Green bean and Chick Pea Salad

1 ½ cups of cooked grean beans (approximate – the world won’t end if it’s more or less)

1 can of chick peas – rinsed and drained

about ½ cup of chopped pimento (you can find them in jars at the supermarket or just use sweet red pepper)

1 tablespoon each of fresh basil, chives, and parsley

2 Tbsp of vinegar

1/3 cup of olive oil

salt to taste

First, rinse off your green beans, then snap off the ends and snap them in two.  Put them in a pot big enough to hold them and cover with water.  Be sure to have enough water in the pot – you can’t really have too much.  Bring them to a boil and then continue to boil them for about 10 minutes (this really depends on individual tastes and how crunchy you like your green beans, so taste one every once in a while like you would pasta).  Once they’re done, drain them and rinse with cold water and allow to cool.

When the green beans are cool, transfer them to a bowl and add in the chick peas, chopped pimento, chopped basil, chives, parsley, and salt.  Mix this all together, then add the vinegar and olive oil and mix again.  Allow to sit for at least an hour before eating.

You can add black pepper too, but I have an aversion to the stuff.  If I put in a pinch of it, for me, it ruins the taste of everything.  You could add some hot red pepper though.  That will add a nice zing to it. 

Here’s a hint on chopping fresh herbs.   I rip the leaves off – or in the case of the chives, just rip them into smaller pieces – and put them in a drinking glass, one with a slightly wide rim.  Then take a pair of scissors and slice through them in different directions in the glass until they’re in nice small pieces.  I’ve bought various fancy gadgets to cut herbs and found this to be the easiest and fastest way with the least mess since the herbs stay in the glass. 

Here’s the finished product.