steamed green beans with tomato-garlic vinaigrette

It's summer and we're in love with the Northeastern Flat Green Beans we get in our CSA share through J.R. Organics. In fact, we liked them so much that we planted some green beans in our container garden today, so that we'll have some later in the season, as well.

We've been enjoying them in a variety of seasonings and sauces over the past month or so and prepared them this way last night. We ate our beans while they were still warm, but think that this would also be awesome cold.

Steamed Green Beans with Tomato-Garlic Vinaigrette
The heady, tangy vinaigrette complements the crisp, sweet green beans. Use a garlic press, if you have one, to crush the garlic for this summery dressing; a press crushes garlic into small pieces, encouraging good-for-you compounds to develop.

Prep / cooking time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 3/4 cup)

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (we used champagne vinegar)
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup seeded chopped tomato
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1 pound green beans, trimmed

Preparation

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl; slowly add oil, whisking to combine. Stir in tomato and thyme; let stand 10 minutes.
2. Steam beans, covered, 7 minutes or until crisp-tender. Cut into 2-inch pieces; add to tomato mixture, tossing gently to coat.

Nutritional Information: Calories: 73 (44% from fat) | Fat: 3.6g (sat 0.5g,mono 2.5g,poly 0.5g) | Protein: 2.4g | Carbohydrate: 9.8g | Fiber: 4.2g | Cholesterol: 0.0mg | Iron: 1.4mg | Sodium: 162mg | Calcium: 48mg

Jackie Mills, MS, RD, Cooking Light, JULY 2008