SALADS

Haricots Verts with Roasted Walnuts and Parmesan Shavings

This salad has been in Small World from Day One, and always sells out. Of all of our dishes, besides our desserts, this is the only dish that has stayed with us every day. It’s still winning everyone over. Simple, but simplicity at its best.

Ingredients

75 g (2 ½ oz) walnuts

sea salt

300 g (10 ½ oz) green beans (haricots verts), topped and tailed

1 tablespoon olive oil

a few grinds black pepper

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

75 g (2 ½ oz) Parmesan cheese

Method

Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Spread the walnuts over a baking tray and pop them into the oven for 10 minutes. You want them nicely roasted, and crunchy. Leave them to cool.

Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil, and lightly salt it. Add the beans to the pan and cook 3 minutes, or until al dente. Drain in a colander, and briefly rinse under cold water (this stops the cooking process). Dry the beans with a tea or dish towel and place in a large bowl. Drizzle over the olive oil and lightly toss the beans. Salt and pepper the salad now. Dot the mustard over the beans in little bits, so it mixes evenly with the beans. Break the nuts into 1 cm (½ inch) pieces, and lightly mix into the salad.

I like to use a potato peeler to shave the Parmesan into the salad, others like to grate it in. Make sure there are large strips as these look nice, and give a good bite of Parmesan. You don’t want to mix the salad so much now as you need to avoid breaking the cheese into little pieces. It’s now ready! Serve as a side dish with a main meal, or on a salad platter, for lunch.