Canned Green Beans made Better

Does anyone remember the Bruce Willis-Matthew Perry film from 2000 – The Whole Nine Yards? The exact line in the film escapes me now; but the jest of it was that Canadians put mayonnaise on their burgers. Bruce Willis was complaining that there should be a law against it. What does he know.

I love my burgers with mayonnaise. I dip my French Fries in mayonnaise. Sometimes I’ll even eat potato chips with mayonnaise. When other people are asking the waitress “can I get some ketchup?” I’m the odd duck asking for a side of mayonnaise. Have you ever had a pickle and mayonnaise sandwich? Don’t knock it until you have tried it. Bread and Butter Pickles are the best to use when making a pickle-mayonnaise sandwich.

As for Canadians and their love of mayonnaise – I actually googled it. There were a lot of publications claiming that Canadians have a love affair with mayonnaise; but then there were some that claimed this love affair is stereotyping Canadians – just as not all Americans smother everything in ketchup. Fair enough.

First of all let me start by saying I DO NOT care to eat canned green beans that are cut. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems to me that canned; cut green beans have a strange taste to them. I don’t mind fresh-cut green beans, but I cannot eat cut green beans from a can. Hubby says it’s all in my head, but I insist otherwise. Now I will eat French Cut Green beans, but only if served with Filipino Food (don’t ask why) or in a casserole made with Cream of Mushroom soup. For the longest time; it had to be a particular brand of whole green beans – nothing else would do. However; finding my whole green beans has become increasingly more difficult and the cost of a can of whole green beans is insane! So now I settle for whatever I can find and stock up as much as possible when I do find them.

When I first came up with this mayonnaise lemon-pepper concoction for green beans, it was a way to get Kiddo to eat his green beans when he was just a toddler. We called it our magical secret sauce. To this day, he still insists on the magical secret sauce whenever I serve green beans, although he has long grown out of the notion that the sauce is somehow magical. Lord knows, it’s not a secret – this is the way he eats his beans even when dining at someone else’s home.

The key to green beans from a can – as with any canned vegetable – is rinse, rinse, rinse.

Canned Green Beans Made Better
1 Can Whole Blue Lake Green Beans
1 Tablespoon Butter
1/2 Tablespoon Lemon Pepper

Rinse canned green beans under cold running water to remove the packing liquid and excess salt.

Place rinsed beans in a saucepan with a little butter. Sprinkle with lemon pepper. Heat over medium heat until warmed through, about 15 minutes.

Lemon-Pepper Mayonnaise
1 Cup Mayonnaise
1/2 Tablespoon Lemon Pepper

Place mayonnaise in a small serving dish. Whisk in Lemon Pepper. Chill until ready to serve.

Serve green beans in an oblong dish or rimmed  platter. Place a very small dollop of mayonnaise in the center as a “garnish” for those who like mayonnaise, with the remaining mayonnaise mixture served on the side and passed around the table.