My food memories of summers on the east coast are filled with green beans and tomatoes.  My parents were really good at growing these two things in their backyard garden – sadly not much else grew there (through no fault of their own). Needless to say we ate a lot of steamed green beans and tomatoes in a variety of forms.

I still love steamed green beans with just a bit of salt, but sometimes want something a little fancier. We recently were christening our new sous vide machine by making some gorgeous lamb chops with rosemary, garlic and oil. They turned out so well – why did I take so long to get a sous vide? More on that in a future post, I’m sure. 

I was thinking of a sauce that would go well with both green beans and lamb and settled on mint pesto. Think traditional basil pesto but with mint in place of basil. In this case I used rosemary Marcona almonds (from Wegmans) in place of pine nuts. A little more rosemary never hurts especially when there’s lamb involved. If you don’t have these almonds, use blanched almonds and 1/2 teaspoon of rosemary leaves. There’s no need to cut them up as the food processor can do that. 

The pesto made a great sauce for the green beans and a lovely accompaniment to the lamb, too. It’s versatile and would go well tossed with grilled shrimp or steamed potatoes.

Green Beans with Mint Pesto

 

Green Beans with Mint Pesto
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Recipe type: Side
Author:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 3 cups fresh mint, thoroughly washed and patted dry
  • 1 medium clove of garlic
  • ¼ cup rosemary Marcona almonds (or blanched whole almonds and ½ teaspoon rosemary leaves)
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • ½ cup (or more) extra virgin olive oil
  • ¼ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
  • Coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 1 pound green beans
Instructions
  1. Combine mint, garlic, almonds (and rosemary leaves, if using), lemon zest and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor and chop.
  2. Leaving the motor running, add olive oil in a slow, steady stream until mixture is moist (but not too oily).
  3. Add cheese, salt and pepper. Pulse until just mixed
  4. Process briefly to combine, then scrape into a bowl and cover until ready to use. Can be made a few hours in advance.
  5. Remove the ends of the green beans and place in a steamer basket set over an inch of water and cover.
  6. Place over high heat. Let cook for 8 to 10 minutes. Green beans are done when bright green and just tender. Be careful not to overcook them.
  7. Transfer green beans to a bowl and toss with 2 to 3 tablespoons of mint pesto. Serve immediately or at room temperature.
Notes
* You’ll have leftover pesto which you can save for some more green beans or serve with something else like lamb, shrimp or potatoes.
* This pesto freezes well so you can enjoy some summer flavors in the middle of winter.
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