This might be the best reason to own an air fryer. Preheat that critter to 350 while you get this stuff ready. Yeah, prep is going to be that fast.
You can do this with green beans. You can do this with asparagus. Or you can go wild like me and do a mix of both. Keep the quantity small, you only want to do one layer or so in the bottom of the fryer. If it’s beans ya got, snip both ends off ’em with a sharp cleaver or axe or whatever ya got. If it’s asparagus spears then it’s half the work because all you’re going to do is decapitate the cut end only as far as it’s woody. You’ll see what I mean when you get down to it. Don’t fear the spear.
Get those in a bowl and get ’em lubed up with the oil of a mess of olives. Don’t drench them, you don’t want them dripping oil like a 350 Chevy with the drain plug out. Just make sure they’re wet because that’s going to help the seasoning cling on.
Mandatory seasonings are garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. I like a bit of Tony Chachere’s Creole & Cajun on there too. Cayenne and onion powder can be good too. Whatever. You do you. But do that later because right now you need to get these veg seasoned.
My fryer has a vegetable program that is pretty much 350 degrees for 10 minutes. That’s sufficient but I think I like another minute or two beyond that.
Serve on a plate. Use a fork. Napkins are the polite thing to do as well. Or you could eat them like fries just using your fingers but for the sake of the gods please wash your hands first. I don’t even want to know where those fingers have been. If you need a side dish you could do rice with a splash of soy. I did once and it was good. Really all a side is going to do is take up the room in your tummy that you could be using to hold more of this green goodness.
Pairs well with an amber, Irish red, or nut brown. You could certainly do a porter or stout but I think the heaviness of those would detract from the lightness of the veg.