Green Beans with Hazelnuts, Orange and Garlic
After finding out that Roasted Red Pepper Soup was a request my good pal Cait sent me a message requesting a dish that would make someone say ‘oh wow, nice beans’ and I though this would be an excellent opportunity to whip out one of my favourite sauces that I learned at culinary school.
Admittedly I don’t know how to access my online textbooks anymore so I don’t think its the exact same – but this is a riff on picada, a pesto variation from Spain that uses bread crumbs, garlic, nuts, and citrus to make a paste.
I first tasted hazelnut picada in a class about sauces in my Larder course, and I was immediately obsessed. So when it came time to do my first black box exam (essentially chopped but with a much lower risk of public humiliation) and I new I wanted to include it. To be honest, I don’t remember all of the other components, I think it was a Branzino with carrot gnocchi and this sauce? I really wish I had taken a picture.
Prep?
- The sauce could be made a day in advance and stored in the fridge. Bring it to room temperature before serving and thin with oil and season if necesary.
- The green beans could be blanched, shocked in an ice bath and stored in the fridge. You would be able to skip the water in the pan step and just cook over medium high until hot and slightly charred.
Equipment
- Baking pan
- Cutting board
- Chefs Knife
- Microplane
- Tongs
- 12″ Frying Pan and Lid
- Food Processor or Blender
Green Beans with Hazelnuts, Orange and Garlic
Course: Uncategorized4
servingsIngredients
1 Slice of Bread, Preferably Sourdough
1/4 Cup + 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/3 Cup Hazelnuts
1 Orange
2 Garlic Cloves
Pinch of Red Pepper Flakes
2 Tbsp Parsley
Salt
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
While the oven preheats cut your bread into approximately 1/2″ cubes, then place on one half of a rimmed baking sheet.
Drizzle with 1 Tbsp olive oil, sprinkle with salt and toss to combine.
Trim the green beans, grate the garlic, zest the orange and cut it in half. - Transfer the pan with the bread to the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes remove it from the oven, transfer the hazelnuts to the empty side of the pan and return for another 10-15 minutes until the skins on the hazelnuts are cracked and the bread is fully dried out.
Then transfer the hazelnuts to the center of a clean kitchen towel and use the towel to rub away the skins. - Add the cooled bread and 1/4 cup of the hazelnuts to a food processor or blender and pulse until you have a coarse crumb.
Transfer the mixture to a small bowl with the garlic, orange zest, olive oil, a pinch of red pepper flakes, the juice from half of the orange and season generously with salt before stirring to combine and setting aside. - Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium high heat.
When the oil is hot and slides quickly when the pan is tilted add the trimmed green beans, a generous pinch of salt, 2 Tbsp of water then cover for 3 minutes shaking the pan occasionally.
While the beans cook roughly chop the parsley and remaining hazelnuts.
When the three minutes are up remove the lid and continue cooking turning the beans occasionally until the water has evaporated, the beans have turned bright green and are starting to blister.
Turn the heat off, squeeze the other orange half onto the beans and taste for seasoning. - Transfer the beans to a serving plate alternating layers of beans with the sauce before covering with hazelnuts, parsley and fresh cracked pepper.
Alternately you can mix it all up into a bit sloppy mess before garnishing, it will be delicious either way.
Notes
- If your sauce thickens alot as it sits you can thin it out with some more olive oil.
- These are best eaten the day they are made.
