Classic, savory, easy; string beans almondine is your best choice for a delicious, easy-to-make side dish. Also, with a strong kick of sautéed garlic and shallots, lemon juice, and lemon zest, this simple dish will perfectly match your holiday palate. String bean, a vegetable with many other names like green beans or long beans, is known as a nutritious vegetable. String beans are good sources for vitamins and minerals. Now that it’ll be combined with almonds, the delight of this veggies dish will be irresistible. Hmm, tres magnifique!
Basically, the name of this dish is a fancier way to say a dish of string beans with almond garnish. So, you don’t need much time to prepare this dish. Also, the ingredients needed are not that many to carry you out with difficulties while shopping. So, relax and take your time to note this string beans almondine recipe.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb French string beans, or any kinds of string beans (trimmed)
- Shallots and garlic, 2 each (finely minced or thinly sliced)
- ¼ cup of almonds (chopped)
- 1-2 tablespoons of butter
- Kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons of newly squeezed lemon juice
- Black pepper (grounded), and additional salt to taste
- Lemon zest
Instructions:
- Prepare a large pan to boil water. Then, pour water and freely season it with kosher salt. This step will help to complete two additional tasks: reassuring that the string beans will be evenly seasoned inside and out, and the salting will help to retain the green color once the cooking is done.
- Let the water to boil. Then, blanch the string beans inside the pan for around 4-5 minutes. You may stir it at times, and make sure that the beans are crisp-tender; or shortly said, make it slightly undercooked as the beans will be later transferred into the skillet for further cooking.
While completing the beans blanching, prepare your skillet.
- Melt the butter on medium-low heat until it completely melts and has bubbles.
- Stir-fry the sliced almonds and don’t let the nuts be burnt. Stirring is needed. Stir-fry the almonds until the color changes into golden brown.
- After that, reduce the heat and start stir-frying the chopped garlic and shallots until fragrant and a bit caramelized.
- Add the blanched string beans to the skillet. Sauté the vegetables and lightly toss them until those all combined well. For the last touch, add lemon zest and lemon juice, mix it again, and do some seasoning with salt and ground pepper. Now your string beans almondine is ready to serve.
As an additional tip, you can shock the blanched string beans by transferring it to an ice bath. Then, drain it before stir-frying them. By doing so, the string beans will be crispier. This dish is quick to prepare and doesn’t need too much skill to make. Hence, string beans almondine is perfect for a beginner cook, too!
