Recipe: Fresh Beans - Mediterranean ideas

Hi Sandra - Your question and Norma's cooking directions reminded me how many simple French and Italian recipes I've seen for fresh beans (of all sorts). I've never been fortunate enough to find fresh beans here where I live. But, here are a few of the ideas I've seen. In all cases, the basic cooking instructions are the same as those Norma gave.

~ One tip I've seen often is that the salt shouldn't be added to the cooking water until the last 15 minutes of cooking because it toughens the beans.
~ One simple French recipe starts with sauteing 3 or 4 cloves of garlic in 3 tablespoons of olive oil with 2 bay leaves before adding the beans (1 pound) and water to the pot (cooked as in Norma's directions). A bunch of fresh thyme is added to the water during cooking. Additional extra-virgin olive oil and ground pepper is passed at serving time.
~ An italian recipe for fresh beans also sounds wonderful - Saute a few cloves of garlic in a good amount of olive oil. Add a sprig of fresh sage and chopped or pureed tomatoes (a 14 ounce can per pound of beans) salt and pepper, and cooked beans (again, cooked using Norma's directions) and cook for 20-30 minutes. I've even seen this recipe with a large can of tuna fish stirred in toward the end of cooking.

These recipes have always sounded like heaven to me, I hope they give you a few ideas for ways to cook your fresh beans. Enjoy!