Green Beans with Gorgonzola & Grinding Grains

I was surprised to find a bird nest, in the rose bush along the path from the driveway to the house.  Another sweet surprise.  I've had a grain grinder for a number of years.  It's a hand grinder, and let me tell you, grinding enough grain to bake bread is a workout.  J has been pondering for some time how to electrify it.  He tinkered and tweaked over the weekend, and we now have an electric-powered grinder.  Hooray!  I'll be baking bread, and some whole wheat chocolate chip cookies today to celebrate.

Our green beans are just about finished, but I harvested just enough from Mark and Meredith's garden to make this new recipe, which J & I both agree is a keeper.  I found it at What's Cooking America.

Grilled Green Beans with Gorgonzola Vinaigrette

6 cups lightly salted boiling water
1 pound green beans, ends trimmed
1 tbs olive oil, divided
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
1 tbs firmly-packed brown sugar
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 green onion, chopped
1/2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1/2 tsp chopped fresh basil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan, over medium-high heat, bring water to a boil.  Add the beans and partially cook for 4 to 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Drain the beans in a colander and immediately immerse them in an ice water bath to stop from cooking; drain and set aside.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 1/2 tsp of the olive oil and balsamic vinegar, gorgonzola, brown sugar, garlic, green onion, thyme and basil.  Cook just until the ingredients start to combine, approximately 7 minutes. Remove from heat.

Toss the green beans in the remaining 1 1/2 tsp of olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper.  Lightly grill the beans on the grill approximately 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from grill and toss in the warm vinaigrette.  Serve immediately.  Makes 6 servings.

As is often the case, I didn't follow the recipe to the letter.  I used blue cheese in place of gorgonzola, 1/2 of one of our smallish homegrown yellow onions in place of green onion, and organic sugar in place of brown.  I couldn't see firing up the grill for 1 to 2 minutes, so cooked them in the wok.  Still perfectly delicious!