Green Beans with Citrus & Pecans

This festive holiday side was recently featured in Southern Living.  I have two problems with the original recipe: 1) there is waaaaay too much vinaigrette called for in the original recipe (I ultimately used about 1/3 of the recipe) and 2) the original recipe says to chill and serve cold.  I like room temp or hot green beans, so I made mine accordingly.

GREEN BEANS WITH CITRUS & PECANS

Recipe Notes

Walnuts may also be substituted for the pecans.  I had never used cane syrup before.  I think that molasses can generally be substituted for the cane syrup here.

Ingredients

• 1 shallot, diced small
• 3/4 c. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. orange zest
• 1/3 c. fresh orange juice
• 1/3 c. fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 c. cane syrup
• 2 lb. green beans or haricot verts (very thin green beans)
• 2 oranges, sectioned
• 1/2 c. chopped, toasted pecans

Instructions

1.  Whisk together first six ingredients (through cane syrup) and add salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside.

2.  Cook green beans until crisp-tender and drain.

3.  Pat beans dry with paper towels.  Place beans and orange sections in a zip-top plastic bag.  Add vinaigrette (I would only recommend adding a few tbsp.) and seal bag.

4.  Turn bag several times to coat beans and oranges.

5.  Serve topped with pecans.