Green bean salad is a simple dish that is full of flavour very typical of southern Spain and Gibraltar. Locally it is knows as ‘ensalada de habichuelas verdes‘ although it is also known as ‘judías verdes aliñadas‘. It is usually served as a side dish and goes very well with a protein source of your choice (veggie of course!). It is also quite typical to have this during the hot season as it is served cold. Green bean salad is a very Mediterranean dish and there are variations of this all across the Mediterranean. In fact I had a similar salad in Greece recently, although it was served warm and had no garlic, but very similar in concept.
As with many salads of this region, it has raw garlic, and while our palates here are well accustomed to it, it may be that the thought of raw garlic may be too much for others. If that is the case, don’t be put off, simply sauté the garlic and allow to cool down and then serve into the salad. It will be just as good and don’t waste any of the garlic infused oil! Use it to marinade the green beans.
I tend to use lemon juice to marinade my salads because I do not like vinegar, however the usual way to do this is with a mild vinegar, such as wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar. This really is up to individual taste.
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Green bean salad is a simple dish that is full of flavour very typical of southern Spain and Gibraltar and has many variations across the Mediterranean. As with many salads of this region, it has raw garlic but you can also sauté the garlic so it is not as strong.
Ingredients
- 250 g green beans
- 1-2 cloves of garlic
- ½ lemon, juice or 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp virgin olive oil
- salt to taste
- ½ lb green beans
- 1-2 cloves of garlic
- ½ lemon, juice or 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp virgin olive oil
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Split the green beans lengthwise, cut both ends off. Alternatively cut into 5 centimetre (2 inch) pieces, which can be a lot less time consuming.
- Blanche them for about 7 to 8 minutes until tender in a pan of gently simmering water.
- When the green beans are tender, drain and place in a bowl with cold water (with some ice cubes) in order to stop the cooking process and retain colour.
- When the green beans have cooled to room temperature, drain and place in a bowl.
- Finely dice the garlic and add to the green beans. If raw garlic is too much for you then you can always gently sauté in a pan with about 1 tsp of oil until golden, allow to cool and add to the green beans. Don’t waste the oil, use for the marinade!
- Add some salt to taste, pour the olive oil and lemon juice to marinade the green beans.
- Serve cold on it’s own or as a side dish.
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