Last week, the Serious Eats site released the challenge of making a great weekend meal by cleaning out your pantry. I was so inspired by the idea I made two… well, it was really a whole meal composed of the main course, Spinach Puffed Empanadas, and this side salad with French green beans and lettuce, directly from by CSA basket.

SALADE DES HARICOTS VERTS
a handful of French green beans or haricots verts, trimmed of the stem end 5-6 leaves of lettuce, I used a local “del país” lettuce, but any buttery lettuce will do ½ tomato, chopped ½ cucumber, peeled if it’s not organic and chopped The juice of ½ a lemon Extra-virgin olive oil Salt and pepper to taste
- In a small to medium covered sauce pan, bring about ½ inch of water to a boil. Salt the water with about ½ tsp of salt and place the green beans. Cover the saucepan again and wait about 1 minute. Turn the heat off and let the green beans steam for about 4-5 minutes.
- Mix together in a salad bowl the lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and cooked green beans. Pour over it the lemon juice and olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste and toss to combine.

Serve alongside a Spinach Puffed Empanada or the main course of your choice…



