Italian flat beans, also known as Romano green beans, are in season now.
These beans are flat in form, but not in flavor. Compared to standard green beans, these beans have a bright, slightly sweet flavor and more meaty texture. "... More green-tasting, more alive-tasting than other beans," reports Veggie Venture.
We blanched our flat beans in salted boiling water and then finished them in a frying pan with some olive oil, garlic, and chopped fresh tomato. Don't keep them in the pan for too long. Flat beans will start to break apart and turn mushy when overcooked.
Actually, in my experence these beans are often slow cooked in a tomato sauce, like in this recipe:
Braised Romano Beans
They are similar to the type of flat green bean used in the middle east and Greece to make loubia bil zeit, which is often cooked for 40-50 minutes.
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So that's what I got in my CSA box! I wasn't familiar with this variety.
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