A lucky find in the market at Bagnoles de l’Orne on Saturday morning, although the market was much reduced in size from its normal buzzing and bustling state. Only seven or eight stalls this week and no cheese lady! Must have been the intense cold keeping everyone at home.
A stall I usually visit, as the chap often has things which are a little exotic, had runner beans. Now, I know that to most British folk, runner beans are anything but exotic but it’s the first time I’ve seen them at any market here in Normandy. H says they’re out of season so we wondered where they came from. They appear to be called haricot coco plat, (that was what was on the box) although my french food dictionary says they should be called haricot d’espagne. Anyway, whatever they are called, they are very popular with H and my mother-in-law, so I was pleased to see them.
I don’t know how popular they are with the French. All the French women around me were buying haricots vert, so perhaps not so very. When I did a search on the name later, I found a French site where someone was asking how to cook them – was it the same way as haricot vert? Seemed to suggest they’re not common.
Certainly the stallholder seemed a little surprised when I asked for a kilo. Or perhaps it was just the amount; I know most of the French just buy small amounts of things. But having seen them, I’d decided to buy enough to freeze some.
They were so young and tender, hardly any beans to speak of inside, and no ’strings’ to remove. My mother-in-law thought they could have been left on their stems a bit longer to develop more flavour but they were a far cry from the too often harsh-skinned, solid beans to be found in the UK.
I just topped and tailed them and cut them into long thin strips. I cooked some for our dinner today and blanched the rest, enough for three meal-size bags, to put in the freezer. They cost 3 Euros 60 a kilo, so about £2.
A good result, I think.
Anyone else found anything they thought they never would. Love to hear from you.
