Prepare the vinaigrette: Place all of the ingredients into a canister or bowl. Use an immersion blender to blend and emulsify.
Place shallots in a small bowl. Cover with vinegar, stir.
Cook the beans: Trim stems from beans. Place beans in a pot of cold water on stovetop and bring to a boil. As soon as it starts boiling, cook beans for 30 seconds more before straining and immediately plunging into a bowl of ice water. Stir. When beans have cooled, strain then lay out on a clean dish cloth to remove excess water.
Assemble salad: Place beans, nuts, cranberries and cheese in a large bowl. Strain shallots and add them too. Drizzle with half the quantity of dressing. Toss gently to combine. Transfer salad onto a collar or bed of shredded radicchio on a presentation platter or bowl. Add more dressing and cheese, if desired, followed by a sprinkle of chives.
Green Bean Salad
Ingredients
For the salad:
1 pound green beans
2 shallots, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
¾ cup sun-dried cranberries
¾ pecans, toasted and chopped
½ cup blue cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon chopped chives
½ head radicchio, shredded
For the vinaigrette:
¼ cup vegetable or nut oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon maple syrup
juice from ½ a lemon
2 garlic cloves, sliced
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
sea salt flakes, optional
Directions
Prepare the vinaigrette: Place all of the ingredients into a canister or bowl. Use an immersion blender to blend and emulsify.
Place shallots in a small bowl. Cover with vinegar, stir.
Cook the beans: Trim stems from beans. Place beans in a pot of cold water on stovetop and bring to a boil. As soon as it starts boiling, cook beans for 30 seconds more before straining and immediately plunging into a bowl of ice water. Stir. When beans have cooled, strain then lay out on a clean dish cloth to remove excess water.
Assemble salad: Place beans, nuts, cranberries and cheese in a large bowl. Strain shallots and add them too. Drizzle with half the quantity of dressing. Toss gently to combine. Transfer salad onto a collar or bed of shredded radicchio on a presentation platter or bowl. Add more dressing and cheese, if desired, followed by a sprinkle of chives.
Green Bean Salad
5 / 5. 1
Tender-crisp green beans tossed with toasted pecans, sun-dried cranberries, crumbled blue cheese and a light Dijon vinaigrette…
Here at WATC, we’ve never met a salad we didn’t like. Truth be told, when assembled with the perfect combination of fresh ingredients, we think any salad can easily exceed expectations. Case in point, this GREEN BEAN SALAD can be served as an appetizer, a stunning side dish, or presented on a large display platter for a buffet service. WOW!
Before sharing a few tips and suggestions on how to make it like a pro, how about a few additional green bean recipes? Serving them as a side is always well received, so try these EASY GREEN BEANS WITH LEMON AND HERBS or our GRILLED GREEN BEANS. Soup lovers rave about our easy vegetarian GREEN BEAN SOUP RECIPE. We also include green beans in such popular recipes as our TUNA SAMMIES and a CLASSIC SALAD NIÇOISE with tuna, hard-boiled egg, tomatoes, and potatoes. Enjoy!
Here are the details on making this feature, a tasty GREEN BEAN SALAD recipe:
INGREDIENTS
The photo of the ingredients says it all; eight ingredients plus a vinaigrette means an easy process. The salad itself is a lovely combination of green beans and radicchio. For best results, try to pick up locally grown or organic vegetables. We find they always taste better.
The next few items in the salad are all flavour enhancements. We added a fruit-and-nut element with sun-dried cranberries and toasted pecans. We also included a favourite dairy component, crumbled blue cheese, though feta will work too. This gives the salad so much flavour and pairs well with our fresh herb component, chopped chives. Feel free to add other nuts to this mix like almonds, pine nuts or walnuts. You can also tweak the fresh herbs, using parsley, tarragon or fresh basil.
PICKLED SHALLOTS
The final two ingredients for this salad get a special shout-out: shallots and red wine vinegar. The process for this recipe is to thinly slice the shallots—if you can’t find them, opt for red onion—and then soak them in the red wine vinegar. Rather use balsamic vinegar? Go ahead. The goal is to impart a bit of zing through the acidity of the vinegar. I soak them for about 15 minutes, then strain and add the shallots into the salad. Sound familiar? We used this same process for this CRUNCHY APPLE SALAD.
DIJON VINAIGRETTE
Lemme go on record; I love this simple vinaigrette recipe, and I make it all the time. I’ve dressed a SIMPLE SALAD with it. It’s been enjoyed on our COBB SALAD and also on this ROASTED BEET SALAD. For this GREEN BEAN SALAD, I made one little tweak: we added a tiny bit of maple syrup to pair with the grated garlic and Dijon mustard. Love this flavour combination.
Making the vinaigrette is simple, too. You can either follow our lead and whisk everything together, or if you’d rather have a thicker dressing, emulsify all of the ingredients using a handheld immersion blender.
HOW TO BLANCH GREEN BEANS
Make sure to watch the VIDEO attached to this recipe where we do a step-by-step on how to blanch fresh green beans. The goal is to have cooked beans that still retain both their vibrant green colour and a bit of crunch. The beans need to be crisp-tender. Prepping the beans involves removing the very end of the stems but not the tips. After trimming away the stems, cut the beans in half and you’re ready to continue.
Next step is to boil the beans, and this recipe has been written from a cold start. What does that mean? The recipe is timed to work with the beans immersed in a pan or pot of cold water. Put the pot on the stovetop, then turn the element or burner to high. As soon as the pot comes to a boil, set your timer for 30 seconds.
Once cooked, drain the beans and immediately transfer them to a large bowl filled with ice water. Stir them about in that cool water to prevent them from cooking further. Blanching results in perfectly cooked greens. Pro tip: this method also works for other hard veggies like carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, turnips, and parsnips. Feel free to adjust the boil time to achieve your desired level of vegetable doneness.
REMOVING EXCESS MOISTURE
Please don’t skip the step where we instruct you to lay the blanched beans out on a clean dishcloth to remove excess moisture. Spread them out on the cloth, pat them with the towel, and you’ll be good to go. This step prevents excess moisture from going into the bowl.
ASSEMBLING THE SALAD
Assembling this easy, tasty GREEN BEAN SALAD could not be easier. Spill the blanched, blotted beans into a large salad bowl. Add the cranberries, toasted chopped pecans, strained pickled shallots, and crumbled blue cheese. Then drizzle with about half the quantity of vinaigrette, toss gently, and get ready to serve.
Before transferring to individual salad plates or a large presentation platter, take half a head of radicchio and slice it thinly. Use this to create a small collar in which the tossed salad is displayed. The radicchio, a member of the chicory family, adds a pleasing tartness to the flavour of the salad. Other options if radicchio isn’t to your liking are arugula, frisée, Boston lettuce, or mesclun greens. This salad welcomes interpretation.
SERVE
As mentioned off the top, this GREEN BEAN SALAD can be served as an appetizer, a stunning side dish, or presented on a large display platter for a buffet service. It’s the perfect appetizer for a dinner party, or if you’d rather, enjoy it alongside our famous BEEF TENDERLOIN, OVEN-ROASTED CHICKEN, or this juicy PORK TENDERLOIN.
I always serve this GREEN BEAN SALAD recipe as part of a self-serve buffet, perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or any holiday celebration. Add the collar of radicchio to your plate or platter, the green bean salad in the centre, then feel free to top with more vinaigrette, an extra sprinkle of blue cheese, plus a bit of sea salt and some freshly chopped chives.
PIN IT!
Before you head off to prepare this must-make salad recipe, a reminder to save it for future reference. Click that BOOKMARK tab at the top of your browser and also PIN it to one of your PINTEREST boards for easy access. Good idea to subscribe to our monthly newsletter HERE, where we share our top recipes and give a sneak peek at upcoming posts. You’ll also receive Gather, our mid-month missive focused on ideas to entertain family and friends.
Make this GREEN BEAN SALAD; you and your guests will love it!
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Ingredients
For the salad:
1 pound green beans
2 shallots, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
¾ cup sun-dried cranberries
¾ pecans, toasted and chopped
½ cup blue cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon chopped chives
½ head radicchio, shredded
For the vinaigrette:
¼ cup vegetable or nut oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon maple syrup
juice from ½ a lemon
2 garlic cloves, sliced
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
sea salt flakes, optional
Directions
Prepare the vinaigrette: Place all of the ingredients into a canister or bowl. Use an immersion blender to blend and emulsify.
Place shallots in a small bowl. Cover with vinegar, stir.
Cook the beans: Trim stems from beans. Place beans in a pot of cold water on stovetop and bring to a boil. As soon as it starts boiling, cook beans for 30 seconds more before straining and immediately plunging into a bowl of ice water. Stir. When beans have cooled, strain then lay out on a clean dish cloth to remove excess water.
Assemble salad: Place beans, nuts, cranberries and cheese in a large bowl. Strain shallots and add them too. Drizzle with half the quantity of dressing. Toss gently to combine. Transfer salad onto a collar or bed of shredded radicchio on a presentation platter or bowl. Add more dressing and cheese, if desired, followed by a sprinkle of chives.
Until Christmas
