When you think of American chefs and French food, the names Julia Child, Thomas Keller, and David Lebovitz may come to mind. I tend to think of Ina Garten. When I’m in need of simple, delicious dishes with a French flair, Ina is my muse. A few minutes browsing through her cookbooks, and I’m filled with confidence that any of Ina’s recipes will deliver on being approachable for the home cook and drool worthy for those she’s feeding.

In the quest to rekindle my love affair with the French lifestyle, particularly their relationship to food, I turned to The Barefoot Contessa’s “Barefoot in Paris” cookbook. The basis of the book highlights simple, country French food. It diminishes any doubts that cooking French food at home is unattainable, and it doesn’t have to be reserved for special occasions. Similar to French girls’ style, Ina shows me that French cooking can be both simple and elegant. One of the recipes I previously bookmarked was for French string beans. It was the perfect place to start.

Everyone in my family loves green beans. It’s such a versatile vegetable and an easy way to add crunch and color to your meal. But they don’t just taste good. Green beans are full of fiber and a good source of vitamin C and vitamin K. When buying them at the store or farmers’ market, look for fresh string beans that snap apart and make that sound when you bend them. Older string beans will be tough and just bend when you try to snap it.

A basic lesson in French cooking is to use fresh, seasonal ingredients. If you want the best tasting food, use ingredients at the peak of their seasonality. While you can find green beans year round at the grocery store, they’re best from around May to October.

When making Ina’s French string beans, she blanches the green beans - submerging the beans for just a few minutes in boiling water and then transferring them to an ice bath to stop the cooking process. It maintains the beans bright green color and crunch. Overcooking them can turn the color to light brown and the texture to mush. 

For the red onion and bell peppers, you’ll toss them in a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roasting these vegetables makes them sweet, and the red onion takes on a delicious caramelized flavor. Red and yellow bell peppers add a variety of color to the overall dish when mixed with the green beans. However, don’t stress if you only have orange or yellow bell peppers on hand (like yours truly). Use what you have. The flavors will still turn out the same. I served these green beans with roasted carrots, grilled pork tenderloin and fresh bread and butter. Dinner was made in 30 minutes and met with rave reviews.

Now, get in your car, drive to the grocery store (or walk to your local farmers’ market) and grab the following ingredients: 1 pound of fresh green beans, a red and yellow bell pepper and a red onion. You’ll thank me for it at dinner time.

Click here for Ina Garten’s French string beans recipe.