Green Beans with Prosciutto

 

These green beans rock!!  I could eat them alone as an entire meal and be completely satisfied.  They are that good.  I mean it.  Really.

They are adapted from a Pioneer Woman recipe.   My version has a few secret weapon ingredients and I have tweaked this recipe enough to finally declare that the version I have here is the preferred recipe of choice.  Pretty bold statements I know.  But really, these are tasty!!

My secret weapon ingredient is diced prosciutto.  My favorite brand is Citterio which is one of the brands my company merchandises for the supermarket chain we service.   The cheese company I work for has branched out a bit and we now merchandise some meats and sausages and so that is how this fun and magic making product showed up on my radar.  Now of course you could use diced ham which would be very nice in this recipe or even some bacon.  I think The Pioneer Woman gets a lot of the flavor for her recipe by using bacon grease…. but if you can find the prosciutto it really makes a difference.  And you will only need to use half of the 4oz. package of prosciutto. 

There are a few other things that I tweaked from her original recipe.  I leave out the chopped red pepper and I also leave out the salt.  I find that the chicken stock really has enough salt and whenever I added the salt she called for in her recipe it was too much.  And if it was too much for me, and I LOVE my salt, even though I am not supposed to, then please take my advice and leave it out until after you cook these delicious babies up.  You can always add it later if you need to. 

My second secret weapon ingredient are the Pictsweet  Frozen Whole Green Beans.  Of course fresh is always best and I would absolutely use fresh in the summertime if I grew my own or found some at the Farmer’s Market, but this is my favorite brand of frozen vegetables.  They cost a little bit more but they really are worth it and I usually stock up on them when Harris Teeter has a buy one get one free deal  which they do quite frequently. 

              

Here’s the recipe:

Green Beans with Prosciutto

1 24oz. package of Pictsweet Whole Green Beans (Family Size)

1 cup chicken stock.  (I like Kitchen Basics)

1 medium onion, diced small

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil

2 Tbsp. butter

Half a package of Citterio Cubetti Prosciutto.  2 oz.

2 cloves of garlic, pressed

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter with the olive oil and sauté the diced onion till soft and they start to caramelize.

Add the prosciutto and sauté with the onion just enough for the prosciutto to start to brown careful not to burn the prosciutto and onions.

Add the entire package of frozen green beans. Mix well with the meat and the onions. 

Add the cup of chicken broth and deglaze the pan by scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. 

Add the garlic and pepper and quickly put a lid on the mixture till it comes to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 30 minutes with the lid on.   Add more chicken stock as needed so watch them close.  When they are done they will have a somewhat thickened sauce on them. 

Delicious!