Green bean and date salad

Green beans are an affordable vegetable in spring and, well treated and not overcooked, they are delicious and with many more possibilities than the potato and carrot trio that we are used to seeing. We are all familiar with flat green beans, but depending on the area, it may not be as common to use round boby or French green beans, which, being smaller than flat beans, cook sooner and tend to have fewer strings, so It is usually not necessary to remove them. They are, in short, more comfortable to prepare for the lazy in the kitchen. I know, you are going to tell me that there are various types of frozen green beans and that they give good results; Personally, at least if it’s in season and they can be found fresh, I always prefer it.

My point: Round beans are great for use in salads, either steamed briefly, or cut into small pieces, and simply sautéed in oil until they start to cook, but still crisp. This is how I like to use them in a salad, with a good dressing and some extra dressing that gives them flavor and enhances their freshness, they do not need much more.

In this example we combine them with chopped dates, which contrast perfectly with the salty point of the goat cheese; and but the contrast of soft-crunchy textures we put some pine nuts and some croutons of bread imitating a panzanella. A reasonably balanced and, above all, very rich starter or light dinner, which you can remove the sweet spot if you don’t like it by removing the honey from the vinaigrette.

Difficulty

To use a good product.

Ingredients

For 4 people:

• 500g fresh round or boby green beans
• 6 fat dates of good quality
• 2 tbsp pine nuts
• 150g goat cheese
• 2 slices of bread from the day before
• 60g extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp of honey
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Cut the ends of the beans -if they are very tender, it is usually not necessary to remove the lateral strands- and cut them into slices on the bias.

2. Cook them steamed, in the microwave covered with a little water or directly sautéed in a little oil, until they are al dente. Reserve.

3. Chop the dates into small pieces and crumble the goat cheese.

4. Cut the bread into cubes and pass them through a frying pan with a few drops of oil to toast them (or lightly toast them on the oven grill).

5. Prepare the dressing by mixing the olive oil, vinegar, honey and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl.

6. Put the cooked green beans and the chopped dates in a salad bowl, and season with the previously prepared dressing, stirring so that all the vegetables are impregnated.

7. Top with crumbled goat cheese, pine nuts and croutons, and serve.

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