My dad loves to make prime rib on Christmas. Actually, he loves to eat prime rib on Christmas. And he’s a great cook, so it’s always delicious. My dad is very much a meat-and-potatoes guy. When I was visiting for the holidays, I think we each ate like two potatoes a day. (Potatoes O’Brien and eggs for breakfast, and a baked potato with dinner. He’s Irish and seriously channels Samwise Gamgee sometimes.) So prime rib and potatoes for dinner it was! But I told him we needed another side – something green, preferably, to balance the starchiness of those ‘taters.
Green beans are my go-to vegetable when I want something green that’s not broccoli or Brussels sprouts, and topping them with caramelized shallots seemed perfect for Christmas dinner. Spoiler: It was. That night, I also topped the beans with a squeeze of lemon juice and pinot noir-infused flake salt from Jacobsen Salt Co. (I know, I know, bougie as hell. The salt was a gift I had gotten my dad a while ago, so I was excited to use it.)
But for this recipe, I stepped the dish up with a super easy and super flavorful red wine sauce. You really only need four things for a good red wine sauce: butter, some type of onion, red wine (obviously) and beef stock. Everything else, like the garlic and herbs, is just a little something extra that will boost the flavor.
You might notice that this recipe is heavy on shallots. I adore shallots: They still have a little bit of bite to them, but it’s a much softer bite than yellow or red onions, and they cook up with a delicate sweetness that is just unbeatable. I might be biased here, but shallots are the perfect complement to both the beans and the sauce. You know how some brownie recipes are double-chocolate? Well this recipe is double-shallot. Enjoy!
Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots
Ingredients
For the sauce
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 shallot, both bulbs, thinly sliced
- 3 sprigs of thyme, in tact
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½ cup dry red wine
- 1 cup beef stock
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in ¼ cup cold water
For the beans
- 1 tablespoon butter, divided
- 1 pound green beans, washed, trimmed, and cut in half or thirds
- 1 shallot, both bulbs, thinly sliced
Instructions
- For sauce, heat 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat in small saucepan. Add shallots and cook until translucent, 4-5 minutes.
- Add garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Pour in red wine and bring to boil. Reduce to low and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add beef stock and bring to boil. Reduce to low and simmer for 15 minutes, or until sauce reaches desired consistency. Remove thyme sprigs.
- Meanwhile, heat ½ tablespoon of butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add beans and cook, stirring occasionally, until just tender, about 10 minutes. Remove beans from pan and set aside.
- Heat remaining ½ tablespoon butter over low heat in same sauté pan and add remaining shallots. Cook over low, stirring regularly and adding more butter if needed, until shallots turn a nice caramel color, about 20 minutes. Caramelization takes time!
- Set shallots aside and return beans to pan. Sauté over medium-low, just long enough to heat the beans and make them plump up, about 3 minutes. Place beans in a serving dish and top with wine sauce and shallots.