Clementine Green Beans for One

When my dad and I traveled to China, we ate the best clementines (tangerines) I’ve ever been fortunate enough to consume. The trees they were picked from were barely feet away, and a huge bag of them only cost about $0.25. The only unfortunate part of the situation was that my dad began singing “Oh, my darling, oh, my darling, oh my darling Clementine” every ten minutes or so for the duration of the trip. And still. <sigh> He still sings it constantly.

Handful of green beans, ends chopped off

1 cup of water

1 shallot, diced fine (or two green onions, or a TBLSP or so of finely chopped red onion)

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/3 cup clementine juice (or orange juice—oranges are easier to juice, for sure)

Pinch of dried oregano or 1 teaspoon of fresh, finely chopped

1 clementine, peeled and segmented

1 TBLSP tamari or soy sauce

1 TBLSP slivered almond (toasted, raw, or however you like them best) for garnish

1. Set the green beans to boil in the water. The sauce and the beans will take about the same amount of time to cook.
2. In a saucepan, heat the shallots, garlic, and olive oil until they just begin to wilt.
3. Once the shallots and garlic are starting to wilt and are fragrant, add the juice and oregano.
4. When the juice is just about to boil, add the clementine segments and tamari.
5. Serve the sauce liberally over the green beans and then festoon the whole shebang with almonds.

 This would also be wonderful using asparagus instead of string beans. I like it served over a grain, like brown rice, quinoa, or millet. But you could certainly just eat it plain. I just don’t like to miss out on any of that juice, you know?