This combination of fresh haricot beans and dried garbanzos (chickpeas) is beautiful, nutritious, and delicious. Even the crankiest of eaters will find nothing to object to. Buy the longest, thinnest, freshly picked beans you can find at a farm stand. Serves eight to 10.
Green Bean and Garbanzo Salad
10 oz. dried garbanzos
2 tsp. coarse salt
2 lbs. tender, young green beans
2 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley
2 Tbsp. minced scallions with some green
Vinaigrette dressing:
1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 tsp. coarse salt
1 tsp. freshly milled white pepper
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Rinse and drain the garbanzos, then cover them with about three inches of cold water and soak them overnight. The next morning, pour off the water and add fresh cool water to cover by two inches. Do not add salt or the beans will stay hard. Bring to a boil and simmer about one-and-a-half hours. Add salt and continue cooking until the legumes are tender, about 30 minutes longer — test by eating one. (This can, of course be done a day or so in advance as long as the beans are refrigerated in their liquid.) Cool and drain the garbanzos. Add to them the parsley, scallions, and about half the vinaigrette. Toss well and set aside.
Top and tail the green beans, then toss them into a large pot of boiling, salted water. When the water returns to a boil, reduce heat to medium and boil about two minutes. Test bite a bean — it should not taste starchy or “hot-raw,” in the immortal words of Julia Child. Drain the beans, spray them lightly with very cold water to halt the cooking, drain, and spread them out to cool on a large tray or pan. When you are ready to serve, put the garbanzos in the center of a large, shallow bowl. Toss the green beans with the remaining vinaigrette and arrange them around the garbanzos. You can’t dress the green beans in advance (and it is best not to refrigerate them as they lose flavor) because the acid in the vinegar creates unlovely blotches in the color.
