Green Beans

Mrs Fox breezed into the Foxes’ Retreat farmhouse kitchen, muddy from digging up leeks. “What are you cooking, Foxy?”

Mr Fox turned guiltily away from the range cooker, a handful of damsons in his sticky paw. 

“Fox! They are for the jam!”

“Sorry, Foxy, my love,” mumbled Mr Fox around a mouth full of plum stones. “I’m making…” he de-stoned his mouth… “I’m making… dinner! Green beans and dill and feta cheese!”

“Where did you get the green beans from?” Mrs Fox asked, in a suspicious tone, eyeing the empty trug on the counter.

“Er, there were a whole load in there,” he gestured to the trug, “they’re for eating, right?”

“Do you know the difference between runner beans and green beans, Fox?”

“Oh.” Mr Fox’s long vulpine snout drooped. Somewhere at the back of his brain there was a memory of a difference in tenderness and cooking times that seemed like it might be relevant. “They are both green. It would be much easier if beans were colour coded, like lentils.”

“You’ll need to cook them for longer.”

“Fiddlesticks.” Mr Fox added some water to the pan and put the lid on.

Some minutes later, the foxes sat down at the long wooden kitchen table and Mr Fox served the dish - steaming and perfectly cooked. Mrs Fox mused that the culinary rescue service seemed to have worked.

“Delicious, Mr Fox, perfect tender runner beans!”

“Thanks Foxy!” Grinned Mr Fox. “Damson crumble for desert?”

“Oh yes!”

Green Bean and Feta Thingy

Ingredients: An onion, sliced, some green beans (or runner beans), sliced, some fresh dill, and some feta cheese.

Method: Fry off the onion in olive oil until translucent and caramelizing slightly. Add the green beans and heat through. Add a dash of water or two, if you need to cook the beans for longer - like if you accidentally used runner beans. Whack in the dill, chopped, and some salt to taste. Add the chopped feta at the end.

Goes well on toast.