People often ask how it is possible to get so much flavour into a dish that is essentially green beans
and onions in a shallot dressing, but this is a great example of a very simple salad that is all about the quality of the ingredients and the detail of preparing them.
When a green bean is perfectly cooked, if you squeeze and push along the seam with your thumbs it should split easily. Then, a trick I like to do is to run a knife along the length of almost half the beans so that they hold the dressing, along with little slivers of shallot, almond and Parmesan, in a way that a closed bean can’t do. The contrast of the closed and open beans creates a slightly different feel in the mouth that makes the salad more interesting.
The real key, though, is the contrasting intense sweetness of the red onions, which comes from roasting them very, very slowly in their skins, but also relies on sweet, fresh onions full of juice to begin with. You can tell easily when you buy them: they shouldn’t look dry, and they should feel heavy. The onions we use are the cipolle di Tropea, the special Calabrian onions that have their own Protected Designation of Origin label, and are famous for being so sweet you could almost eat them raw. Tropea is on the coast looking out to the Stromboli volcano, and the best onions are grown south of the town and closest to the sea, where the soil is rich with sandy deposits that have blown into it over the 2,000 years since the onions were introduced to Calabria by the Phoenicians. Of course you can use any other variety – the pink French Roscoff are also especially good – but if you can’t find really fresh red onions, forget about them; it’s better to choose some beautiful sweet, juicy white onions instead.
When onions are slowly roasted like this, they can be used for so many other things, too; for example, they are good mixed with roasted vegetables, especially aubergines, or crushed into a paste and served on toasted bread.
The mixing in of the grated Parmesan should be the final touch just before serving, so that it doesn’t get soaked into the dressing: that is very important.
I also made this salad for a friend who is vegan, and instead of the Parmesan I pounded a handful of pine kernels with some extra virgin olive oil and just drizzle this over at the end.
Serves 6
For the onions:
coarse sea salt 100g, plus an
extra pinch
red onions 4 large
red wine vinegar 2 tablespoons
extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons
For the beans:
long green beans 700g
shallot dressing 3 tablespoons
Giorgio’s dressing 100ml
Parmesan 200g, grated, plus a
little extra for shaving
toasted almonds 120g, choppeday.
1 Preheat the oven to 180ÅãC/gas 4. 2 To roast the red onions, scatter the sea salt over a roasting tray and lay the whole onions on top, still in their skins. Cover with foil and put into the preheated oven for 2 hours. They are ready when they feel quite soft to the touch but still give a little resistance. Take out of the oven and when just cool enough to handle, remove the skin and cut each onion in half. Put into a bowl. 3 Mix together the vinegar, oil and a pinch of salt. Pour over the onions, toss through and leave until completely cool. 4 Blanch the beans in boiling salted water for 4 minutes, depending on their thickness, until they are just tender but retain their bite: they should open out easily if you split them along their length. Then drain them under the cold tap to keep their bright green colour. 5 I like to use the outer layers of onion for decoration. If you want to do this, take off the two outer layers of each onion half, keeping them in one piece, and put to one side. Chop the rest of the onion and mix into the beans, add the shallot dressing and Giorgio’s dressing, season and toss all together. 6 Arrange the outer layers of the onions around the outside of a large shallow dish to resemble a crown. Add the grated Parmesan to the bean and onion mixture and turn it all together gently, then spoon it into a mound in the centre of the crown of onions. Sprinkle the almonds on top and finish with some shaved Parmesan.
