Italian Green Beans

Passover is in two weeks and this year — this year — people will be at my table. Not everyone. Not the fourteen or sixteen of the before-times. But David and Jennifer and the four children are coming, vaccinated (David and Jennifer) and small enough to be low-risk (the children). Rebecca is coming, vaccinated. Thomas is coming, vaccinated. Seven people at my table. Seven is not fourteen. Seven is not the overflow, the extra chairs, the borrowed table from the Bermans. But seven is more than two, and more than two is abundance, and abundance is what I have been starving for.

The Passover preparations are underway — the chametz removal, the dish exchange, the menu planning, the brisket ordering, the gefilte fish preparation, the industrial-scale matzo ball production that Passover requires. I am doing all of it with the energy of a woman who has been cooking for two for a year and who is now cooking for seven, which is not a large number by Feldman standards but which feels, this year, like a multitude. Seven people. Seven settings. Seven reasons to polish the silver and iron the tablecloth and make the food with the particular care that communal eating demands, because when you cook for people who will sit at your table, the cooking is different — it's public, it's performative, it's an offering, and the offering must be worthy of the occasion.

Marvin will be at the table. I do not know how much of the seder he will follow. I do not know if he will say the blessings. I do not know if he will eat the bitter herbs or dip the parsley or ask the four questions, which he will not, because the four questions are for the youngest child and the youngest child will be Hannah, who is three weeks old and will ask nothing. But Marvin will be at the table. His chair will be filled. His plate will be full. And that is the answer to the question I asked on Rosh Hashanah — one more year, one more Passover, one more seder with Marvin at the table. The prayer was answered. The oil lasted. The food is coming.

When you’re cooking for seven after a year of cooking for two, every dish on that table feels like a statement — and I wanted something alongside the brisket that was simple enough not to compete but elegant enough to deserve its place. These Italian green beans are exactly that: bright, garlicky, and honest, the kind of side that quietly holds the table together while everything else makes its grand entrance. Passover food should feel like an offering, Marvin always said, and this one does.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 25 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs fresh green beans, trimmed
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for blanching
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Instructions

Blanch the beans. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the trimmed green beans and cook for 4–5 minutes, until just tender but still bright green. Drain and immediately transfer to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain again and pat dry.
Sauté the garlic. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 2–3 minutes until fragrant and just beginning to turn golden. Watch carefully — garlic can turn bitter quickly.
Add the beans. Add the blanched, dried green beans to the skillet. Toss to coat in the garlic oil and cook over medium-high heat for 3–4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the beans are heated through and beginning to pick up a little color at the edges.
Season and finish. Season with salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes if using. Remove from heat and drizzle with lemon juice. Toss once more to combine.
Garnish and serve. Transfer to a serving platter and scatter fresh parsley over the top. Serve immediately or at room temperature — these hold up well on a seder table.

Nutrition (per serving)

Italian Green Beans — The Side Dish That Earns Its Place at a Seder Table