These are very good, served with steak, especially Barbara’s steak with Yorkshire Blue and whisky, or with Pretty Damn Quick Persian Salmon.
Alternatively, you can serve it as a warm salad as part of a lunch spread – along with aubergines and baby plum tomatoes with yoghurt-tahini sauce, and some crusty toast for example.
Any leftovers, throw into a salad!
Recipe for green beans with black olives
For 3-4 or alternatively make for two, and throw any remaining into a salad the following day.
Ingredients
- 300g/11 oz fresh green beans – don’t try to use frozen
- Juice and zest of half a small lemon (or a quarter of a large one)
- 4 tbsps good quality olive oil – or, if you are using olives in olive oil, use that oil
- About 12 pitted black olives
- Handful of mint
- Salt for cooking, and textured salt for finishing
- Freshly ground black pepper, or some Urfa pepper flakes
Instructions
- Boil a full kettle.
- Top and tail the beans and cut into bite sized pieces.
- In a non-aluminium saucepan get the water boiling, and add some salt. Add the beans. Cook for five minutes. Drain, and refresh by putting under the cold tap.
- Meanwhile roughly chop the olives.
- Put the beans into a pretty bowl, add the olives, the olive oil, the zest and the lemon juice, some textured salt (eg Maldon), and some pepper (or, truly wonderful, some Urfa pepper flakes).
- Snip over the mint leaves.