What Bite Takes You Home? - Fried Green Beans- #TheHundredFootJourney

My mother worked at our family's restaurants while going to nursing school.  After school, the bus would drop my sister and I off in front of the restaurant.  We would do our homework and then spend the rest of the evening rolling the plastic flatware in napkins or assembling the cardboard boxes for takeout orders.
Sitting so close to the kitchen granted us a few privileges; the most important was smelling the wonderful food that came from the kitchen and snacking on whatever my grandmother happened to be cooking at the time.  Both of the restaurants, one run by my grandparents, the other by my great aunt and uncle, were seafood restaurants.  Patrons could pick their fish from the counter, it would be cleaned and fried to perfection and the join the requested side dishes in the cardboard boxes we'd assembled.  The deep fryers were always going and my grandmother and her sister could fry anything.



Deep fried vegetables taste wonderful and have the added benefit of tricking you into thinking that a fried vegetable may be better for you than no veggies at all.  This recipe for fried green beans can be used with lots of other vegetables, including green tomatoes, onions and zucchini.

What you'll need:
1/2 lb fresh green beans
1/2 cup of flour
1/2 cup of milk
1 cup of panko bread crumbs
2 teaspoons of garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons of seasoned salt
Cooking oil
Sea salt to taste

In a food processor combine and blend the bread crumbs, garlic powder, oregano and seasoned salt.  Put the mixture in the a bowl.

Grab two more bowls to setup your breading station.  Put the milk and flour in separate bowls.

Cut the tips off the green beans, wash thoroughly and toss them in the bowl of flour.

Dip the green beans in the milk and then roll them in the bread crumbs.

Once you've sent them through the breading station, repeat to double bread each green bean.

Heat cooking oil to about 350 degrees.  Fry green beans in oil until golden brown, about 3 minutes.

Place the finished green beans on a paper towel and sprinkle generously with sea salt.

I typically serve these with a spicy sauce, sweet chili or sriracha, and can eat the whole bowl before the kids wake up from their naps.  The delicious aroma wafts around the kitchen, reminding me of the evenings spent at the restaurants.

My grandparents' building was purchased and razed by an expanding corporation, and my aunt's closed after my uncle became ill. My love of food and cooking came honestly.  Maybe one day, I'll open another restaurant, in their memory, with dishes cooked from my heart.