Escalloped Runner Beans and Potatoes

I was recently gifted with some really tasty looking runner beans.   I can remember my friend Jacquie telling me about these foot long green beans before I came over here to live in the UK.   I couldn’t imagine a bean that long really, but she was right, they are that long, or even longer!  They’re really quite easy to prepare for cooking.  You need to first take a sharp paring knife and strip away the stringy bit on the join at either side of each bean. If you are lucky enough to have one you can then feed them through a bean slicer.  If you don’t have a bean slicer you can do the same thing with a sharp knife.  It will just take you a lot longer to do it!

 It doesn’t work cutting them into cubes or diamonds.  If they’re simply chopped into little diamond shapes, the skins take longer to cook than the insides and they end up being either grey and overcooked, or undercooked and tough.

1 medium leek

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Butter a 2 litre casserole dish very well.

Begin by layering in the bottom with a layer of the sliced potato and topping that with a layer of the bean and leek mix Sprinkle on some salt and pepper and flour and some of the grated cheese.  Repeat the layers until all the potatoes and runner bean mixture  are used up.  You should have a bit of cheese left to sprinkle on top of the final layer.  Top with crushed cracker crumbs and dot with butter.

Carefully pour the milk into the sides of the dish until you can just barely see the milk under the surface. You don’t want it to completely cover the potatoes. I use the tip of the knife to kind of lift the edges a bit as I am pouring it in. You want it to come up about ¾ of the way.

Cover loosely with foil and bake for about 45 minutes, then remove the foil and continue to bake until bubbly, the top is golden brown and the potatoes are tender (about half an hour longer).

Remove from the oven and let set a few minutes before serving.

I do hope you will give them a try and that you enjoy them as much as we did.   If you can’t get runner beans, then feel free to use regular haricot verts, or string beans.  The taste difference would be negligible if there was any at all.  Bpn Appetit!

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