beans in their pods instead of the harder to find Romano beans in Australia. It’s often served at room temperature as a side dish, but can also be enjoyed warm. It can even taste better when they are allowed to rest one night in the fridge. Adapted from James Oseland of saveur.com

Serves 4

Cooking time: 30-40 mins

Ingredients

• ¹⁄₃ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• ¹⁄₂ small white onion, minced
• 1 tsp. tomato paste
• 1 vine-ripe tomato, cored and roughly chopped
• 1 lb. small romano or green beans, trimmed and halved
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 tbsp. thinly sliced parsley

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high. Cook garlic and onion until soft, 4–6 minutes. 
2. Add tomato paste; cook 2 minutes. Add tomato and ¹⁄₂ cup water; cook until tomato is broken down, 6–8 minutes. 
3. Add beans, salt, pepper, and ³⁄₄ cup water and reduce heat to medium; 
4. Cook, covered, until beans are very tender, 20–25 minutes. Garnish with parsley.