French beans

Should be firm to the touch, brittle and without strings. The finest of the fine are the tiny beans the size of the tine of a fork, with their little white flowers still attached. Like the rose de Malesherbe the flowers only last a single morning, so don’t let night fall before you invite your guests. These little beans deserve the most tender care: pinch off the two ends and plunge them immediately into a large pan of boiling salted water – 5 litres (9 pints) to 500 g (1 lb 2 oz). On no account cover the pan, and watch while the beans cook, which should take only a few minutes. Take out a bean every now and then to see how they are doing and when they are still slightly crisp remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon and plunge immediately into iced water. Drain in a colander. French beans which are to be served in a salad can be seasoned with a little wine vinegar, a tablespoon of olive oil, a pinch of finely-chopped shallot and some sprigs of chervil. They can also be eaten cold with a generous tablespoon of double cream and the juice of a lemon. These tiny beans also make worthy companions for other fine ingredients, as you will see in the section of this book which deals with salads.