Savory Haricot Vert Bread

Since this recipe was a hit last night, I thought I'd share it with you. It's a bit of an original way to use green beans, and it yields a delicate savory bread that can be used as a finger food, appetizer or just as a veggie bread accompanied by a mixed salad. I found the recipe in an italian blog but off course I had to customize it for the ingredients that I had on hand.

Ingredients:

• 250 g flour 

• 3 eggs 

• 8 g baking powder (i used less - for high altitude)

• 100 g blue cheese (i used Cambozola) 

• 250 g green beans (i used frozen organic)

• 50 g coarsely chopped nuts (i used pecans) 

• 1 dl milk 

• salt

To start out I weighed my green beans and put them in a microwavable bag. I love those bags. I use them all the time if I am in a hurry (If I have the time, I just steam the veggies traditionally).

Off it went in the microwave, to steam for 3-4 minutes.

I waited for them to cool enough to handle, and then I chop them up. 

At this point I preheated the oven: 400 F (425 F for me, again because of the high altitude). I then got out my eggs and milk.

And beat them well.

I added SIFTED flour (I hate lumps & bumps) and mixed well.

Then came the baking soda...and more mixing.

In went the haricot vert, with some more incorporating.

Then it was the nuts' turn and more stirring.

Almost at the end now, I added the cheese and mixed well.

And finally, the salt went in and the final mixing began.

At this point I got my plum cake form out and proceeded to fill it with my dough. As I mentioned before, I use silicon molds to bake as I find them easy to use. If you don't have one, just use any plum cake mold and either grease it or line it with parchment paper for easy removal of the loaf.

At this point I put my loaf in the oven to bake for 35 minutes. Off course this would be the time to show off my captive audience to all of you! ^__^ 

The kids are always captivated by my culinary efforts. LOL.

After 35 minutes I poked the loaf with a wooden skewer to see if it was cooked. The toothpick came out clean, so I knew it was done. I turned off the oven and left it in there for a couple of more minutes to brown.

And this was the finished product.

The loaf only lasted 17 hours, when I got up this morning I realized my DH had eaten the last two slices for breakfast. I will surely make it again. I would say it is best eaten when it's not yet completely cooled down...it has a very mild and delicate flavor. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! :)