Extra virgin olive oil crushed with mandarin oranges adds zest to lightly steamed
haricots verts and toasted walnuts. For a touch of heat, sprinkle fleur de sel
seasoned with piment d'espelette over the vegetables.
I really love the idea of Boulette’s Larder.
Copper pots hanging in the open kitchen, a pale green vase of magnificent autumn flowers, shelves stocked with flavored salts, exquisite honeys and fragrant citrus oils. There’s carnaroli rice, duck fat and leaf lard, wild sourdough starter, homemade crème fraiche and a hundred other enticing items in this “epicerie du charm,” all designed to help you create a delicious meal with maximum impact and minimum fuss.
On Boulette’s website, a larder—and not just any larder--is defined thus:
“Larder, n. A storeroom for food. A place where cooks come to find the underpinning ingredients for a planned meal, i.e. last season’s preserved garden ingredients, grains, meats curing in various forms, garlands of dried aromatics, ripening cheeses, etcetera.
(A boulette, I now know, is a “little meatball” and also the name of the shop’s Hungarian sheepdog.)
One of my favorite finds when I was at Boulette’s last week was Colonna Mandarino, a citrus-scented Italian extra virgin olive oil that comes in a distinctive dark glass “amphora." Made by crushing early harvest olives with the zest of organic Sicilian mandarin oranges, this golden-hued finishing oil is produced and bottled on the ancestral estate of Princess Marina Colonna in the province of Campobasso on Italy’s east coast. When you taste the oil on its own, the citrus flavor is light and delicate--but sprinkle it over grilled shrimp or steamed vegetables and it gathers force, becoming livelier and more intensely aromatic. It is an alchemical ingredient—just the sort of wonder-worker that belongs in your own larder.
The idea for this recipe came from one of Boulette’s staff members. It uses four ingredients: haricots verts, toasted walnuts, a spoonful of mandarin oil and a generous sprinkle of fleur de sel seasoned with spicy piment d’espelette. This last item also came from the pantry at Boulette’s, but you could easily make it by mixing any flaky sea salt with some of the ground Basque chile pepper.
The dish can be made in minutes—and might be all you want for dinner.
Haricots Verts with Mandarin Oil, Walnuts and Piment d’Espelette Salt
Serves 2 as a main course, or 4 as a side dish
Ingredients:
1 pound haricots verts
3/4 cup walnut halves or pieces
2 to 3 teaspoons mandarin oil (see note)
Fleur de sel, or any flaky sea salt
Ground piment d’espelette (see note)
Method:
1. Rinse the haricots vert and pinch off the stems, and the tips if desired. Put them in the top of a steamer over boiling water and steam until they are just slightly crunchy. Remove at once and place them in a serving bowl.
2. While the haricots verts are steaming, heat a dry cast iron skillet over medium low heat. Add the walnut pieces and stir continuously for 4 to 5 minutes, until they are heated through and are just beginning to change color. Do not let them burn—reduce the heat if necessary. When done, remove to a plate and let cool slightly.
3. Combine the haricots verts and walnuts with the mandarin oil, tossing gently so that both ingredients are well-coated. Taste and add a little more oil if desired.
4. Mix the salt and ground piment d’espelette, as desired. Sprinkle generously over the haricots verts and serve.
Note: La Colonna is available at Boulette’s Larder and at some Whole Foods Stores. Piment d’espelette can be ordered from spanishtable.com.