Green Bean Gratinate

Green Bean Gratinate

This delicious casserole like side dish is a great way to try something new with green beans. The recipe came from the magazine 'Lidia - Italy at home'. Chef, restauranteur and travel/tour company owner, Lidia Bastianich is a great resource for true, rustic italian recipes (many of you in pittsburgh may know one of her restaurants, 'Lidia's' ,which offers a trio of pasta's). Make sure to check out http://www.visitpa.com/visitpa/playlistDetail.pa?type=celebrity&name=Lidia_Bastianich after July 3rd! Interestingly enough, her recipe called for 'Grana Padana', an ingredient I had never heard of. Well, it turns out that Grana Padana is really just a different kind of parmesean cheese - vs. Parmigiani Reggiano. The creation of cheese in the middle ages (in europe) resulted from excess milk from the cows that farmers did not want to waste. Grana Padana and Parmigiano Reggiano came next when the people wanted a harder cheese that would last longer. What is the difference you may ask?? The regions in which they both come from (Padana vs. Parma/Reggio) have different grasses resulting in slightly different cheeses, which honestly are both interchangable. Grana Padana is slightly less expensive and a bit 'grainier' - Grana means grainy in italian! How's that for a little history of cheese?? Only one change I would suggest (after my food critic tried this last night), add another type of cheese for more flavor as the mozzerella is very bland. Try provolone, goragonzola or pecorino instead of parmesean in the crumb mixture.

origin - Lidia, Italy at Home
difficulty - easy

1-1/2 pounds fresh green beans
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 pound cherry tomatoes (about 3 cups), preferably small “grape” tomatoes
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella
4 to 6 fresh basil leaves
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter

Arrange a rack in the top half of the oven and preheat to 375. Fill a large pot with water (at least 5 quarts) and bring it to the boil.
Trim both ends of the beans and remove strings (if they’re an old fashioned variety and have strings). Dump them all into the boiling water, cover the pot until the water boils again, then cook uncovered, for 10 minutes or so, until they are just cooked through—tender but still firm enough to snap.
Drain the beans briefly in a colander then put them in a big kitchen bowl. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon of salt on the hot beans and toss them so they’re all seasoned. Let the salt melt and the beans cool for a couple of minutes.
Meanwhile, rinse and dry the tomatoes; if they’re larger than an inch, slice them in halves, otherwise leave them whole. Cut the mozzarella into 1/2-inch cubes. Slice the basil leaves into thin shreds or chiffonade.

Toss the grated cheese and bread crumbs together in a small bowl. Lighlty grease the insides of the baking dish with a teaspoon or more of the butter. Sprinke 1/4 cup of the cheese-and-bread-crumb mix all over the bottom of the dish.
When the beans are no longer steaming, drop the tomatoes, cubes of mozzarella, and basil shreds on top. Drizzle the olive oil over all, sprinkle on the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and toss together a few times. Sprinkle 3/4 cup of the cheesy breadcrumbs on top and toss well, so everything is coated.
Turn the vegetables, scraping up all the crumbs, into the baking dish, and spread them in an even layer. Sprinkle over the remaining 1/4 cup of crumbs; cut the rest of the butter in small pieces and scatter them all over the top. Place the dish in the oven.
Bake the gratinate for 10 minutes, the rotate it back to front and bake another 10 minutes. Check to see that it is browning and bake a few minutes more, until the gratinate is dark golden and crusted. (If the crumbs still look pale after 20 minutes in your oven, raise the temperature to 400 or 425 and bake until done.)
Serve the hot gratinate in the baking dish.