This recipe comes to us from the nice folk at Del Monte back in the day of AM radio and brightly colored cars with lots of chrome and tail fins.
I’ve sampled mid-century canned veggie recipes before and really liked them; Green Beans Mandarin, a tasty side dish recipe that I use to get rid of the ramen noodle seasoning packets I have left over when I make Asian Salad; and Green Beans Viennese, nicely seasoned with apple and onion and lemon juice are both winners.
The thing is, why stick to canned green beans? How much better to use fresh, or frozen green beans. And then, how much more better to use tiny, tender, tasty haricots verts?
Simple, fast to toss together, (surprisingly) not reminiscent of Caesar Salad at all, but really quite nice, these made for a fine accompaniment to parsleyed potatoes and Nigella’s Chicken.
INGREDIENTS
•1/2 bag frozen haricots verts
•1 tbsp white wine vinegar
•1 tbsp canola oil
•1 tsp minced onion
– I used freeze dried onion slices
•1/4 tsp seasoned salt
•2 or 3 tbsp Parmesan
Combine the vinegar, canola oil, onion, and salt in a small bowl and set aside to rest for 10 or 15 minutes.
Cook the haricots verts in boiling salted water in a sauté pan for 5 to 7 minutes, until crisp-tender but still quite green. Drain and plunge into ice water to stop them from cooking any further.
Reheat the sauté pan over medium-high heat, then add the haricots verts and the vinegar mixture. Stir-fry until combined and heated through, sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese, and serve.
Happy days, indeed.