Green Beans with Peppers, Toasted Spices, and Fresh Herbs

Not every dish I make is my own. Just as I hope that you’ll make and enjoy my recipes, I make and enjoy recipes crafted by others. This is one of my favorite things to do with green beans. It’s a riff on a recipe from the Jerusalem cookbook, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. If this book is not on your shelf, I recommend you buy yourself a present.

Where this recipe differs from the one in the book is that I quickly sauté the green beans with the peppers and serve it as a hot dish, rather than as a salad…although it’s also wonderful done as in the original recipe.

As you may know, I like to play with my food. I’ll often take a recipe and make a few minor changes to keep things interesting. Last Purim, I made this dish with the addition of some quickly pan-fried chickpeas and served it as a hot side, and it totally worked. The chef uses a combination of green beans and wax beans, which looks very pretty. But wax beans aren’t usually available where I live, so I usually make it with only green beans. Sometimes I use those skinny little French string beans known as haricots vert. To make up for the lack of color that the wax beans bring to the dish, I often use 1 red pepper and 1 yellow pepper.

The whole toasted spices are what really make this dish pop with flavor. Don’t leave them out.

Also, you can vary the herbs. If you can’t find chervil, you can substitute parsley and or dill, or any soft, leafy herbs.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb green beans, stem ends trimmed

• 4 scallions, finely sliced (both white and green parts)

• 2 cups chervil leaves

• 1/2 cup roughly chopped tarragon leaves

• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

• 2 bell peppers, 1 red and 1 yellow, cut into thin strips

• A small glug of olive oil

• Salt and pepper as needed.

For the Dressing:

• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 3 garlic cloves, finely sliced

• 3 tablespoons capers

• 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds

• 2 teaspoons coriander seeds

Method:

• Make the dressing—Have all ingredients at the ready, mise en place. Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté for about half a minute. Add the capers and cook for another half a minute. Add the cumin and coriander seeds and sauté until the garlic turns golden. Remove the skillet from the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set it aside.

• Have a large bowl of ice-cold water at the ready.

• Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add the green beans and boil them for 3 minutes. Immediately drain them and transfer them to the bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. When they’re cooled, drain them again.

• Sauté the peppers: Set a heavy bottomed skillet over high heat. Add a small glug of olive oil and add the peppers with a pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté them until they begin to blacken in places, which will happen fairly quickly over high heat. You want your peppers to be tender -crisp. Then, lower the heat to medium and add the green beans. Sauté just until the beans pick up a little color.

• You can make the dish ahead of time up to this point and re-heat the green beans and peppers when you’re ready to serve. Or, you can serve the dish at room temperature.

• Transfer the green beans and peppers to a serving bowl. Add the dressing and toss well. Then add the scallions, the herbs, and the lemon zest, and toss again, and serve.