Green Bean Salad with Mustard and Tarragon

Our bean vines are producing vigorously. Fortunately, I love green bean salad. I steam the beans until tender then toss them in a simple vinaigrette. I cook a pound at a time because they last well in the fridge, ready for a quick meal.

The other day I tossed them in a mustard vinaigrette to which I added a snippet of tarragon. It's worth finding a sunny well-drained spot for this perennial because its slight anise-y flavor gives a subtle boost to mustard vinaigrettes like this one.

Green Bean Salad
1 lb green beans, trimmed
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp chopped tarragon
3/4 tsp salt
pepper
1-2 tbsp spring onion or chives of Egyptian walking onion

Steam beans until tender but still crunchy, 7-10 minutes. Plunge in an ice water bath to stop the cooking, then drain and pat them dry.

Whisk together the remaining ingredients. Add the beans and toss to coat. Chill until ready to serve.

Serves 4

Green Beans with Lemon Mustard Vinaigrette

I love green beans. Lightly cooked and served on the side, they add a welcome green simplicity to any meal.

At Thanksgiving, however, nothing is plain, so I dressed them up with a simple mustardy vinaigrette. Mustard goes well with ham, I figured, so it was a good match.

I confess that I do not steam my green beans. I throw them in a pot of boiling water for 8 minutes, then drain them. Served like this, they are delicious. A pat of butter and a little salt and pepper gilds the lily.

Of course, if you have really young fresh beans, like the ones I hope to be harvesting this winter, steam them for a mere 3-5 minutes to keep their tender taste. The organic green beans I've been buying at the Hollywood Farmers Market are more mature and benefit from a good boil.

Green beans in vinaigrette make a nice room temperature side, and can also be chopped up and added to cooked rice or salads. Leftover lemon mustard dressing is also good on green salads or bean salads, or poured over any cooked vegetable.

On Thanksgiving, I strolled through the garden picking a lemon and some tarragon to garnish the beans. If you don't have fresh tarragon, use any herb you like  – dried is fine, just use 1/4 tsp to start and then add more to taste.

Green Beans with Lemon Mustard Vinaigrette
1 lb green beans, ends trimmed
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp minced red onion
1 clove garlic, minced (opt)
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon
3/4 tsp salt
pepper

Cook beans. Either steam until tender, or cook in boiling water about 8 minutes until tender. Drain, refresh in cold water, and pat dry. Arrange on a platter.

Make the vinaigrette by whisking together the remaining ingredients.

Pour the vinaigrette over the beans, and serve.

Serves 4

Apple and Goat Cheese Salad

Even the evenings have been hot over the last week or so. Too hot to even think about barbecuing or turning on the stove for dinner.

So we've been eating a lot of main course salads. Sunday night I combined honey crisp apples, walnuts and goat cheese to make a nourishing meal that tempted our appetites despite the heat.

I added a little honey to the salad dressing, which I don't usually do. But we needed a little sweetness after the heat of the day, and it balanced the lemon and tarragon well. The dressing would be good on any green salad. It will last a few days in the fridge.

Apple and Goat Cheese Salad
5 cups torn romaine lettuce
1/2 Haas avocado
1 honey crisp apple
1 hard-boiled egg
3 oz goat cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup toasted walnuts

Dressing:
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 olive oil
1 tbsp tarragon, chopped

Arrange the lettuce on a serving platter. Peel and slice the avocado. Core and slice the apple. Peel and quarter the egg. Arrange the avocado, apple and egg on the lettuce. Crumble the goat cheese in the center and then the toasted walnuts on top.

Whisk the lemon juice, garlic, honey, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Whisking constantly, add the olive oil until the mixture emulsifies. Whisk in the tarragon.

Drizzle 3/4 of the dressing over the salad and serve the extra dressing on the side.

Serves 2 as a main course.