Ric-Ter Scale *6

Cage
New World Cajun Seasoning Mix
Use to season ANYTHING from roasts to fish to stews and gumbos to
marinades--- Sprinkle on fried foods, chips, garlic bread, steamed veggies and sticky candy bars.  Here is a recipe for the dish we all  love.
Pan-blackened Stringbeans   
  Okay folks, here's the real story of those stringbeans...
When I was the chef at Justin’s in Albany, we did not have a grill.  All of our meats and fish were either broiled in a salamander or seared on cast iron.  On a heavy-volume night, I would have as many as four cast-iron skillets raging on the back burners of the stove.  I tried cooking everything on hot cast iron in those days.  Having limited options sometimes forces creativity. 
    One hectic night I came up three orders short of vegetables when plating up a large table.  In a moment of panic I tossed a handful of stringbeans in the boiling pasta water to cook them lightly.  Well, I removed them from the water a little too soon too soon.  In my rush to get them cooked to finish plating the last three dinners, I dumped the beans into the hottest skillet on hand ... a white-hot blackening pan laden with residual blackening seasoning.  I moved them around to finish them and put them on the plate with the rest of the entrees.  Nine people eating dinner ... nine different dishes and one topic of conversation ... those stringbeans!  The table ordered three side orders so everyone could taste them.  The server exclaimed that if I didn’t put these on the menu I was nuts!
Ric-ter Scale: 6
Serves 4-6
2 pounds fresh stringbeans, stems picked off
3-6 Tablespoons New World Cajun Seasoning (more=hotter)
2 tablespoons safflower, soy, sunflower or corn oil
    Be sure that your kitchen is properly ventilated before you attempt to blacken any food indoors.  Open the windows and doors and disable the smoke detectors.  (Don't forget to hook them back up again afterwards!)
    If you don't want to smoke up the house, you can always prepare this dish outside.  Heat the skillet to white-hot indoors, then, when you are ready to put the beans into the pan, bring everything outside.  Scoot, though; the skillet should be kept hot enough to blacken the beans for a minute or two.      Fill a medium-sized pot three-quarters full of water.  Bring to a rolling boil while you preheat a cast-iron skillet or heavy wok until very hot, about ten minutes over high heat.
    Plunge the stringbeans into the boiling water and cook them for 30 seconds, until they are bright green, forkable but still a bit crisp.  Drain the beans but do not rinse them, and put them in a work bowl big enough to toss them around in.  Add the oil and toss to coat them evenly.  Sprinkle the seasoning over the beans and toss to coat evenly.
    When you are ready to blacken them, dump the beans into the hot skillet.  If your skillet is small, this may need to be done in batches.  Don’t overload the skillet.  Using tongs, move the beans around to blacken them evenly in the seasoning.  The idea here is to char the spices, not the beans themselves.
    Serve the beans mounded on fresh greens with lemon wedges, with 1/2 cup of Creole Remoulade Sauce  for dipping.