Garden Supper

This is why I like have a garden in my backyard. Walk out, pick some beans, pick some tomatoes, snip some basil and pull out Alice Water's Chez Panisse Vegetables.

Green Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad
Serves 6

1 pound green beans, though if you can find a mix of green and yellow beans, it will be all the prettier
1 pound cherry tomatoes
1 large shallot
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Basil or other herb (optional)

Top and tail the beans and break them into large segments. Parboil the beans in salted water until just tender. Drain and immediately spread them out to cool. Stem the cherry tomatoes and cut them in half.

Peel and mince the shallot and put it in a bowl with the vinegar and salt and pepper. Add the olive oil. Taste and adjust the balance with more vinegar, oil, or salt, as needed. Toss the cherry tomatoes in with the vinaigrette; this can sit for a while. Do not add the green beans until just before serving or they will discolor from the acid in the vinaigrette. For variety, the salad can be garnished with basil or some other fresh herb such as parsley, chervil or hyssop.

I didn't have any red wine vinegar so I went with balsamic vinegar instead. AND I marinated the tomatoes a bit in the vinaigrette but I drained most of it out before I added the green beans. I'm not a big fan of drowning my veggies in the vinaigrette. An excellent and simple salad.