Bring The Beans!!! Don’t endure another holiday with goopy casserole!

Ingredients

1 pound green beans (aka string beans), washed, ends trimmed and cut

1 pound wax beans (aka white string beans), washed, ends trimmed and cut

2 tablespoons Beyond The Olive Sun-dried Tomato Olive Oil or Coratina EVOO

3 tablespoons Beyond The Olive Blackberry Roasted Pepper Vinegar

1 tablespoon Beyond The Olive Artichoke Olive Tapenade

1 tablespoon Beyond The Olive Parmesan Asiago Tapenade or a second spoonful of Artichoke Olive Tapenade (if you prefer to keep it vegan).

1 basket cherry tomatoes

optional - 1 teaspoon chopped Hatch Chilies

Salt, water, ice

Preparation

• Fill a large pot with water. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Set on high and bring to a rolling boil. The salt brings the boiling point of the water up. This makes cooking the vegetables faster and leaves them crispier.

• Add the beans once the water is boiling.

• In the meantime prepare a heatproof bowl that can fit the beans with 1/2 ice and 1/2 water.

• Test the doneness of the beans (pull one out and bite it). There is no exact time. As soon as they taste cooked and still have a crunch, remove them from the heat.

• Drain and immediately submerge in the ice water bath.

Assemblage

• Drain the beans from the ice bath. Make sure there is no excess water or ice cubes in the beans.

• In a bowl mix the olive oil and beans, making sure to coat all of the beans. This protects the beans but also helps all of the other ingredients to adhere to them.

• Add the remaining ingredients - the vinegar , tapenade(s), tomatoes (keep whole)

• Mix. If you need a little more heat - add the chilies. If you need more salt, either add more tapenade or fine sea salt to taste.

• Can be stored and served the next day. We suggest pulling it out of the refrigerator one hour before serving so olive oil and other flavors meld.