I wanted to make a green bean dish for Thanksgiving, but not the typical cream of mushroom soup/fried onions dish. Not one of my favorites. I looked around for a while to see if I could find a good one but wasn't struck by any I found. I knew what I wanted so I just came up with this myself. I think I might be making this for more than Thanksgiving.
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
4 slices of bacon
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (or almonds would be good)
1 large sweet onion, sliced lengthwise into slivers
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 roasted red pepper, 1/2 a jar if using jarred, sliced
1.5 lbs of fresh green beans
In a small saucepan, heat balsamic vinegar and brown sugar and reduce by about half. When it's done the sauce will coat the back of your spoon nicely.
In a skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until nice and crispy. Drain and set aside. Reserve just enough of the fat to coat the bottom of the skillet. Add olive oil and heat up over medium heat. Toast the walnuts until they start smelling yummy and are browned. Remove nuts from skillet with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add garlic and saute for 1 min. Add onion and saute until carmelized, browned and very soft. Chop up bacon and return to the skillet. Add red peppers and walnuts and heat through. Pour reduced balsamic vinegar sauce over the mixture.
Steam fresh green beans until bright green and still crispy. Toss together with balsamic vinegar mixture.
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