Bacon Wrapped Green Beans

We will be having a small Thanksgiving this year.  We plan to spend two weeks with the family over Christmas, so a trip north for a quick Thanksgiving dinner is not in the picture.  But a small Thanksgiving dinner for two doesn't have to be boring.  There was the year that hubby and I were by ourselves.  I bought a small turkey.  He wanted to do it on the grill.  I wanted it in the oven so I could make gravy.  So with Solomon like judgement we decided to split it in half; half on the grill and half in the oven.  Mine was best.  He disagrees.

I am not sure yet what we will do with our turkey this year, but I know that this is the way I will be preparing the green beans.  I ran across this recipe while on Pinterest.  It has lots of pins and repins.  The recipe came originally from Aubrey of Just Cook Already,  a blog that I had not visited before.  You might want to go on over and check out her original recipe.  I did make a few changes.

This recipe is great on several levels.  The flavor is wonderful.  Anything wrapped in bacon is good.  The sauce with butter, garlic, brown sugar and (my addition) O OLIVE OIL blood orange oil and port vinegar is scrumptious.  The dish can be prepared ahead of time up to the 15 to 20 minutes needed in the oven to crisp the bacon.  You can have it assembled and in the fridge the day before Thanksgiving.  I also loved that it is already portioned out.  If you are having twelve for Thanksgiving you can assemble twelve bundles.  If you are only two . . . well, you get the picture.

BACON WRAPPED GREEN BEANS

1 lb. green beans, tips removed
5 strips of bacon
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon O OLIVE OIL blood orange oil (or zest of 1 orange and 1 tablespoon orange juice)
1 tablepoon O OLIVE OIL porto vinegar (or 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Cook green beans until tender.  Remove beans to an ice water filled bowl.  Place beans on paper towels to absorb excess water.

Heat butter in a small saucepan.  Add garlic and saute for a few minutes.  Add brown sugar and oil and vinegar.  Stir together and cook for a few minutes.  Remove from heat.

In a large saute pan, cook bacon partially to remove some of the grease.  Do not brown.  Remove bacon to a paper towel lined plate.  It should be limp.

Assemble dish.  Cut bacon slices in half.  Line up approximately 8 to 10 green beans and wrap them with the half piece of bacon.  Secure with a toothpick.  Continue with rest of bundles and place in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.  Drizzle sauce over beans.  (Can be assembled ahead of time to this point).

Place baking dish in preheated oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until bacon is cooked through and beans are warmed through.

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