Green Beans Amandine
Bright, snappy beans with brown butter, toasted almonds and lemon
- Serves
- 4
- Hands-on
- Total
- Level
- Easy
Green beans blanched just until crisp-tender, then tossed in brown butter with golden flaked almonds, make a quick, elegant side for fish, chicken or roasts. The beans can be blanched hours ahead; the finish takes three minutes.
Ingredients
- 500 ggreen beans (1 lb 2 oz)trimmed
- fine sea salt10 g per liter for the water, plus to taste
- 40 gunsalted butter (3 tbsp)
- 40 gflaked almonds (⅓ cup)
- 1small shallotfinely chopped
- 1 tbsplemon juice
- black pepper
- Diet
- Vegetarian, Gluten-free
- Allergens
- milk, tree nuts
- Origin
- France
- Season
- Summer, Autumn
Method
- Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, salted at 10 g per liter. Prepare a bowl of iced water.
- Add the beans and cook until bright green and tender with a slight snap, 3–5 minutes depending on thickness. Taste one to check.
- Drain and plunge into the iced water to stop the cooking. Once cold, drain and pat dry.
- Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the almonds and cook, stirring, until the butter smells nutty and both butter and almonds are golden, 2–3 minutes.
- Add the shallot and cook 30 seconds, then add the beans and toss until hot through, 2 minutes.
- Off the heat, add the lemon juice, season with salt and pepper and serve.
Why it works
Blanching in plenty of boiling, salted water cooks the beans fast enough to keep their chlorophyll bright; the ice bath stops the heat before acids released from the beans turn them olive. Lemon is added only at the end for the same reason. Brown butter and toasted almonds both bring nutty roasted notes that flatter the beans' grassy sweetness.
Common mistakes
- Too little water: it stops boiling when the beans go in and they stew to gray. Use a big pot.
- Adding lemon early or covering the pan: the beans go dull green.
- Burning the almonds: they go from golden to bitter quickly. Watch and stir.
Variations
- With garlic and chili
- Use olive oil instead of butter, add 2 sliced garlic cloves and a pinch of chili flakes with the almonds.
Make ahead and storage
Blanch and chill the beans up to 1 day ahead; keep wrapped in a towel in the fridge. Finish in the pan just before serving.
