Green Beans Almondine (Haricots Verts Amandine)

Green beans almondine is French bistro cooking at its most honest. Amandine means "with almonds," and in the classic French kitchen it describes a dish finished with almonds browned in butter. Trout amandine is the famous one, but French cooks have long used the same finish on vegetables, and on menus in France you will see haricots verts amandine. Haricots verts are the long, slender green beans the French favor, thinner and more tender than most supermarket beans here. The dish crossed into American restaurants and holiday cookbooks, picked up the spelling "almondine" along the way, and settled onto the Thanksgiving and Christmas table as the bright green dish next to the roast.

There are only a handful of ingredients in green beans almondine, so every step shows. Cook the beans a minute too long and they go olive drab and soft. Take the butter a few seconds too far and it turns bitter. Add the lemon too early and it dulls the color it was meant to brighten. Do it right and the beans stay crisp and vivid, the almonds toast in the same butter that coats them, and the whole thing comes together in a hot pan in about five minutes.

On a plate crowded with turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes and dressing, this is what people reach for when they want something that tastes fresh. The smell of browning butter and almonds pulls everyone into the kitchen right before dinner. The platter goes around once and comes back nearly empty, and someone always picks the last toasted almonds off the bottom with their fingers.

Technique Intelligence

Technique: Blanch & Shock · Chapter 21 · Technique School

Salt the water generously

Green beans season from the inside only while they cook. Well-salted water seasons them all the way through, so they need very little salt at the end. A large pot matters too: more water returns to a boil faster when the beans go in, which keeps the cooking short and the color bright.

Shock to set the color

Beans keep cooking from their own heat after they leave the pot. Plunging them straight into ice water stops the cooking and locks in the bright green color and crisp-tender bite. It also lets you blanch the beans a day ahead, so the final step is only a few minutes in the pan.

Dry the beans before the butter

Water and brown butter do not mix. Wet beans steam in the pan, cool the butter and leave it pooled at the bottom instead of coating the beans. Patting them dry in a towel lets the butter cling to every bean.

Brown the butter and almonds together

The almonds toast in the butter as it browns, so both develop their nutty flavor at the same time. Use medium heat and stay at the stove. When the almonds turn golden and the butter smells toasty, add the shallot right away. It cools the pan and stops the butter before it burns.

Add the lemon off the heat

Acid brightens the flavor but dulls green vegetables the longer it sits on them in heat. Adding the lemon juice and zest after the pan comes off the burner, right before serving, keeps the beans tasting fresh and looking vivid.

Ingredient Intelligence

Haricots Verts

Haricots verts, also sold as French green beans or French beans, are thinner and longer than regular green beans. They cook in just a few minutes and stay tender without turning stringy. Regular green beans work well too; they simply need a couple of extra minutes in the pot. Look for beans that snap cleanly when bent.

Almonds

Sliced almonds give the classic look and toast quickly and evenly in butter. Slivered almonds give more crunch. Either way, buy them fresh, since nuts lose flavor and turn stale sitting in the pantry.

I usually use Diamond of California sliced almonds. They're easy to find in the baking aisle, and the slices are thin and even, so they toast at the same rate in the butter.

Butter

Unsalted butter lets you control the seasoning and shows you clearly when the milk solids begin to brown. Those browned milk solids are where the nutty flavor comes from, so a butter with good flavor makes a noticeable difference in a dish this simple.

I use Kerrygold or Plugrá. Both are higher in butterfat than standard American butter, so they brown more evenly and taste richer.

Shallot

Shallot is milder and sweeter than onion and softens in about a minute in hot butter. It adds a gentle savory note without taking over the beans.

Lemon

Both the juice and the zest go in. The juice brings brightness to cut the richness of the brown butter, and the zest adds a fresh lemon aroma without extra acid.

What to Serve with Green Beans Almondine

• Dry Brine Turkey
• Prime Rib with Horseradish Crème Fraîche
• Roast chicken
• Pan-seared salmon or trout
• Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes
• A glass of white Burgundy

What to Pour with Green Beans Almondine

Brown butter and toasted almonds want a white with some richness of its own. A white Burgundy or another lightly oaked Chardonnay echoes the nutty butter, and the lemon keeps a crisp Sauvignon Blanc or Grüner Veltliner in the game too. On the Thanksgiving table, see What Wine to Serve with Thanksgiving Dinner on Food and Wine Discoveries.

Made these? Leave a star rating and a comment below: did you use haricots verts or regular green beans, and what did you serve them with? I read every comment.