Special occasion side dish Archives

Special Occasion Side Dish

I wanted to do an update on a side dish that I’ve been making for years, in fact I did a post on this way back in 2008. It’s an old family recipe and it would be a wonderful side dish to your Easter table this Sunday, it goes great with ham, pork, lamb or any roast you might be having.

I’ve also made it many times as a side next to a baked pasta of some sort, like lasagna, stuffed shells, manicotti, you get the picture, it goes pretty much with everything!

It’s the combination of veggies that make it taste so good, there’s Italian flat beans, yellow beans, artichoke hearts, asparagus and believe it or not lima beans, yes lima beans, they seriously make the dish along with some crispy fried bacon bits and garlic flavored olive oil.

You can use a combination of fresh and frozen vegetables, it all works!

Happy Easter

5.0 from 2 reviews

Special Occasion Side Dish

Make this for a special occasion, your guests will thank you!

Author: Marie

Ingredients

½ lb of fresh Italian flat beans or green beans of your choice, steamed
½ lb of fresh yellow beans, steamed
1 lb of fresh asparagus, steamed
1 small bag of frozen lima beans, defrosted
1 bag of frozen artichoke hearts, defrosted
½ lb of meaty bacon cut into small chunks
garlic flavored olive oil, ( a must)
extra olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In the dead of winter I have made this using all frozen vegetables but I prefer the combination of fresh and frozen.
In a deep saute pan, cook up your bacon until nice and crispy, if there's too much fat in the pan, drain it off but leave the crispy bits and add in some of that garlic olive oil.
Toss in all the vegetables and then it's pretty much taste as you go to your liking, more garlic olive oil, regular olive oil, salt and pepper, there's no set measurements with the flavorings, it's all according to taste!

VEGETALI ALLA MARIE!!

This is a great side dish that I make for special occasions. It is a highly requested vegetable dish, that my family loves. Every time I make it, the whole thing gets eaten up! and believe me I make a lot! I think it goes great with a ham, pork,a roast of any kind. I make it as a side with any baked pasta dish, like a lasagna, or stuffed shells, you get my point, pretty much anything you make for a special meal. I think its a combination of flavors, and the choice of veggies that makes this taste so good! This is an old family recipe that I’ve been making for years, and we never get tired of it!

Here’s the ingredients, and by the way, you use all frozen veggies!! ( Of course you can use fresh if you want to) Make as much as you want, maybe a bag or 2 of each vegetable, I’m sorry but I never measure, it all depends on how many people you are serving. I fill a huge pan and always use extra artichokes. There is no set rule, you can adjust the amount as you wish. 🙂

Italian flat beans
Artichoke hearts
Asparagus
Lima beans

1/2lb. of meaty bacon (diced up small)
Garlic flavored olive oil ( a must!)

First thing you do is to take all the veggies and put them in a strainer and let them defrost.

In a large saute pan, cook your bacon until real crispy, hopefully there won’t be a lot of fat in the pan cause you bought meaty bacon,:-) but if there is, drain it off, and leave all the crispy bits. Next coat the pan with some garlic olive oil, this is a must! Then, put all the veggies in the pan all together,and on a med high heat, turn often till coated with the bacon and garlic oil, blending and scraping up the crispy bits. Salt and pepper it to taste, and you can even add a little regular extra virgin olive oil for some added flavor.
You really have to keep tasting this as it cooks, for enough salt and pepper, and enough olive oil flavor.

When everything is heated through, and all the flavors blend together, its done! There’s something about the combination of the artichokes with the lima beans and all the other ingredients that make this taste so good!!

Buon Appetito