Lemon – Mustard Green Beans

August 18, 2006 at 5:42 am (B plus (3.5 stars, like a lot), Peter Berley, Sauce/dressing, Summer recipes)

These green beans are a beautiful emerald green and the dressing is piquant, rich, and wonderful. Based on a recipe from the cookbook Modern Vegetarian Kitchen by Peter Berley.

In a large pot, bring 3 quarts water to a boil. Add 1 Tbs of salt. Place in a bowl:

* 1 small red onion, thinly sliced (not in rounds!?)

Cover with 2 cups of the boiling water. Cover the bowl with a plate and set aside for 10 to 15 minutes. This will help mellow the onions. Drop into the remaining boiling water, and cook, for 4 to 6 minutes, until crisp-tender, or a tiny bit undercooked (remember they will keep cooking once they come out for a few minutes):

* 1.5 pounds green beans, trimmed

Drain the onions and toss them with

* 1/2 tsp salt (too much?)
* pinch freshly milled black pepper
* 1 Tbs apple cider vinegar

Make the vinaigrette. Whisk together in a large serving bowl until oil is emulsified and creamy:

* 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
* 1/8 tsp cayenne
* 1 small garlic clove, crushed
* 1 Tbs Dijon-style mustard
* 1 tsp honey
* 2 Tbs freshly sequeezed lemon juice
* 3 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil (2 plenty?)

Drain the onions once again, squeezing them dry. Add the onions and the green beans to the vinaigrette and toss well. Let marinate for 15 minutes at room temperature before serving, but can wait up to ? minutes.

My Notes

Personally, I love this dish. Whenever I make it I just want to eat the whole bowl of beans. Others have seemed less enthusiastic though. Derek says it’s just too standard, not creative enough. In any case, I love it, and I also love the vinaigrette on other veggies, particularly beets. Again, others have said they feel like the mustard overwhelms the beet flavor, but I think the combination of sweet silky beets with the piquant, rich dressing is wondeful.

If you want you can add other complementary vegetables, like cauliflower. Just make sure to cut them in small enough pieces to absorb the marinade. After a night in the fridge the green beans lose their brilliant green and take on the sallow army green of canned green beans. They don’t taste bad exactly, but they certainly don’t look good, so serve these immediately.

Today I made a dressing with:
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. mustard
3/8 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. honey
1/8 tsp. cayenne
4 Tbs. lemon juice

I forgot the garlic, and the ratio of lemon juice to olive oil was much different than above, but I really enjoyed it. The balance tasted great to me. It made enough for probably 3 big bowls of green beans. Also, I steamed my beans and they cooked perfectly.

Rating: B+