Ruby Rare’s Salad of Green Beans with Satsuma, Sesame and Sichuan Peppercorn Dressing
For this episode of 5 O Clock Apron Podcast, Claire travels to Margate to cook with Ruby Rare. Ruby is a sex educator, that is to say, a force of nature with a mission to encourage and include everyone in her task to make the world a fairer and more accepting place when it comes to the enormous and thorny topics of sex, relationships and body positivity. In the podcast episode Claire and Ruby talk about the word ‘woke’ being misappropriated, the correct use of pronouns with Ruby saying she is she / her but “you can chuck a couple of they / thems in for good measure, if you like”, together the two discuss marriage VS non monogamous relationships, queerness, sex with friends, celebrating divorce and winter sea swimming. And all the while, Claire and Ruby cook alongside each other with a casual ease that Claire finds reassuring as it is enchanting. Surrounded by her father’s paintings and with Ruby’s Sri Lankan gorgeous tableware bought on a recent trip with her family, lunch with Ruby was one of the nicest and most illuminating lunches Claire has had in sometime. Claire leaves Ruby’s tiny seaside cottage with a slightly skewed lens on her world, a good thing, there is much to celebrate in the world with people like Ruby in the centre of it. Oh, and she’s also a great cook, that salad dressing was something else!
NOTE: if you want to make this into more of a substantial meal, you could also cook some rice noodles and mix through with the dressing to serve. Alternatively serve with some steamed rice on the side.
INGREDIENTS
To feed 4, as a salad or side dish
400g green beans, trimmed
1 large cucumber, sliced 1cm
4 spring onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
80g rocket
3 satsumas, juiced
1 lime, juiced
2 small garlic cloves
1 green finger chilli
4 fresh lime leaves
Thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, I lightly toasted mine
1 heaped tbsp toasted sesame seeds
2 tsp soy sauce, to taste
2 tsp rice wine vinegar, I used raw apple cider vinegar, to taste
1 tsp dark brown sugar, or use palm sugar
1 tbsp sesame oil
METHOD
Boil the green beans in well salted water until tender, drain and cool.
Peel the cucumber, I’ll leave this up to you, and slice.
Put the rocket in a wide salad serving bowl, add the cucumber, ¾ of the sliced spring onions, the cooked beans and sprinkle over with the sesame seeds.
In a powerful blender, or use a Nutra Bullet, add the juice of the satsumas and lime, vinegar, lime leaves, soy sauce, sesame oil, chilli, ginger, garlic, sugar and Sichuan peppercorns and blend until completely smooth. Check the seasoning, you might need a pinch of salt, but the soy sauce will also be salty!
Add the salad dressing to the ingredients in the bowl and toss well to coat in the dressing.