Fagiolini in umido (Green beans in tomato sauce)

While Sundays dinners at Angelina's house were once-a-week, belly-busting, meaty affairs, she practically lived on vegetables during the week. This was long before vegetarianism went mainstream and she would not have thought of herself as a 'weekday vegetarian' or anything of that sort. It was just the way that she grew up eating in a family of modest means living in small southern Italian village. But frugality had its benefits, and sure lydiet was one reason Angelina lived to be 98 years old.

In any event, when I was growing up one of my favorite vegetable dishes in Angelina's repertoire were these green beans (or string beans, as we used to call them) stewed in a simple tomato sauce.