Green Beans To Impress

Lennie's Note:

This simple dish has a lot going for it: fresh green beans, toasted nuts, and the salty goodness of fresh parmesan slivers. It's very easy, yet looks stunning with the parmesan shards -- and it will definitely impress your guests.

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 lb fresh green beans
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1⁄3; cup coarsely chopped walnuts (or pecans)
• 1 ounce fresh parmesan cheese (in one piece)

Directions:

1. Top and tail the beans, but leave them whole.
2. Bring a large pot of water to boil and, when boiling, drop beans in; cook approximately eight minutes or until beans are tender-crisp (if you like your beans to be softer, by all means cook them longer).
3. Drain well and set aside.
4. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat.
5. Add walnuts to pan and, stirring frequently to prevent burning, cook walnuts for 2 or 3 minutes, or until they start to turn golden and are fragrant.
6. Add drained beans to skillet and toss gently, making sure beans get coated with butter.
7. Heat through for one minute, stirring gently once or twice, then turn out onto a shallow serving platter.
8. Shave or sliver parmesan so it is in shards (most box graters have a slicing side, and this works well), and place all parmesan slivers on top of beans and walnuts; serve immediately.
9. Note: if you absolutely cannot find a cheese counter where you can buy a piece of parmesan cheese, use 1/4 cup grated, but please make sure it is freshly grated; there is a huge flavour difference between fresh and the grated stuff you can buy off the shelf.

Reviews

[Evie*]

Love the colour, love the 'nuttiness' and crunch. The shaved Parmesan is a definite for this vegetable dish. Thanks for another winner Lennie.

[Charlotte J]

Very easy to make. As Lennie said you need a GOOD hard brick parmesan cheese. I guess I used up all my good parmesan and had to go with Kraft Italian Parmesan Wedge.

[HeatherDiane]

Very tasty, great way to dress up green beans. I brought them to a Christmas dinner and everyone seemed to like them (either that or they were just being polite!) Very easy to prepare, as well.