Ideally, the salad will have an hour or two to marinate — the beans will begin to discolour slightly after this, but remain crisp and tasty. This makes a good first-course salad too.
Serves 4
- 10 ounces green beans, trimmed
- 1 half fennel bulb, trimmed, cored and thinly sliced
- 2 cups red grape tomatoes, halved
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- 1 tablespoon minced shallot
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon grated orange zest (preferably long strings)
- ¼ cup chopped basil
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
- Place beans in pot, return to boil and cook for 2 minutes or until tender-crisp.
- Drain beans and plunge into ice water to stop the cooking process.
- Drain.
- Combine with fennel and tomatoes.
- Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice and shallot in a small bowl.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Toss together beans, fennel, tomatoes, orange zest and dressing right before leaving on your picnic.
- Top with basil.
- Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.