I’d never had purple beans before. I saw them at the farmers market where a friend of mine was buying some. I asked and she told me that they taste just like green beans, and in fact turn the same color green when you cook them.
Well what would be the point of that?
So I knew I needed to get some, and I knew I couldn’t cook them. I decided this would be a perfect time to use some of the chive blossom vinegar. The result not only tastes great, it looks incredibly cool.
Oh, and I discovered a great new take on vinaigrette along the way.
Ingredients
3/4 pound of purple beans (green beans would work as well)
1/4 cup garbanzo beans (that’s how much I had left from the previous night’s salad)
1/4 cup diced red pepper (also left from the previous night’s salad)
1/4 cup onion
1 cup vinaigrette dressing
Chive Blossom Vinaigrette
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup chive blossom vinegar
3-5 gloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Directions
Vinaigrette
Peel the garlic, split each clove in half and remove any green stem.
Then roughly chop the pieces and toss them into the cup for your immersion blender.
But what if you don’t have an immersion blender? Then you’ll need to mince the garlic really fine, crush it with a mortar and pestle if you have one. But the immersion blender is what lead to the discovery.
Add the vinegar and oil. Exact amounts aren’t that important, but keep the ratio at about two parts oil to one part vinegar.
Here’s the cool discovery. It took me several attempts to get the technique for making mayonnaise. I kept breaking the emulsion. With this vinaigrette I wasn’t even trying to make an emulsion, I just wanted to chop the garlic and mix the oil and vinegar. But as soon as I started to blend it, it thickened up really nicely.
Add the salt and pepper and blend a little more to combine everything, then set it aside until you’re done with the veggies.
Veggies
Wash the beans and trim the ends. I started doing this by hand, but the knife is quicker.
Cut the beans into bit-size lengths, about an inch or less.
If you’ve never had them before, it’s really amazing just how purple the outside is, and how green the inside.
Dice the pepper, and shave the onion very thin before cutting into short pieces.
Toss the beans, pepper and onion in a mixing bowl, along with the chick peas and the vinaigrette.
Mix well, and store in the refrigerator in an air-tight container at least overnight to let the dressing soak into the beans.
And that’s it.
UPDATE: Up top is the shot that I didn’t put up at first, because it would give away the next day’s dish.
Whoever knows what milestone is coming up and posts it here first gets a free eBook copy of my cookbook.
UPDATE
Day 5 since this was made, I’m having some leftovers for lunch. The beans are almost entirely green. The purple color has gone … into the onions!. I did not see that coming.
20 Comments
Your wedding anniversary!
This bean salad looks phenomenal. Ever since I found your blog I’ve been arguing with myself about buying an immersion blender. I’ve even read comparisons on different types and models. What do you use? Any thoughts on different ones? Darn, I made this mid-year resolution not to purchase anything but essentials for the rest of the year. I kind of think an immersion blender, nice as it is, probably doesn’t fall into that category. Maybe as a Christmas present to myself, though…
Oh, I always learned raw green beans are (a little bit) toxic. So I don’t think I will try this recipe.
It looks tasty though.
I had some of these beans before, so deep purple it is almost black. I used to get an organic vegetable box delivered weekly, and there would always be all kinds of weird and wonderful veg in there, including these beans. They did just taste like normal ones though!
I had some purple beans like this the other day from someone who gave them to me! They were too big! I love to add olive oil to a pan and sautee them until they are a crisp tender then add either (fresh cooked bacon or the real bacon bits) and then some minced garlic and stir until garlic isn’t raw anymore! That is the only way I will eat green beans!
Raw green beans are toxic!?! (I thought it was only raw kidney beans.) My family eats them all the time including my son who will only eat RAW veggies…he thinks whoever invented cooked vegetables is crazy.
Do the purple ones taste the same as the green ones? I know that purple peppers have a different taste than any other pepper.
Salad looks great though! I may have to make that dressing for other veggie salads or maybe cole slaw?! (I am also looking for other ways to use my chive vinegar.)
Trixie, the anniversary’s not for another couple of months, but good guess. I use a Braun Multi-mix, which has several attachments including the immersion blender. For about $30, and I needed a hand mixer anyway, it’s been a great deal. Actually I’ve used the blender attachment much more often than the mixer.
Kokrobin, I never heard that, so went and did some research. I found lots of references to kidney and butter beans being toxic. It seems the issue is that the term “green bean” has been used to refer to nearly any immature bean. The bean that I always refer to as green bean is the phaseolus vulgaris which, from what I can find, is non-toxic. I can’t find any references to purple beans and toxicity online.
The farmer I bought them from and the friend who recommended them both said they eat them raw all the time. But I’d never recommend someone eat something they weren’t completely comfortable with. There’s enough foods in the world to try that there’s no reason to waste stomach space on something you’re not sure of.
Ryan, did you ever get notes about what should or shouldn’t be eaten raw?
Bev, the only reason I tried these raw was I didn’t want to change the color. So this recipe really was about making it look cool.
Nancy, the cole slaw is a great idea. I hate runny, soupy cole slaw. (Which you probably could have guessed from how I like my potato salad and macaroni salad.) I love the slaw they use to top sandwiches at Panini’s, and that’s mostly just vinegar and pepper. I’m going to try a peppery vinaigrette on some cabbage and see how it comes out. I’ll post the results either way. If you try it first, make sure to let me know. (By the way, yes, they taste exactly like green beans.)
What a healthful salad. I’m surprised you left the chive blossoms in the vingar, since you said the onion flavor was almost too strong.
Did I ever tell you I didn’t end up infusing vinegar with my shallot blossoms? Nope, because I ended up eating all of the blossoms in scrambled eggs. Snipped shallot blossoms and feta cheese make the best scrambled eggs ever. Ever.
I just can’t get into the really dark purple vegetables. The ones that really skeeve me out are the almost black tomatoes (like the Black Russian variety). They look like something out of a Tim Burton movie. Ew.
Vinegar. With an “e.” Mock all you want, but I’m not re-typing that freaking essay up there.
And I’m guessing it’s either your blog anniversary, or the anniversary of your book printing. But I don’t need another copy of your book, so if either of those is right, you can hold a random drawing and give my copy to someone else.
P.S. Wouldn’t it be funny if I got off the train in Cleveland and showed up at your door demanding breakfast? If I knew where your door was . . . and didn’t have to go to this unimportant little BAPTISM thing.
I agree about the black tomatoes. Those look nasty. I actually filtered my vinegar last week, because I was tired of little bits of blossom getting into whatever I was making. Putting them in eggs, now that’s an idea. I was just looking at a spinach ricotta pie recipe. I’m thinking some chive would be nice in that.
Hey, just another “wild” guess… (hee hee) could it be your 100th blog post? Hmm?
And we have a winner! Hey, I did say whoever guesses it here first. Send me an email, so I can send the book.
Those are beautiful beans! That’s too bad they turn green when they are cooked, good thing raw green beans are delicious!
And that compound in kidney beans is phytohaemagglutinin. Don’t ask me why I know that. And it’s only in raw beans. So for God’s sakes eat some raw green beans. They’re delish!
I meant raw kidney beans.
Lord I’m a doofus sometimes.
Sure, you know what it’s called, but can you pronounce it? Five times fast?
(I just tried. I think I need more caffeine before I try that again.)
OK, I have gone totally crazy trying to find an e-mail link/address for you, Drew. Where is it hiding????
Oops, didn’t include it on this post, did I? You can use the same one as for the other offer: requests@cooklikeyourgrandmother.com
Purple beans? I never knew!
Well now you do.
If you grow beans, you will instantly see the advantage of purple beans. No more missing the ripe ones, because they blend in with the rest of the plant. I grow an heirloom climbing purple, and I don't think I'd ever switch back to plain old green.
Phil, I never thought of that. So they don't turn purple until ripe? Handy.