Yard-Long Beans with Fennel and Pepper Strips

Barbara Spiegel lives in lower Manhattan, where Chinatown and Little Italy, formerly separate and welldefined neighborhoods, have gradually melded. For her delightful non-traditional recipe, she combines beans from the Chinese market and fennel from the Italian to produce a dish that somehow seems as Mediterranean as ratatouille. The beans give a special “tooth”, a meaty quality, to the mélange, which makes a useful buffet dish, warm or hot. If you do not have the pastis, substitute dry ver