Fagiolini alla Fiorentina

This is a sure-fire way to liven up green beans. Even frozen green beans, which are rarely tasty, take on a new lease of life with this very simple Florentine recipe. For this dish, Florentine cooks use the dried fennel seed that is so popular in local recipes and in many culinary specialities, including the huge soft salame known locally as finocchiona, which is so soft that it is almost spreadable, and has a strong fennel flavour. Like so many of these kinds of stewed vegetable dishes tha