Green Beans Gremolata
Beautiful, tasty, refreshing, and nutritious green beans, perfect for summer salads.
Beautiful, tasty, refreshing, and nutritious green beans, perfect for summer salads.
- 1 pound french green beans end trimmed
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves)
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
- 3 tablespoons minced fresh italian flat-leaf parsley
- 3 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
- 2 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- Carbohydrate 49.7364602928739 g
- Cholesterol 2.74999999767529 mg
- Fat 11.2812652100972 g
- Fiber 19.2553005787442 g
- Protein 16.1373481214996 g
- Saturated Fat 1.71673059928595 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (93g)
- Sodium 61.7787184375935 mg
- Sugar 30.4811597141297 g
- Trans Fat 1.05452249924702 g
- Calories 356 calories
Step-by-step
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Add the green beans and blanch them for 2 to 3 minutes, until tender but still crisp.
- Drain the beans in a colander and immediately put them into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and preserve their bright green color.
- For the gremolata, toss the garlic, lemon zest, parsley, parmesan, and pine nuts in a small bowl and set aside.
- When ready to serve, heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat.
- Drain the beans and pat them dry.
- Add the beans to the pan and sauté, turning frequently, for 2 minutes, until coated with olive oil and heated through.
- Remove from the heat, add the gremolata and toss well.
- Sprinkle with lemon juice and serve.
Substituting blanched French green beans with mature, thick-podded garden varieties completely alters the final texture, requiring an extra minute of boiling water time to break down tougher fibrous walls. Selecting slender haricots verts ensures a delicate crunch, while older pods demand rigorous physical inspection. Blanching exacts precision; submerge the pods into a rolling boil for precisely two to three minutes until the cellular structure softens just enough to yield under gentle pressure while retaining structural integrity.
Assessing doneness requires visual and tactile indicators rather than thermal probes. Plunging the drained vegetables into an ice bath instantly halts residual carryover cooking by shocking the chlorophyll, locking in a vivid emerald hue. Patting the exterior completely dry before the final pan sear prevents steaming, allowing the olive oil to adhere properly during the rapid two-minute flash heating phase.
Composing the raw gremolata mixture separately prevents the minced garlic and lemon zest from oxidizing prematurely. Combining finely grated parmesan, toasted pine nuts, and flat-leaf parsley creates a dynamic topping that relies on residual heat from the sauté pan to gently release aromatic volatile oils without cooking the garlic harshly.
Preparing components ahead of time works efficiently if storage rules are strictly followed. Blanched beans hold their color in a sealed container for up to 48 hours, though freezing cooked greens ruins the cellular walls and results in a mushy texture upon thawing.
