Recipe

Boiled green beans

Name: Boiled green beans
Prep time: 8 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 4 people, as a side
Ingredients: 500 g fine green beans; 2 litres water; 20 g fine salt (about 1 heaped tbsp — the water should taste of the sea); 20 g butter or a drizzle of good olive oil; Flaky salt and freshly ground black pepper

The everyday green vegetable, done properly: topped and tailed, boiled fast in well-salted water for just a few minutes, and served while they still snap. A basic worth mastering.

Servings4 people, as a side

Preparation8 min

Cooking5 min

Total time15 min

DifficultyEasy

Ingredients

500 g fine green beans
2 litres water
20 g fine salt (about 1 heaped tbsp — the water should taste of the sea)
To serve
20 g butter or a drizzle of good olive oil
Flaky salt and freshly ground black pepper

Let’s make it.

Rinse the beans and top them: line up a handful on the board with the stalk ends together and cut them off in one stroke. Leave the thin pointed tails on if they are fresh and tender — they are perfectly good to eat.
Put the water and salt in a large saucepan and bring it to a fast, rolling boil with the lid on. Use more water than seems necessary: it must come back to the boil within seconds of the beans going in.
Drop the beans in all at once, stir, and cook uncovered at a full boil. Start tasting after 3 minutes. Fine green beans take 3 to 5 minutes; thicker beans up to 7. They are ready when bright green and tender but still with a clear snap.
Drain immediately in a colander and shake off the water. To serve straight away, tip into a warm bowl and toss with the butter or oil, flaky salt and pepper. To serve later, plunge into a bowl of iced water for a minute, drain and keep in the fridge, then reheat in a knob of butter over medium heat.