Last week I did a cooking segment with Teresa Dufour and Ryan Kristafer at CT Style at ABC Network.

We featured this recipe from my cookbook My Rio de Janeiro and I’ve made twice since last week.

In my book, I use Minas cheese

which is typical from Brazil, but for the segment I used feat cheese to make it a little more familiar. Either cheese will wok. Goat cheese would also work great here!

You can also make this recipe with yellow wax beans or even purple beans ( same shape, just a color change). While there is not much flavor difference among them, they are all beautiful and can be interchangeable with the green counterpart.

 

Green Bean Salad

Serves 4

 

1½ lbs string beans, both ends trimmed

Kosher salt

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 teaspoon soy sauce

Freshly Ground Pepper

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

½ cup (72g) Feta cheese crumbled

¼ cup thinly sliced red onion

1/3 cup (40g) Brazil nuts

 

• Fill a large bowl with ice water. In a steamer or a pot fitted with a steaming basket, bring the water to a boil and place the string beans. Season with kosher salt, cover the pot, and steam until just tender, about 5 minutes. Remove the beans and transfer to the iced water. Set aside for 5 minutes. Remove from the ice water and spread the beans on a plate covered with paper towels to absorb any extra water. Let it air dry for 5 minutes.
• In another bowl whisk together the garlic, lime juice, soy sauce, salt and pepper. While whisking, slowly add the olive oil to make an emulsion.
• Place the beans in a bowl and pour enough dressing over to coat lightly, (reserve the rest for another use). Toss with the cheese, red onion and grade the Brazil nuts over the string beans with a microplaine.
• Taste for seasoning and serve.