Canned green beans transform into something worth eating when you brown them hard and finish them with garlic and butter. This shelf has almost nothing, so we build a simple one-pan dish around those beans and stretch it with pasta and an egg, done in under thirty minutes.

Serves 2. 25 minutes, 18 at the stove.

About 810 calories a serving, 30 g protein, 120 g carbohydrate, 28 g fat. From USDA figures for 100% of the ingredients; amounts are the recipe's.

Cook mode

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil while you drain the canned green beans thoroughly in a colander and pat them dry on a paper towel.
2. Cook 6 ounces of pasta until just tender, about 8 minutes, stirring now and then.8 min
3. While the pasta cooks, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the drained beans, and let them sit undisturbed until they start to brown on one side, about 3 minutes. Stir and let them brown another 2 minutes.5 min
4. Mince 2 garlic cloves and add them to the beans with 1 tablespoon of butter, then stir often until the garlic is light gold, about 1 minute.1 min
5. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water, then add the pasta to the beans and toss to coat with the oil and butter.
6. Crack 2 eggs into a bowl, beat them lightly with a pinch of salt and pepper, then pour them into the warm pasta while stirring constantly until the eggs coat the strands, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
7. Taste and season with salt and pepper, then squeeze fresh lemon juice over the top and serve at once.

Note Swap the canned beans for fresh green beans cut into 1-inch pieces and cooked in salted water until tender. Leftovers keep in the fridge for two days and are good at room temperature with a squeeze of lemon. Serve with grated cheese at the table if you have it, or a simple green salad after.