Green Bean, Red Onion & Pecorino Salad
Pecorino doesn’t come cheap and I would have hated to let the leftover chunk in our fridge go to waste. After having made Creamy Pecorino & Lemon Pasta with it, I felt it was time for a change. Looking for a bit of inspiration, I paged through a few Good Food magazines and cookbooks when I came across Gordon Ramsay’s salad. At first I was suspicious. Come on, it’s so basic and eating so much raw onion will make me cry for the rest of the week. I closed the book and continued looking through more published material. Bummer. Has anyone noticed how rarely Pecorino appears in recipes? Always pushing myself to try new things I decided I will me making Ramsay’s recipe after all.
What a surprise it was indeed! It didn’t taste half bad and dare I say it was moreish. What was enlightening was the fact how he poured boiled water over the sliced onion to remove some of its acidity. It really does make a difference. Michael Booth might criticise recipes and its authors all he likes and in some cases he has a point, but I do find by following a few you pick up tips and tricks to make life easier and tastier.
This salad was so good that I just just didn’t want to change it from its original state. The recipe comes from Ramsay’s Fast Food. It makes an excellent starter before a big main course.
I’m sure this salad will give Andrew from Spittoon Extra the boost he needs with the monthly WTSIM event.
Green Bean, Red Onion & Pecorino Salad
Preparation: 15 mins – Cooking: 5 mins
Ingredients
- 400g (14) green beans, trimmed
- sea salt and black pepper
- 1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
- 50g (1½ oz) pecorino, freshly grated
- 45ml (3 tbsp) extra virgin olive oil
- juice of ½ lemon
Method
- Add the beans to a pan of boiling salted water and cook for 4 minutes or until just tender. Drain, refresh in cold water, then pat dry with kitchen paper.
- Put the onion in a colander, sprinkle with salt and leave for 5 minutes. Holding the colander over the sink, pour on a kettleful of boiling water to remove some of the onion’s acidity. Drain well and pat dry.
- Toss the beans, onion and pecorino together in a bowl. For the dressing, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
- Drizzle the dressing over the salad to serve.
What a beautiful dish! Easy, few ingredients and healthy, what more could one want? Thank you for sharing this. I have added it to my collection of favorites!
by The Cheap Gourmet
on 27. Feb, 2008
Looks fabulous! I made roasted green beans & red onions with toasted almonds recently – it’s a very happy combination raw or cooked
Yummy pics, as always.
by Jeanne
on 04. Mar, 2008
what a delightful looking dish, great colour combination.
Many thanks for taking part in Waiter.
by Andrew
on 09. Mar, 2008
I’m with you — I make sure the pecorino gets used in anything I can put it in. This salad is not only gorgeous, but delicious sounding. Healthy & simple, too!
by kellypea
on 09. Mar, 2008
I like this green color,and it must taste good!
by foodaq
on 02. May, 2008