Photo of Haricot vert, pear, and goat cheese salad by WW

Haricot vert, pear, and goat cheese salad

3
Points®
Total Time
40 min
Prep
10 min
Cook
30 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy
This easy, elegant salad is tangy and sweet, creamy and crisp, making it ideal for a weeknight meal, holiday dinner, or gathering of any kind. Serve it at room temperature or chilled. While haricots verts mean green beans in French, there’s more than the name to differentiate it from American green bean varieties. Haricots verts are longer, thinner, more tender, and have a more robust flavor. Use your favorite variety of apples in place of the pears, if you like. Fuji or Honeycrisp would both be delicious. For a dairy-free version, substitute walnuts or pecans for the cheese.

Ingredients

Balsamic vinegar

½ cup(s)

Packed light brown sugar

2 tsp

Uncooked string beans

1 pound(s), French-cut haricot vert, trimmed

Pear

2 medium, firm but ripe, red-skinned recommended

Soft goat cheese

1½ oz, crumbled

Table salt

tsp, or to taste

Black pepper

tsp, freshly ground, or to taste

Instructions

  1. In a small saucepan, combine vinegar and sugar; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, scraping sides and bottom of pan, until reduced by about 75% and liquid turns syrupy, about 20 to 30 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, steam or parboil haricot vert until crisp-tender, about 4 to 6 minutes. Immediately plunge haricot vert into an ice bath (or run under very cold water) to stop them from cooking; drain and allow to cool completely.
  3. Next, core and thinly slice pears.
  4. Place pears, haricot vert and cheese in a medium serving bowl; drizzle with balsamic reduction and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature. Yields about 1 1/4 cups per serving.