The Back Yard Lemon Tree

Generally when I make a green bean salad I keep it pretty simple I cook the green beans, blanche them in an ice bath then dress them with olive oil and vinegar season them salt and pepper and that’s it.

For special occasions when I want something a bit fancier I often make this green bean salad. It’s little bit more trouble ,but I get to use my mandoline slicer and makes me feel like I’m not wasting valuable cupboard space on a useless kitchen gadget. If you don’t have a mandoline slicer just slice the fennel and onion as finely as possible.

*Note on cooking the green beans. You could write a treatise on cooking green beans but plunging the green beans into a big bowl of icy water stops the beans from cooking and keeps them tender and crispy for your salad. After watching Samin Nosrat cook her green beans in salty, brine-like water in her series Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat – I cook my green beans in very generously salted water. Cooking the beans this way makes the beans so tasty, it makes it difficult not to eat too many of them before you even get to dressing them for a salad.

This particular recipe fries the almonds whole then roughly chops them which makes for a more photogenic look, but I I often chop them roughly first and then fry them like I do for this Carrot, Chickpea and Fried Almond Salad. Which ever way you fry your almonds, almonds fried in olive oil are a super delicious addition so do not skip this step.

Green Bean Salad with Fried Almonds

• 500g (1 pound) Green Beans (topped and tailed)
• 1 small fennel bulb (or half a large fennel)
• 1 stick of celery (optional)
• 1/2 medium red onion
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1/4 cup of red vinegar
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1 tablespoon of kosher salt (Use less if you’re using Morton salt flakes or table salt)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/3 cup almonds
• 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• Ice for cooling beans

1. In a small bowl mix 1/4 cup of vinegar, 1/4 cup of water, 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 /2 teaspoon of sugar
2. With a mandoline slicer (If you have one) slice onion thinly and place mix through vinegar water. Set aside for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
3. Slice fennel finely and toss with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (so it doesn’t brown) If you are using celery, slice celery finely an place in large bowl with fennel.
4. Using a small cast iron fry pan heat about a few teaspoons of olive oil and fry nuts until nice and toasty and golden. Remove from pan to cool. Chop almonds into halves or thirds and set aside.
5. Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add a couple of generous pinch of salt to the water. Boil beans until still slightly crisp but tender, 4-5 minutes for regular beans and 3 minutes for thin young beans. Drain and plunge beans into a large bowl filled with ice and water to stop the beans cooking. If you have no ice handy make sure you stop cooking the beans about a minute before ready as the beans will keep cooking when removed from water.
6. Place the cooled and drained beans in bowl with fennel and celery. Remove red onion from pickling juice and toss through beans and fennel.
7. Dress your salad – coat salad nicely with olive oil then add pickling juice according to taste. Season with salt and pepper. Add more pickling juice and and olive oil to balance the flavors.
8. Just before serving sprinkle fried almonds on top.