Green Beans To Impress

Ingredients

• 1 lb fresh green beans
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (or pecans)
• 1 ounce fresh parmesan cheese (in one piece)

Directions

1. 1

   Top and tail the beans, but leave them whole.

2. 2

   Bring a large pot of water to boil and, when boiling, drop beans in; cook approximately eight minutes or until beans are tender-crisp (if you like your beans to be softer, by all means cook them longer).

3. 3

   Drain well and set aside.

4. 4

   In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat.

5. 5

   Add walnuts to pan and, stirring frequently to prevent burning, cook walnuts for 2 or 3 minutes, or until they start to turn golden and are fragrant.

6. 6

   Add drained beans to skillet and toss gently, making sure beans get coated with butter.

7. 7

   Heat through for one minute, stirring gently once or twice, then turn out onto a shallow serving platter.

8. 8

   Shave or sliver parmesan so it is in shards (most box graters have a slicing side, and this works well), and place all parmesan slivers on top of beans and walnuts; serve immediately.

9. 9

   Note: if you absolutely cannot find a cheese counter where you can buy a piece of parmesan cheese, use 1/4 cup grated, but please make sure it is freshly grated; there is a huge flavour difference between fresh and the grated stuff you can buy off the shelf.