Green Beans and Mushrooms with Hazelnuts and Capers

Ok.  Not nearly as exciting as my last posts with the saffron and cardamom scones and whole wheat bread.  But we need to eat our greens.

This is a nice and simple side dish with a bit of a twist since it's got exciting ingredients like hazelnuts and capers.  Hazelnuts and capers enjoy a particularly harmonious relationship in most forms of sauces actually.  I once had a roast lamb with a hazelnut and caper sauce.  It was basically cooking the chopped hazelnuts and capers in a stick of butter and soya, forming the most beautiful sauce.

Anyway, this takes no time at all, really healthy blah blah blah.  What I eat on daily basis as a part of my meal basically.  This will be very short since I'm half asleep and I'm still waiting for the caffeine from my cup of coffee 2 minutes ago to kick in.

Prep time: 5 min    Cook time: 10 min    Serves: 2  S     uitable for: fulfilling your 5-a-day in an exciting way 

Ingredients
150g green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 inch slices
1 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp hazelnuts, roughly chopped
2 tsp capers
1 tbsp parsley, chopped

Method
Steam the green beans until tender, about 10 minutes.  Saute the garlic in some olive oil and add the hazelnuts.  Add the beans, mushrooms and capers and let all the ingredients mingle in the pan for a bit more.  Season to taste and garnish with chopped parsley and bits of parmesan.

Variations
Like I said, just be inspired with the hazelnut and caper combination.  Serve with meats or other vegetables of your choice.