Green beans almondine
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 lb (450g) green beans, thin green beans are preferred
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds 40g, skin-on almonds are better
- 4 tablespoons butter 60g
- 2 shallots
- 4 cloves garlic
- zest grated from 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- salt
Instructions
- Prepare all the ingredients: trim the green beans (cut off just the woody stem, you don't need to cut off the other end), cut the shallots into small cubes, finely chop the garlic, zest, and juice the lemon.
- Cook the green beans: add the trimmed beans into a pot with very well-salted boiling water. Cook the green beans until they are soft but still very crunchy (they should squeak a little between your teeth). This will be 3.5-4 minutes for very thin beans, 4-5 min for medium beans, and 6-7 minutes for thick green beans. If you're using thin frozen green beans, cook them for about 2 minutes. Take one green bean out of the water (the thickest one) and try if it's cooked to your liking. When the beans are cooked, drain them and rinse with cold running water (or add to an ice bath - cold water filled with ice). Set aside.
- Make the almond garnish: Add the almonds in an even layer to a big frying pan. Toast them in a dry pan until lightly golden (medium-high heat). Add the butter and the shallots, cook for about 2-3 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the shallots are soft. Add the garlic and lemon zest, cook, stirring, for about 30-60 seconds, until the garlic is fragrant.
- Assemble: Add the cooked green beans and briefly warm them up with the sauce. Take the pan off the heat, add the lemon juice, and toss everything together. Season with salt to taste, if necessary.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Ingredient notes:
- Green beans - try to buy (if possible) green beans that are almost the same size - they will cook more evenly. You can also use good-quality frozen green beans but they won't taste as good as fresh green beans and will be much less crunchy.
- Shallots - you can omit them or use a small red/yellow onion instead.
- Almonds - best are sliced skin-on almonds.
- Garlic - chop it with a knife and don't press through a garlic press.
- Butter - best is unsalted, good-quality butter. Olive oil can also be used but the dish will taste a little different, I prefer it much more with bitter.
- Lemon - lemon's acidity levels may vary so adjust the amount to your liking. Use freshly-squeezed lemon juice.
- How to make it ahead: You can prepare the whole dish then reheat it in a skillet (add a little water to the skillet). The green beans won't be as crunchy as freshly made but they will still taste good. Better would be, especially if you want to serve this dish on an important occasion, to prepare the green beans ahead and make the almond garnish just before serving. To do that, cook the green beans, add them into cold water, drain well, and put in a tightly-closed container in the fridge. On the day you plan on serving the green beans, make the almond garnish and add the green beans to the pan, warming them up with the butter sauce.
- Servings: this will do for 4-6 people as a side dish, or for 2 people for a quick and healthy lunch.
- Calories: 1/4 of the recipe.
Nutrition
Calories: 206kcal