Green Bean Salad

Serves 4

Green bean salad is light and crisp with lots of fresh flavours. Green beans are in season from June to November and at the start of the season they are tender and sweet. Garlic, lemon, basil and olive oil mixed together makes a wonderful Mediterranean style salad dressing, full of fragrant flavours, which go deliciously with green beans.

Green bean salad goes perfectly with an Italian meal of pasta, or risotto but it would also be delicious with something quite simple like grilled chicken or BBQ Markel. This delicious side dish is simple with wonderful flavours; this recipe is all about the quality of the ingredients, if you have fantastic fresh ingredients then this dish is quick, easy and turns out perfectly and is perfect served with other dishes made with equally fresh and fantastic ingredients.

As well as being a wonderful side dish for summer, making the most of in season local produce; it is very nutritious, every single ingredient has health benefits. String beans and other types of green beans are packed full of vitamin A, C and beta-carotene. Vitamin C and beta-carotene helps with cholesterol and therefore reduces risk of heart attacks and strokes, research also show they help reduce risk of colon cancer. Vitamin C and A are important for a healthy immune system. Green beans are high in magnesium and potassium which helps lower blood pressure and they are high in iron so if you are pregnant or anaemic green bean salad is a great dish. Milk isn’t the only food good for your bones, green beans are also full of vitamin K which is needed for healthy strong bones.

You just have to look at the people in the Mediterranean to know they are doing something right, there life expectancy is high, and they live long healthy lives. Olive oil is used so much in Mediterranean food, it is the main fat in their diet, research shows it protects against heart disease.
Onions and garlic are also very much part of a Mediterranean diet. Onions and garlic lowers high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Research has shown that eating onions and garlic regularly significantly reduces risk of a huge long list of different types of cancer, breast, ovarian, prostate, pharynx, esophageal cancer to name a few. Like green beans onions are great for your bones they reduce risk of osteoporosis.  Basil is also great for your heart as it is full of vitamin A.

Green bean salad is cheap, especially if in season or home grown, it is great for your long term health, and most of the fat is from olive oil, so great if you’re trying to drop a dress size this summer. It is also very delicious perfect for a summer feast.

Ingredients

• 400g string beans
• 1 red onion finely chopped
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1tbsp olive oil
• Handful basil

Method

1. In a saucepan boil the beans for 4 minutes, so cooked but still firm and crispy. Drain and rinse.
2. Mix together the lemon, garlic, onions and olive oil then add in the string beans and basil. Refrigerate and serve cold.