Green Beans with Longaniza
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Green Beans with Longaniza is the kind of recipe you can cook as a side dish for everyday meals or transform it as an accompaniment to the main course during the holiday gathering. And best of all, it cooks quickly.
Reasons to Love This Recipe
The basic ingredients are fresh green beans, ripe tomatoes, and Filipino longanizas, sweet cured sausages. Filipinos call green beans ‘bitswelas’ or ‘habitchuelas’, which is of Spanish-origin. They are also known in the Philippines as ‘Baguio beans’, because these grow abundantly in the colder climate of Baguio, the city in the mountain province. The pork longaniza sausages are sweet and smokey flavored, which provides a sumptuous contrast to the silky, buttery-tasting green beans.
This dish cooks quick and easy. Even if you’re a kitchen novice, this won’t be difficult to figure out. And it will be ready to serve in minutes.
The combination of green beans and meaty sausages whether as a side, or a main entrée, is dairy-free, reasonably low in carbs, and packed with protein.
Ingredients and Equipment You Will Need
You will need about a pound of fresh green beans, edges trimmed, and sliced into serving pieces.
You can find Filipino pork longanizas in Asian markets of Filipino food stores here in America. These days, you can also find them from online sources of Asian and Filipino ingredients. If you have time to make them ahead, I have a great recipe for homemade Longanisang Hubad (skinless longanizas) on this site.
Filipino cooking often incorporates the sweet with the savory, thus the flavors contrast and blend all at once.. In the Philippines, my mother used to make her own homemade longanizas without the casing, and I do the same these days in my American kitchen. Whether you use store-bought or make your own, remove the casing, and chop up the cooked longanizas till it’s crumbled like ground meat. Savor the rich aroma as you do that.
You’ll also need, fresh, sweet tomatoes. If I find vine-ripened Jersey tomatoes at the market then that’s what I use. Of course, if you’re not from New Jersey, fresh, ripe tomatoes will work just as well.
You’ll need a saucepan to blanch the green beans. And a separate skillet or wok to sauté the crumbled longanizas with the garlic and onions.
Serve this again and again
After I cooked this dish, I asked “where was this recipe when my kids were growing up?” When my sons were little I had to think of creative ways to make them eat their vegetables. Of course, these days that they’re all grown up, they love their vegetable dishes and even reprimand us, their parents, when our meal isn’t balanced with veggies – yes, the tables have turned.
I cook this dish now for my sons when they come home to visit and they wholeheartedly approve we listen to their lecture us about wholesome, healthy cooking. This sweet, savory green beans and sauteed tomatoes, sprinkled with the piquant longanizas definitely checks all the boxes. Serve this for every day meals or as a side for Thanksgiving or the holidays.
Green Beans with Longaniza
Equipment
- 1 Large saucepan
- 1 Large skillet – 12 to 14 inches diameter
- Large bowl
- chopping board
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh green beans, edges trimmed, sliced in 2-inch length pieces; about 3 cups
- water to blanch; enough to cover vegetables in pan
- 2 cups ice cubes, to soak green beans
- 4 pieces large pork longanizas, Filipino cured sausages
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 whole medium-sized yellow or white onion, sliced
- 2 whole large tomatoes, sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
For serving:
- steamed rice
Instructions
To prepare green beans:
- In a large saucepan filled with water (enough to cover the green beans), over high heat, and a rolling boil, drop the green beans.Blanch the vegetables for about 5 minutes till they are soft.Using a slotted spoon, transfer the green beans to a large bowl filled with iced water and ice cubes. Set aside. Let the vegetables soak while you cook the longanizas .
To cook the pork longanizas:
- In a large skillet, over medium-high heat, add the pork longanizas. If sausages have casings, prick each one with a fork.Pour the half cup of water into the skillet. The water will be absorbed by the sausages in the next 5 minutes. This step softens the meat as it cooks.Once the water has evaporated completely into the longanizas, a small amount of fat will be rendered by the pork.
- Pour the vegetable oil to the longanizas. Continue cooking for about 5 to 6 minutes more till pork is fully cooked.Remove the longanizas from the skillet. On a chopping board, using a knife, remove the sausage casings. Chop up the sausage filling till it is crumbled like ground meat. Set aside.
To stir fry and assemble the Green Beans with Longanizas:
- Using the same skillet, with the oil and longaniza drippings, over medium heat, stir fry the garlic, onions and tomatoes for about 3 minutes till soft and fragrant.Drain the blanched green beans and discard the iced water.Add the green beans to the rest of the ingredients in the skillet. Combine the vegetables.Season with salt and pepper.Sprinkle the crumbled and cooked pork longanizas all over, reserving some for a decorative topping.Serve warm with rice.
Cook's comments:
- Longanisas can be purchased at Asian or Filipino groceries here in the USA. In the Philippines, they are easy to find in most food stores all over the country.Longanisas have a bold, robust flavor so they practically define this vegetable entree. These are cured pork sausages which are usually breakfast fare in the Philippines, often served with sinangag (garlic fried rice). Each province and region has its own specialty and flavors depending on the local resources. For example, Pampanga longanizas are predominantly sweet, while the Vigan Longanizas in the northern provinces are garlicky and saltier. Flavors differ depending on the geography and ecosystem of each province.
Nutrition
Copyright Notice: Hello, Friends! Please DO NOT LIFT OR PLAGIARIZE The Quirino Kitchen recipes on this blog, my original recipes, stories, photos or videos. All the images and content on this blog are COPYRIGHT PROTECTED and owned by my media company Besa-Quirino LLC by Elizabeth Ann Quirino. This means BY LAW you are NOT allowed to copy, scrape, lift, frame, plagiarize or use my photos, essays, stories and recipe content on your websites, books, films, television shows, videos, without my permission. If you wish to republish this recipe or content on media outlets mentioned above, please ASK MY PERMISSION, or re-write it in your own words and link back to my blog TheQuirinoKitchen.com to give proper attribution. It is the legal thing to do. Thank you. Email me at [email protected]
