Blanch, smash, and marinate the green beans in advance so they have time to soak in the bright lemon and sumac dressing. “If you can’t do it ahead, it’s not worth doing,” says Sohla El-Waylly. This recipe is part of Sohla’s Thanksgiving-for-two-or-maybe-eight feast, see the full menu here.
Recipe information
Yield
4 - 6 Servings
Ingredients
¼
¼
1
⅓
2
1
1
Preparation
Step 1
Cook oil and pumpkin seeds (or use reserved cleaned seeds from Winter Squash Bharta) in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until oil around seeds is sizzling and seeds are golden, about 4 minutes. Strain pumpkin seeds through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl; set oil aside. Transfer pumpkin seeds to a plate; immediately season with salt and pepper. Let cool.
Step 2
Working in batches if needed, cook green beans in a large pot of boiling salted water until bright green and crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to an ice water bath as you go.
Step 3
Whisk lemon juice and sumac in a large bowl; season with salt and pepper. Gradually stream in reserved oil, whisking constantly until incorporated. Working with 5–7 green beans at a time, line up beans and trim stem ends. Smash with a rolling pin to split open. Cut beans into 1" pieces and transfer to bowl with dressing. Toss to coat and let sit at room temperature at least 1 hour or cover and chill up to 12 hours.
Step 4
When ready to serve, cut pear into ½"-thick wedges, then halve crosswise. Add to green beans along with parsley and half of reserved pumpkin seeds; toss well. Top with remaining pumpkin seeds.
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Reviews (24)
Back to TopWish I had read the comments before preparing... Yes, much too acidic from the lemon juice. This dish could also benefit from the addition of feta or some other crumbled cheese. I used 'tamari pumpkin seeds,' which were already roasted. This cut down on the prep time. Also, I would prefer not to have to fry anything in oil for a salad topping.
Area Man
Denton, TX
4/27/2022
I made tweaks of necessity, energy, and taste: *bottled lemon juice (lazybones plus lemons are pretty expensive right now) *no pears (I ordered one and they were out so it got cancelled) *swapped walnuts in for pepitas, and cooked them with a little ras el hanout - this melded really well with the sumac *did not marinate (thanks to the other reviews' warnings about the color change); just toss and eat I didn't know green beans would make popping sounds when you blanch them, so that was a neat discovery. I'd make this again with little variations until I got it down pat.
Becky
Seattle, WA
2/13/2022
Don't make this!!! Normally I'm pretty forgiving with recipes with the thought that maybe it's just not to my taste or I didn't make it to the recipe. I followed it to the letter except I didn't let it soak overnight I tossed and served and yet it was still too lemony....no other flavors came through, not even the sumac. It was a waste of a pound of organic green beans and a not inexpensive asian pear. I had to toss it in the garbage and I hate wasting food.
Dee
Sacramento, CA
11/21/2021
Honestly, didn’t love this. Didn’t even like it, frankly - as others have said, the lemon is overpowering and the beans turn an unappetizing yellow. This was my first go at using sumac, but I’m hesitant to try it again as I didn’t not love the flavor of the dish. Green beans are my favorite vegetable, and unfortunately I’ve found an application of them that I really dislike.
Anonymous
12/3/2020
Made this as a side for our Thanksgiving meal. I cut down the recipe to half since we're just a family of 3 this year. We all really enjoyed this dish, especially amongst otherwise very heavy and buttery Thanksgiving dishes. I didn't have sumac but used some Lebanese zatar (which contains sumac) to replace it. I followed the recipe and let the beans marinated in the fridge for 1 hr before finalizing it. It didn't turn color at all as some others have said, but the leftovers I had did turn color overnight. I still ate it for lunch the next day and the beans were still crunchy. I think this would also make a great side dish for a BBQ!
Sagigirl
Denver CO
11/29/2020
If you want to waste a perfectly good Asian pear, make this dish of mushy yellow beans! Everyone at the table thought this was awful. Cmon, Bon Appetit—did you test this?!
Liz Mooney
Haddonfield, NJ
11/29/2020
This would get five stars with one tweak: I would NOT marinade the green beans in advance; instead toss it all together right before serving. The dressing itself is quite delicious. But after just a few hours of marinating, the lemony tanginess overpowered the green beans' freshness (and I normally love tangy foods). Everyone at the table was puckering up, and this dish got thrown away. And on an aesthetic note - when you marinate green beans in acid, they turn yellowish/brown, similar to the color of canned green beans. It's clear the photo example was not marinated per the recipe, which is misleading. You may not care about the aesthetics, but know it won't look like the picture.
Anonymous
Los Angeles, CA
11/28/2020