Pancetta Green Beans (FFWD)

Well, sure I made these at the beginning of the month, but you can't expect me to post things on time. Between training for The Big Climb (check out my donation site here!), getting ready for a show and a competition with my chorus (including helping to make new costumes), and generally trying to seize the day, I'm amazed I have time to cook all this stuff let alone blog about it. I don't know how the moms in the group do it all! You ladies are awesome! Still, I'm so grateful for the French Fridays with Dorie group because I am cooking all kinds of fun and delicious dishes! 

 Yet, I have a really hard time getting exciting about green beans in February. Perhaps if I lived in the southern hemisphere where it's the middle of summer right now, things would be different. Here in Seattle, it is about as far from green bean season as one can get. After scouring the stores for acceptable specimens (I try really hard to buy domestic produce, but occasionally purchase some Mexican produce in the dead of winter) I found some Mexican organically grown green beans for a mere $5.99 a pound. (YIKES!) Which is better than the 12 oz. of haricots vert I saw at one store for $15. I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of paying exorbitant amounts of money for a product that is merely passable. Still, if I see another beet or turnip I might cry. That's about all that's fresh at my farmer's market right now and it is getting old. Still, I am happy to see the tulip stand adding color to things and promising that winter won't last forever.

In another attempt to remember the tastes of summer, I made this fillet of wild Alaskan Coho (also known as silver) salmon to serve with the green beans. Everything was very good. (How can you go wrong with pancetta? It's practically bacon!) My pancetta was a little lean and very thinly sliced, so it was hard to keep from burning it, but the green beans were cooked to perfection. It's hard to get the right balance between squeaky, undercooked beans, and limp, overcooked beans, but the cook time on this recipe worked great for me. I look forward to eating these beans again in September!