Green Beans with Frizzled Prosciutto and Gruyère

This recipe comes from a vegetable cookbook put out by Culinary Institute of America. I love all three of the main ingredients and can't imagine a better dress-up vegetable side dish for this time of year! Our green beans are coming on right now. Yesterday we picked a large colander full ... perfect thin fuzzy green beans!

I am already thinking of three bean salad, sautèed green beans with hot Asian spices, beans with blanched almonds and butter... oh boy! No more frozen or big tough beans from the grocer's cross-country haul! They're comin' from the garden out back and they're the real deal!

Green Beans with Frizzled Prosciutti and Gruyère

courtesy of Culinary Institute of America's Vegetables

Ingredients:

1 ½ tbsp. lemon juice

1 ½ tsp. white wine vinegar
1 tbsp. minced shallots, plus another 1 tbsp. to add after processing the dressing
kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
3 ½ tbsp. olive oil
½ lb. fresh green beans, tipped
⅛ lb. prosciutto, thinly sliced and torn into strips
⅛ lb. Gruyère cheese, cut into matchsticks

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the green beans. Blanche for just a few minutes, until the beans are tender crisp. Then, plunge the beans into an ice bath to stop cooking and fix the bright green color. Drain and refrigerate.

2. In a non-stick fry pan, add a few drops of olive oil and the prosciutto. Place over medium-high heat and toss until the meat is crisping and curling, but not blackened. Drain on a paper towel and set aside.

3. Combine the lemon juice, white wine vinegar, 1 tbsp. of the shallots, in a hand blender’s bowl and ‘zip’ to make a paste. Drizzle in the olive oil and continue ‘zipping’ to make a dressing emulsion. Pour the dressing into the bottom of a pretty serving bowl and add the rest of the shallots.

4. When ready to serve, place the beans, prosciutto, and cheese ‘match sticks in the bowl and toss the dressing up through the salad. Add salt and pepper, to taste.