Show cooking in July’s kitchen – French beans and courgettes in a herby sauce vert

It’s so great to be out and about again with Martin sharing our love of cooking with fresh fruit and veg. We’ve got loads of shows coming up over the next few weeks so if you’re looking at this page because you liked the recipes we were doing – welcome! Normally we’d be giving out samples of the dishes for everyone to try but of course at the moment we can’t so do have a go yourself with these delicious recipes!

These are a couple of the dishes that I’ve been doing at some of the summer shows.

This is such a great use of a glut of French beans and courgettes. If you can, use the smaller  beans and courgettes. The quantities for the sauce makes double the amount you need for two but I like to use it on cold new potatoes for a salad – maybe add in some chopped avocado as well.

French bean and courgettes with a herby sauce vert

Serves 2 with enough sauce for leftovers

For the sauce-

¾ cup fresh basil or mint leaves – squash them tightly into your cup measure

1 spring onion, chopped

½ cup fresh parsley – again squash down to get the right measure

1 good tbspn capers, rinse and drain

1 tblspn lemon juice

1 good tspn Dijon mustard

1 small garlic clove, peeled

3-4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Vegetables:

1 tbspn olive oil

150g green beans, trimmed (par boil for a minute if you don’t like them too crunchy!)

300g courgettes, halved lengthwise, then 7mm wide strips – about the same length and shape of the beans

salt

2 tablespoons water

For the sauce verte:

• Blend the first 7 ingredients in processor until finely chopped. You might need to switch off and use a spoon to push everything down now and again
• Gradually add the olive oil – with the machine running if possible.
• Keep adding until you have a thick coarse puree.

This sauce can be made at least a day ahead – just cover and pop in the fridge.

For the vegetables:

• Heat the oil in lidded frying pan over a medium heat.
• Add the French beans and stir to coat for a minute then add the courgettes and toss together.
• Sprinkle with some salt and add 2 tablespoons water.
• Cover and then cook the vegetables for about 4 minutes until almost crisp-tender. Give them a stir now and again to keep and eye on them – don’t ket the courgettes get mushy.
• Uncover and continue to cook till the veg are just tender, about 2 minutes longer.
• Stir in enough sauce verte (a good tablespoon) to coat the vegetables generously.

Transfer to bowl and serve if eating hot.

If you are eating this at room temperature for a salad dish, try adding some chopped, cooked new potatoes and crumbling over some feta or blue cheese.