Green beans are so versatile, as are almonds, and surprisingly so are capers! Put them all together and you have a winning dish. This recipe is riffed from one of my favorite cookbooks, Ottolenghi’s SIMPLE. Where he combines almonds and capers with roasted asparagus. Here I use the same garnishes but for one of my family’s favorite green vegetables, green beans.
The almonds add butteriness while the capers add a burst of saltines in every bite. If you plan on making this dish ahead of time, cook each component as below, but keep them apart until ready to serve.
- 600g fine green beans, trimmed
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 25g (¼ cup) slivered almonds
- 30g (3 tablespoons) baby capers (or regular) patted dry on a paper towel
- Flakey sea salt
- Fill a large pot with cold water, season with kosher salt and taste that the water is ‘as salty as the sea’. Bring water to the boil, add the green beans and cook until tender, drain in a colander and rinse with cold water, to halt the cooking. Drain again, transfer the green beans to a serving dish and set aside.
- Heat a small saucepan over medium heat, once hot, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and heat to shimmering. Once olive oil is shimmering add the almonds and fry for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently, until the almonds are golden. Pour the almonds and oil evenly over the green beans.
- Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the saucepan and raise the heat to high. Once hot, add the capers and fry for 1-2 minutes, stirring continuously, until they have started to open up. Sprinkle the capers and oil onto the green beans. Season with a bit of flakey sea salt.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
