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Fasolka szparagowa z bułką tartą

Name: Fasolka szparagowa z bułką tartą
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Cuisine: kuchnia polska
Ingredients: 800 g fasolka szparagowa żółta lub zielona (young, firm); 2 l woda; 1 tbsp sól; 1 tsp cukier (flat, not necessarily); 40 g bułka tarta (preferably homemade or from a bakery); 80 g masło (cut into pieces); 0.5 pc cytryna (juice, for drizzling)

Young yellow or green beans cooked in salted water and drizzled with butter and browned breadcrumbs, a summer side dish for lunch or a light dish on its own. This recipe covers how long to cook the beans for them to be firm, the order of browning the breadcrumbs with butter, and how to find beans and breadcrumbs abroad.

Servings: 4 servings
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Difficulty: Easy

Ugotowana żółta fasolka szparagowa z przyprawami w kwadratowej białej misce z łyżką

The story behind the recipe

Fasolka szparagowa z bułką tartą is young pods of beans, either yellow or green, cooked in salted water and drizzled with butter and browned breadcrumbs. It is eaten in summer as a side dish for lunch or as a light dish on its own. Ania Gotuje writes that in her opinion, it is the "most frequently chosen and prepared dish" with beans in Polish homes, and she reminds us that young beans are available from May until the end of summer, as Poland grows both early and late varieties. Yellow and green beans are prepared the same way, with yellow having a more delicate texture and usually cooking faster.

The dish has a long history in Polish cookbooks. Lucyna Ćwierczakiewiczowa in "365 obiadach za 5 złotych" (1871) writes about green beans, stating that cooked without meat, "it is excellent": it is thrown into "salted boiling water", rinsed in cold water, "which brings back its color a bit", stewed in butter, and "before serving, drizzled with butter and browned breadcrumbs." She recommends serving fresh herring with the beans. Marta Norkowska in "Najnowszej kuchni" (1903) summarizes it briefly: remove the strings from the pods, cook them whole in salted water, and "drizzle with browned butter and breadcrumbs." In 1927, Elżbieta Kiewnarska in "100 postnych i jarskich daniach" mixes the cooked beans with butter "thickly browned with breadcrumbs" and serves it in an omelet.

Old Polish cookbooks referred to the topping as "browned breadcrumbs" or a topping of butter and breadcrumbs, as noted by the Polonist portal. In French, vegetables with such a sprinkle are referred to as "à la polonaise," meaning "in the Polish style." English Wikipedia lists wax beans alongside cauliflower, asparagus, and broccoli among vegetables served this way and states that the sauce originates from Poland and spread to France in the 18th century, but it bases this only on an American cookbook, so the origin of the name is not definitively known. We did not find fasolka szparagowa z bułką tartą on the Ministry of Agriculture's List of Traditional Products, although there are other bean products, such as Korczyńska beans.

Ingredients

Fasolka

800 g fasolka szparagowa żółta lub zielona (young, firm)
Abroad: USA: yellow wax beans or green beans; Wielka Brytania: green beans, French beans; Niemcy: Wachsbohnen or grüne Bohnen
2 l woda
1 tbsp (about 18 g) sól
1 tsp (about 4 g) cukier (flat, not necessarily)

Okrasa

40 g bułka tarta (preferably homemade or from a bakery)
Abroad: USA, Wielka Brytania: plain dried breadcrumbs (not panko or seasoned); Niemcy: Paniermehl or Semmelbrösel
80 g masło (cut into pieces)

Niekoniecznie

0.5 pc cytryna (juice, for drizzling)

Method, step by step

Fasolkę przełóż na duży durszlak i umyj pod zimną, bieżącą wodą. Zostaw ją na chwilę, żeby obeschła.
Małym nożykiem odetnij końcówki strąków, jak najmniej, żeby podczas gotowania do środka nie dostawała się woda. Ania Gotuje i Kuchnia Lidla obcinają oba końce, a według Katarzyny Bosackiej wystarczy usunąć twardy, łykowaty czubek. Jeśli razem z końcówką ciągnie się włókno, ściągnij je. Wytnij też ciemne plamy.
W dużym, szerokim garnku zagotuj 2 l wody. Dodaj łyżkę soli i, jeśli lubisz, płaską łyżeczkę cukru.
Wrzuć fasolkę do wrzątku i gotuj bez przykrywki na dużym ogniu, nie krócej niż 10 minut. Młoda żółta fasolka będzie gotowa najszybciej, zielona i starsza potrzebują więcej czasu, nawet 15–20 minut. Po 10 minutach wyłów jeden strąk i spróbuj: ma być miękki, ale jędrny, nie rozpadający się.
Odcedź fasolkę na durszlaku i od razu krótko przelej zimną wodą, żeby zatrzymać gotowanie. Odsącz ją dobrze i przełóż do ciepłej salaterki.
Bułkę tartą wsyp na suchą patelnię. Praż ją na ogniu odrobinę mocniejszym niż mały przez kilka minut, co chwilę mieszając drewnianą łyżką, aż zrobi się równo rumiana.
Gdy bułka jest złota, dodaj masło w kawałkach. Mieszaj, aż masło się roztopi i połączy z bułką, i od razu zdejmij patelnię z ognia.
Wyłóż gorącą bułkę z masłem na fasolkę i delikatnie wymieszaj, żeby okrasa oblepiła strąki. Jeśli lubisz, skrop fasolkę sokiem z cytryny. Podawaj od razu, na ciepło.

Tips

Overcooked beans. Overcooked beans fall apart, puff up, and taste worse. After a few minutes of cooking, take out one pod and taste it. Ania Gotuje suggests cooking yellow beans for 5–12 minutes and green beans for 8–18 minutes after the water boils, while Katarzyna Bosacka recommends 10 minutes for young pods and 15–20 minutes for older ones.

No less than 10 minutes. Raw beans are harmful because they contain lectins, which are only broken down by cooking. German Wikipedia considers beans cooked for at least 10 minutes to be safe, so even very young beans should not be cooked for less time.

Gray, dull beans. They were cooked too long or were old. Norkowska advised that to keep the beans green, cook them in plenty of water over high heat and without a lid. A quick rinse in cold water stops the cooking, and according to Ćwierczakiewiczowa, it restores some color.

Cold or boiling water. Sources differ. Ania Gotuje and Kuchnia Lidla put the beans in cold water, salt them after boiling, and cook them covered over low heat. Ćwierczakiewiczowa, Norkowska, and Bosacka drop them directly into salted boiling water. In this recipe, we chose boiling water.

Old beans. They are paler, thick, and long, with seeds pushing out the skin. If a fibrous string pulls when cutting off the ends, remove it. Such pods take longer to cook, so taste them more often.

Pale or burnt breadcrumbs. Ania Gotuje first toasts the breadcrumbs in a dry pan, adding butter only to the browned ones. If the butter goes into the pan first, it heats for a long time and burns, leaving the breadcrumbs pale. Good breadcrumbs, homemade or from a bakery, do not burn during toasting. Others, like in Smaker's recipe for asparagus, first melt the butter and lightly fry the breadcrumbs in it. The Polonist warns that breadcrumbs mixed with butter too early absorb it and become greasy, so combine them just before serving.

Richer version. Kuchnia Lidla uses 700 g (1½ lb) of beans with 120 g (1 cup) of breadcrumbs, 150 g (⅔ cup) of butter, and a tablespoon of oil, tossing the cooked beans in the pan with the topping for a minute or two and drizzling with the juice of half a lemon.

Variations. The "Polish style" topping can also include chopped hard-boiled eggs and greens, most often dill, parsley, or chives in Poland. Norkowska served green beans "in the English style," mixed only with raw butter, and cold instead of salad, with vinegar, oil, and mustard. Ćwierczakiewiczowa stewed the cooked beans for half an hour in butter with a bit of parsley and sugar, and only then drizzled them with butter and breadcrumbs.

What to serve with. As a side dish for lunch or as a separate dish. Ania Gotuje recommends beans with a fried egg, and cooked and chopped beans also go well with meat sauces and salads. Ćwierczakiewiczowa served them with fresh herring.

Storage. We did not find a reliable source stating how long to keep cooked beans in the fridge or if they can be frozen. They taste best immediately, and prepare the breadcrumbs with butter just before serving for them to be crispy.

Abroad. Fasolka szparagowa is called green beans, French beans, string beans, or snap beans in English, and yellow is wax beans. In Germany, yellow is Wachsbohnen, Prinzessbohnen are very young, thin pods, and Brechbohnen are green beans broken into pieces. You can buy breadcrumbs in the USA and the UK as plain dried breadcrumbs (not panko or seasoned), and in Germany as Paniermehl or Semmelbrösel. You can also grate stale white rolls.

Photos

Kotlet mielony, ziemniaki z koperkiem i żółta fasolka szparagowa na białym talerzu

Dwa jajka sadzone, ziemniaki z koperkiem i żółta fasolka szparagowa na talerzu

Strąki żółtej fasolki szparagowej na krzakach w Daszewicach w Wielkopolsce

Polish cuisine Vegetarian Substitutes abroad

I made it

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