Simple Side Dish: Purple Beans

I usually peruse the Union Square Greenmarket on my lunch breaks. In the case of these beans, however, I was stopped dead in my tracks on my way into the office in the morning. They are bright purple.

I rinsed and tasted one as soon as I got to work. It has the exact same taste as a green bean, is bright green inside, but the rich aubergine color is just too pretty. A little bit of Googling informed me that cooking purple beans fades the color to green. In the interest of pretty food, I decided to keep them raw and serve them in a warm vinaigrette.

I also got really handy with one of my collage apps.

I took inspiration for the dressing from a Williams-Sonoma recipe I pinned ages ago. I ended up using the following ingredients:

2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
2 chive cubes in olive oil

I melted the cubes, added in the sugar and mustard and stirred, then whisked in the vinegar. I could have used markedly less of the vinegar to make a thicker dressing, but the flavor overall was outrageous. Spicy, sweet, and tangy on top of crunchy fresh beans.

I served this alongside pork chops and it was a great complement. I can usually figure out main dishes pretty easily, but draw blanks often when it comes to side dishes. Do you have that problem, too? I hope I can think of this one during future meal planning and will try and feature more Simple Side Dish recipes down the line!