Reading Time: 3 minutesFresh vegetables are not only tasty, but incredibly nutritious. But few of us have the time to prepare complicated salads or side dishes.
This dish is a simple solution to the no-time-for-cooking problem.
Because, in truth, fresh foods barely need help to be delicious. Vegetables and fruits that show up during the summer and the fall harvest season need just the lightest touch to be ready to eat. A few minutes in the pan, a splash of vinegar, a dash of salt, and a crack of fresh black pepper is all that’s needed to bring out the best these foods have to offer.
Give this citrus and green bean salad a try. I’m willing to bet it will become a staple dish in your household for any time of year.
Citrus and Green Bean Salad
A few minutes in the pan, a splash of vinegar, a dash of salt, and a crack of fresh black pepper is all that’s needed to bring out the best these foods have to offer.
Ingredients
- 8 oz green beans preferably French
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 2 medium oranges
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1.5 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
Salad Directions:
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Bring a large pot of water to a boil and season with 2-3 heavy pinches of salt. It should taste like sea water.
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While your water boils, put your pine nuts in a cold saute pan over a medium-high heat. Shake while heating for 3-4 minutes. Watch closely as they'll change color a lot in the last minute.
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Remove the pine nuts from the pan to cool. Don't leave them in the pan or they may burn.
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Drop the green beans into the boiling water and cook for about 60 seconds. This can be done in two batches if your pot isn't big enough.
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Cut the tops and bottoms off of your oranges.
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Stand one orange on end and carefully cut away the peel around sides.
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Lay this same orange on a cutting board, cut the segments out between the white part, and cut segments in half so each segment becomes two chunks (alternately, peel and pull apart the segments, then chop them in half).
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Repeat with your second orange.
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Combine green beans, orange pieces, and pine nuts. Season with salt and pepper.
Dressing Directions:
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Add the rice vinegar to the smaller bowl, season with a pinch of salt, and mix to dissolve.
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Add olive oil and whisk, or mix with fork until well blended.
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Drizzle over salad, toss to coat, and adjust salt to taste.
He graduated from UCLA with a BA in philosophy as well as a degree from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts, and feels food is one of the most important parts of a life - it can nourish, heal, and bring people together.
Michael believes health and well-being are as much a state of mind as they are a state of the body, and when it comes to fitness, food, and life in general, he thinks slow is much better than fast (most of the time). Stopping regularly to examine things is the surest way to put down roots and grow.
He knows he will never be done with his own work, and believes the best thing you can do for your well-being starts with loving and working from what you’ve got right now.
