Green Beans with Pine Nuts

At my grandparents’ house I remember throwing closed pinecones into the open fire to make the pine nuts pop out ready-toasted – this has the advantage of being alarming to adults and potentially hazardous, and is therefore tremendous fun. Nowadays you can buy pine nuts in packets at the supermarket, which is less fun, but much easier. These green beans are great served with roast lamb, or added to lightly cooked pasta with chopped tomato and a squeeze of lemon.