Green Beans with Toasted Almond, Shallot & Olive Oil

When I start seeing local beans I immediately start dreaming of this quick simple salad. Beans with toasted almonds, minced shallot & olive oil. I typically make this with green beans, but yellow are great too. I gravitate towards simple food that tastes incredible and this easy side dish is surprisingly addictive. I can't stop picking up the beans with my fingers, dragging them through the olive oil, snagging as many almonds into the bite as I can....then the lovely onion bite from the shallot. It tastes special. All you need to do is blanch the beans, cool, then toss with the rest of the ingredients.  The key to success is not overcooking your beans. They must have a snap to them. I overcooked my beans once and it really affected the quality of the final product. Not delicious. They take no time in the boiling water, so keep a watchful eye and taste as you go. 

Almonds
I gravitate to skinless almonds for this recipe. Sometimes I have them on hand whole in my freezer and I'll slice them, but that's a lot of work. You can buy shaved or slivered almonds if you'd like, but regular skin on almonds are great too. (I always buy unsalted nuts)

How to serve
Serve this in the summer months as a side dish with whatever you like. I usually make other salad type things to go along side. Tabbouleh, potatoes with olive oil and dill, a beet salad...anything goes. All I know is a variety of beautiful vegetable dishes in the height of summer is a wonderful thing. A pleasure to prepare and eat. 

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs trimmed green or yellow beans, blanched
• 1/2 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
• 2 or 3 shallots, minced 
• 3/4 cup toasted almonds, chopped (see note above for almond thoughts)
• salt and pepper

Method:

1. To blanch beans, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add your beans to the water, cover with a lid just to bring back to a boil. They take no time at all to blanch, so keep an eye. Mine took a couple of minutes max. A good tip is to watch the colour. The beans will turn vibrant green, which is a good indicator they are ready. I always try a couple as I go to make sure they are perfect. Then strain the beans, and ideally shock them in ice water to stop them from cooking further. I don't always have ice at home though, so in that case I just run them under cold water and it works out fine.  
2. Dry the beans well with paper or kitchen towel, transfer to a clean bowl and toss with olive oil, shallots, toasted almonds & s+p to taste. Enjoy!

​