Green beans with mustard seeds and tarragon

Sleepless nights are great for leafing through cookbooks and last night in the wee hours of the morning I got up and picked up Yotam Ottolenghi cookbook “Plenty” off my cookbooks shelves. I had to laugh because I saw that I had tagged almost every page with a sticker meaning there is a recipe that I would like to try. Practically the entire book was tagged.

This morning I checked the fridge to see what was in there as we are leaving for Denver tomorrow and found a bag of still fresh wide green beans. I remembered the bean recipe in the book and it didn’t take me long to put together this delicious recipe for lunch.

Since the beans I had were the wide type I thought I’d cut them vertically into thinner strips. They beans cook faster this way and are more manageable to eat as a salad. Other than that, you cook the spices in a little oil and pour everything over the beans, add a few small leafy green and enjoy.

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Ingredients:

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1 lb green beans

2 teaspoons coriander seeds

2 teaspoon mustard seeds

4 tablespoons olive oil

 

1 red chile, seeded and finely diced, or a pinch of dried chile flakes

1 garlic clove, thinly sliced

1/3 cup chopped red onion

Zest of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon

Coarse sea salt to taste

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Directions:

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Depending on the size of the beans either leave them whole or cut in half lengthwise. you can use any fresh beans you have.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and drop the beans into the boiling water. Cook until tender then remove to a plate.

Combine the coriander and mustard seeds in a mortar and crush them roughly with the pestle.

Place olive oil, crushed seeds, chile and garlic  in a small skillet and heat up until the spices begin to pop and release their fragrance.

Immediately pour over the hot beans and stir to distribute the dressing.

Add onion, lemon zest, tarragon and salt and toss well to coat the beans.

Add a few small leafy green and transfer the salad to serving plates or platter.

Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

 

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