Recipe: Hot and Heavenly String Beans

Hot and Heavenly String Beans
rec.food.recipes/Adina Steiman (1997)

I first came upon this recipe as I improvised dinner for about a hundred people. Proportions are a bit scaled down here, though.

3 tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. string beans, ends trimmed, cut into halves
1 tsp. ground ginger
4-5 large cloves garlic, minced very finely
1 tsp. salt
1-3 tbsp. hot sauce (to taste)
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add your string beans and saute until they look very green and their skin looks a bit blistered, about 5-10 minutes. Dust the ground ginger over the string beans, stir, and cover the pan to steam them for another 5-10 minutes, or until tender but firm. Add finely minced garlic, salt, and hot sauce, stirring and raise the heat to medium-high. Cook briefly, about 2 or 3 minutes, just until hot sauce is absorbed and garlic is aromatic but no longer seems too pungent. Add toasted pine nuts and remove from heat. Serve over rice or on their own.

Be sure to mince the garlic super-fine, or else it won't coat and cling to the beans and it'll take too long to cook the garlic. And if it seems like you're using too much garlic you're using just enough.