Green Bean Summer Salad with Italian Sausage, Olives, and Basil Vinaigrette
(from desert.rose32’s recipe box)
Categories: Salads
Ingredients
- 1 lb. fresh green beans (preferably thin French style beans)
- 4 links (12 oz.) turkey Italian Sausage (I used 5th Street Grill Italian Turkey Sausage from Costco.)
- 2 tsp. olive oil (more or less, depending on your pan)
- 1 can (6 oz. drained weight) black olives
- salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
- Dressing Ingredients:
- 3 T chopped fresh basil or frozen basil
- 1/2 cup purchased or homemade vinaigrette dressing
Directions
-
Start the water to cook the beans heating in a vegetable steamer (or you can use a metal colander inside a pot as long as the lid will fit.) While the water comes to a boil, trim both ends of the beans and then cut them in half crosswise to make pieces about 2-3 inches long. Prepare a bowl with water and ice cubes to put beans in when they’re cooked, to stop the cooking process. (I used my salad spinner, so it was easy to drain the beans after.) As soon as the water is boiling enough to make steam, add beans to the pot and steam with the lid on about 8 minutes, or until beans are slightly tender-crisp. Then immediately remove beans from the steamer and add to the ice-water. Cool beans 1 minute, then remove the ice and drain the beans.
-
While the beans cook, cut the sausage in half lengthwise and then slice into half-moon slices. Heat the olive oil in a large, non-stick pan; add sausage and brown over medium-high heat, turning often, until the sausage is brown on all sides. Let sausage cool.
-
Put olives into a colander and drain until all the liquid has drained away. If you’re using fresh basil, finely chop to make about 3 tablespoons finely chopped basil. Whisk together chopped basil (or thawed frozen basil) and vinaigrette dressing.
-
Combine the cooled sausage, beans, and olives in a bowl. Stir in enough dressing to moisten all the ingredients, season to taste with salt and fresh-ground black pepper, and serve.
-
If you want to vary the recipe you could add other ingredients to this salad such a cooked mushrooms, crumbled Feta cheese, or roasted red pepper.