Buttered New (or Red) Potatoes with Green Beans and Rosemary

Fresh New Potatoes and Green Beans, Before Cooking

This is another one of my comfort foods. I do love to make this when green beans are fresh in season, but I was able to come across some fairly decent looking ones at the store the other day that weren’t too fat or stringy looking. I had bought the potatoes last week to make this but then forgot to look for the beans. Ever since then any of the beans I found were just not right until I spotted some nice ones on Saturday while shopping for avocados.

Now you may look at me funny wanting to find fresh green beans when all I’m going to do is cook the hell out of them in a pressure cooker, but believe me the taste just isn’t the same without them. I have tried. Trust me on this. Even though the green beans do get a bit overcooked (by 3 minutes in the pressure cooker world), the taste is still fantastic.

Cooked Potatoes and Green Beans

Now how this dish comes out all has to do with the end preparation with liberal amounts of butter and enough liquid and some milk to make a creamy broth after mixing it all around. The crushed dried rosemary cooked in with it all just makes this divine! It’s not the prettiest dish when it’s all said and done, but your  taste buds will thank you for trying this. There are rarely leftovers in this household.

Buttered New Potatoes with Green Beans and Rosemary

1-2 pounds of new or red potatoes
1-2 pounds of fresh green beans
1/2 -1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 1/2 cups water
2-4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup or so of  milk
Black pepper to taste

Scrub the potatoes and snap the ends off the green beans. If you have the small new potatoes, cut them in half. If you have the larger red potatoes, quarter them. Put the water in the bottom of a pressure cooker with the rack at the bottom. Add the potatoes and green beans. Using a mortar and pestle, grind the the dried rosemary a bit to break it up and mix it in with the vegetables. Put the pressure cooker on high heat, and once the jiggler on top starts rocking and rolling, set your timer for five minutes. On the mark, immediately cool the pot under cold water until the pressure is relieved. Open the pot and pour out all but about a half of cup of the water and dump the contents (minus the rack) into a bowl.  Add the butter, milk and pepper to taste.  Stir well until some of the mushy parts of the potatoes break apart and mix into the butter and milk to make a creamy broth. Serve with a meat of your choice. Last night I just heated up some leftover turkey from the freezer. So simple and delicious!