Ingredients:
2 lb “French” green beans (the skinny kind, AKA haricot verts), steamed
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup dried cranberries or cherries or a mixture of the two
2-3 strips thick cut bacon, cooked and crumbled (optional)

dressing:
1 large shallot, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon pepper sherry
1 tablespoon tangerine zest
2 tablespoons tangerine juice
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt
pepper

Directions:
Whisk together all of the dressing ingredients or shake it in a dressing shaker until smooth and emulsified. Set aside. Toss together the other ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle with dressing. Toss again. Serve hot, warm or cold.

My thoughts:

Green beans are one of the few vegetables I don’t mind buying or eaten after being frozen. I also don’t mind peas, spinach and home-frozen corn. Like the other, green beans, if frozen properly, retain much if not all of their texture and flavor. Squash is wonderful of course but they about this time of year, I am already hoping for something different. I created this dish to bring to dinner because it is equally good hot, cold or warm. I hate having to go to someone’s house and have to cook a dish from the beginning and in the winter, it is tricky to keep a vegetable dish warm for a trip over a few minute drive. Frankly, I prefer to bring a potato dish or dessert or even rolls/bread but it was my mother doing the asking and I was tasked with vegetables. And rolls, but that was easy. My family is full of pickier eaters than I am so I wanted to make something that was a little different that what they might not normally eat but not anything intimidating. Yet another reason the humble green bean was a perfect choice. Pretty much anyone will eat a green bean. They rest of the ingredients weren’t anything to be scared of either but come together in such away that it is anything but boring.