This delicious side dish hailing from Food & Wine magazine is a unique combination of flavors and textures.  Crispy green beans and tender artichoke hearts coated with a smooth and flavorful vinaigrette made from sherry vinegar, hazelnut oil, shallots and chopped hazelnuts.  Although the recipe calls for fresh artichokes, I took a shortcut and used oil-marinated artichoke hearts that had also already been grilled as well.  I see a lot of vinaigrettes made with tart sherry vinegar lately and I absolutely love its taste!  If you have pecan oil instead of hazelnut oil at hand, this would also be a lovely dish with chopped pecans and pecan oil instead.

(To view this recipe, click on the following link: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/haricots-verts-and-artichoke-salad-with-hazelnut-vinaigrette)

Tagged: artichoke hearts, artichokes, green bean salad, green beans, haricots verts, hazelnut oil, hazelnut vinaigrette, hazelnuts, Salad, shallots, sherry vinegar, vegetarian