Charred green bean salad

For those who know and love their classic Ottolenghi salads this is something of a greatest hits collection. The French bean and mangetout salad in the first Ottolenghi cookbook – with hazelnut and orange – is for many still a go-to. Dates, oranges, tahini, bulgur: they’ve all met, in various guises, in various salads. The tahini sauce alone is drinkable, and certainly something to be drizzled over all sorts of other things: roasted squash, grilled chicken or fish.

Ingredients

• 400 g green beans, trimmed
• 1 tbsp (20 ml) olive oil
• 100 g cooked grains (bulgur, couscous or quinoa)
• 30 g blanched hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
• 1 tsp caraway seeds, toasted and lightly crushed
• 1–2 oranges, for 1 tsp finely grated zest and 2 tbsp juice, plus extra to serve
• 3 Medjool dates, pitted and thinly sliced (40 g)
• 10 g mint leaves, roughly torn
• 40 g tahini
• 1 tsp date molasses (or maple syrup or honey)
• fine sea salt and black pepper

Serves 2 as a main, or 4 as a side

Instructions

1. Place a large frying pan on a high heat. Toss the beans with 1½ teaspoons of oil and ¼ teaspoon of salt, then add them to the pan – in three batches – and cook for 2–3 minutes, until charred. Transfer to a large shallow serving bowl and set aside until barely warm. Add the cooked grains, remaining oil, the hazelnuts, caraway seeds, orange zest, dates, mint, ¼ teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper. Use tongs to toss and turn everything together.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the tahini, 2 tablespoons of orange juice, date molasses, 1 tablespoon of water and ¼ teaspoon of salt until smooth. Drizzle some of the sauce over the salad, serving any extra on the side. Finish with a good squeeze of orange juice.

This is an edited extract from Ottolenghi SIMPLE TOO by Yotam Ottolenghi and Verena Lochmuller (Penguin/Ebury Press, $69.99)