French-Style Green Beans

All I can say is that I have paid exorbitant amounts of money per pound for green beans, just so that I could have these. They're worth at least a try, is what I say.

1 lb.* green beans
1 oz. butter**
1 medium onion
salt

Put a pot of water on to boil that is big enough to hold the beans and a plate (if you decide to do the plate part.)

Chop the onion fine, and put it on to fry, with the butter, on "low." Put a lid on the pan, and raise it now and again to make sure that the onions aren't getting done too much in one spot as compared to the others. If they are, stir them with a spatula or a wooden spoon.

Rinse the beans, then cut off their tops and tails. Dump them in the boiling water. If you want to, put a plate over them (I've actually only done this step once, but the beans were, indeed yummier when I did); I must say that that tongs are pretty helpful for getting the plate out when the time comes. Boil the beans for 8-10 minutes. When the beans are done, strain out the water and then put the beans back in the pan and toss them over dry heat.

The onions are done when they are light brown. Serve the beans on a plate with the onions on top-- or, if you want, to the side (this is so that everyone can get their fair share of onion topping-- it can sort of clump, otherwise--but at any rate, going without topping is NOT done. Or at least, not in my family).

*I almost always estimate all of the amounts for this recipe. It's pretty forgiving.

**If you are concerned about the butter, you can indeed substitute oil, but if you can have any butter at all, I would add a little in at the end for flavoring-- it really adds a lot to the recipe.

I got this recipe from The Complete Illustrated Step-By-Step Cookbook, which was compiled by Judith Ferguson and published in 1989 and is my Favorite Cookbook Of All Time (so far), but I'll talk about that later.