Qorkz Kitchen - String Bean Salad with Shrimp

This is a variation on my husband's Luxembourgish grandmother's summer salad.  I turned it into a complete meal with the addition of the shrimp and some additional veg.  It serves 2 as a main and 4 as a side dish.

• 1 lb Green beans - frenched*
• 1/2 Shrimp -cooked
• 2 Green onions, chopped
• 2 Celery stalks chopped
• 1 Medium tomato diced
• 1/2 Cucumber chopped
• 1/4 cup Vinaigrette 
• Salt and pepper to taste

*The green beans are the star of this dish.  In fact, it is universally referred to as "String Bean Salad" in the family.  Traditionally, you start with beans you prep yourself.  Frenching the beans requires a little device referred to as a frencher which is a couple of bucks.  Boma used to use a knife to do this.  But she was from the Old Country and survived the Nazis, so she was more hardcore than myself.  After the beans are prepped you drop them into a pan of boiling water for 3 minutes and dunk them in ice water immediately afterwards to maintain their crispness and color and then strain to remove excess water.

or

Buy a bag of frozen frenched beans and let them thaw.  The freezing and thawing creates the same effect.  Just drain them well after they are thawed.

Mix the drained beans with the other ingredients and shrimp together in a bowl.  Toss with the vinaigrette and salt and pepper to taste.  We like to let the salad marinate for at least 1/2 hour in the refrigerator to make sure the flavors blend and to cool. 

This is a perfect dish for a hot summer night.  Light and crispy.