A perfect choice for a spring or summer dinner once again this time to serve with Chorizo Carbonara…

I can’t say how many times I run to this recipe, especially in the spring, and a good side for St. Patrick’s Day dinner party.

This salad has to be one of my new favorites, quick, easy, served cold, or at room temperature a fresh and bright side dish for a nice spring dinner so for the two of us, I served it over Bert’s beautiful arugula with an extra drizzle of the dressing over the arugula. Half of the recipe was enough for us with some leftovers for lunch. Yotam’s recipe is below as is a link to the page. I didn’t use all of the dressing on the bean salad so I have some left for another plate of lettuce today…it was a great side salad with our spaghetti carbonara.

French beans and mangetout/snow peas with hazelnut and orange
Adapted from Yotam’s recipe

400g French beans
400g snow peas
70g unskinned hazelnuts
1 orange, zested
20g chives, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp hazelnut oil (or another nut oil, if unavailable)
coarse sea salt and black pepper

Using a small, sharp knife, trim the stalk ends off the French beans and the mangetout, keeping the two separate. Bring plenty of unsalted water to a boil in a large saucepan – you need lots of space for the beans, as this is crucial for preserving their color. Blanch the French beans in the water for 4 minutes, then drain into a colander and run them under plenty of tap water until cold. Leave to drain and dry. Repeat with the mangetout, but blanch for only 1 minute.

While the beans cook, scatter the hazelnuts over a baking tray and roast in the oven for 10 minutes. Leave until cool enough to handle, then rub them in a clean tea towel to remove most of the skin. Chop the nuts with a large, sharp knife. They should be quite rough; some can even stay whole. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from the orange in strips, being careful to avoid the bitter white pith.

Slice each piece of zest into very thin strips (if you have a citrus zester, you could do the whole job with that).

To assemble the dish, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, toss gently, then taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve at room temperature.

https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/french-beans-and-mangetout-with-hazelnut-and-orange-full