Clare Ferguson’s Mixed Green Bean Salad Recipe
Last month, Jeff and I attend the International Conference for Food Styling and Photography, where Jeff was one of the guest speakers. Jeff was there to talk about artistic collaboration with world renowned celebrity food stylist, Clare Ferguson who is a proud New Zealander, based in London. They had worked long distance on their presentation, but had the pleasure of meeting each other in person when we arrived in Boston.
Clare is larger than life, a great deal of fun, and filled with enthusiasm… she (of course) has a lovely accent and way of saying things that charms all. Her food styling is legendary, and she is flown all over the globe for her expertise in coaxing food to look its best. Clare is a contributing editor for Elle and She and has a very long list of cookbooks to her credit. It was so much fun getting to know her, and sharing her love for her craft. Sadly, I didn’t get to see her style food, but I did get to drool over the photos that she included in the presentation. I hope that you agree that I was inspired by her when I made this dish!
At the end of the conference she presented Jeff and me with a signed copy of one of her cookbooks, Flavours of Provence. In it, she captures the vibrant flavors and colors of the area. It is a beautiful book with many classic French recipes. Clare gave me permission to share one of her recipes with you for your Sunday Suppers.
Clare loves to gather friends together on Sunday and prepare a beautiful feast for their eyes and their tummies. l thought that you might like to be introduced to her through this recipe from Flavours of Provence.
I have adapted and converted the recipe so that it would be more understandable to those of you who do not live in the UK or Europe. I am trying to stay true to her list of ingredients, but also wanted to adapt the recipe so that you can buy what you will need at your local market or store to prepare this dish. I have eliminated the walnut oil because I did not want you to go and buy that just for this recipe, but if you have it on hand you might want to use both olive and walnut oil.
I also tried to make the preparation a bit less complicated so that it would be easier for you to prepare for your Sunday Supper to share with your family and friends.
Clare Ferguson's Mixed Green Bean Salad
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
1/2 pound green beans
1/4 pound wax beans
1/4 pound roman beans (if you can't find these, use 1/4 pound more wax beans)
2 tablespoons olive oil or (1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon walnut oil, if you prefer)
1 large clove garlic
1 shallot, sliced
2 green onions, sliced thin (use the white and a bit of the green)
4 walnuts, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Sea salt and pepper to taste
Italian (flat leaf) parsley for garnish, if desiredDirections:
Wash beans and snip the ends. Place water and clove garlic in bottom of your saucepan, add your steamer to the pan and bring to a boil. Then add the beans and steam until tender.
While your beans are cooking, in a saute pan add olive oil, shallot and green onions and saute till translucent. Add the chopped walnuts, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
When the beans are tender, drain them and add them to the saute pan and toss. Garnish with fresh parsley if you like.
Enjoy!
In our hectic world, most of us can't commit to having dinner with our family/friends every night, but maybe we can start to put aside Sunday to be together and share our lives and good food. Let's join together to inspire others to celebrate our old traditions and create new ones. 
