One of my favorite garden-to-table recipes, perfect for hot summer meals to use up your green beans, cherry tomatoes, and basil. It’s so fresh, easy, and delicious.
The dressing is delicious and would be great on all kinds of salads. It has an apple cider vinegar base kept at a 50:50 ratio so it stays a little tart, but has the sweet, salty, and savory additions mixed in with only a little mayonnaise to thicken it up and make it creamy.
Fresh Green Bean Salad with Basil Dressing
TIME:
20 min
|
SERVES:
6 people
HARVEST:
Green beans, cherry tomatoes, garlic, shallot, basil
| INGREDIENTS |
|---|
| 1 1/2 lbs. fresh green beans |
| 1 Tbsp. sugar |
| 1 Tbsp. and 1 tsp. salt (4 tsp. total) |
| 5 firm, ripe tomatoes, sliced (use whole grape tomatoes) |
| 4 sprigs fresh basil, for garnish |
| GARLIC-BASIL DRESSING: |
| 1 clove garlic, peeled (I use 1/4 tsp. dried minced garlic) |
| 1 shallot, trimmed and peeled (I use dried minced onion) |
| 1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper |
| 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard |
| 1 Tbsp. sugar |
| 3/4 cup canola, corn or vegetable oil |
| 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar |
| 15 fresh basil leaves |
| 1/8 freshly ground black pepper |
DIRECTIONS:
- Leave the pointed tips on the beans, but snap off the stem tips (the end that was attached to the plant). Wash beans.
- Bring large pot of water to a boil. Add the sugar and 1 Tbsp. salt. Drop in the green beans and cook until crisp tender, about 6-7 minutes. Drain the beans and plunge them into ice water to stop cooking. Drain well and refrigerate.
- Make the dressing by combining the garlic, onion, black pepper, salt, dijon mustard, sugar, pepper and vinegar to a blender. Slowly drizzle in the oil. Add the basil leaves and blend.
- When ready to serve, toss the green beans with 1/3 cup of the dressing in a large mixing bowl. Taste and add more dressing or salt if needed. Pile the beans high in the center of a large white platter.
- Arrange tomato slices overlapping around the edge. Sprinkle the tomato slices with salt and drizzle 3 Tbsp. of the dressing on top of them. Garnish with basil sprigs. Serve immediately.
