Recipes › French Beans › Warm French Bean and Chorizo Salad with Soft Egg and Smoked Paprika Crumbs
Warm French Bean and Chorizo Salad with Soft Egg and Smoked Paprika Crumbs
This is a proper warm salad — the kind you eat with a fork and a hunk of bread to mop up the glossy, paprika-stained juices. French beans are the backbone here, cooked until just tender and tossed with sliced cooking chorizo while both are still warm, so the beans soak up the orange oil. A soft-boiled egg and a scattering of crunchy smoked paprika breadcrumbs finish it beautifully.
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Ingredients
- 500 g French beans, topped and tailed
- 200 cooking chorizo, casing removed, sliced into 1cm coins
- 4 eggs
- 80 sourdough or day-old white bread, torn into rough crumbsor use good-quality dried breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp smoked sweet paprika
- 2 tbsp sherry vinegaror use red wine vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 15 g flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
Contains: cereals gluten, eggs, sulphites.
Method
- Bring a large saucepan of well-salted water to the boil. Gently lower the eggs in and cook for exactly 6 minutes and 30 seconds for a properly jammy yolk. Transfer immediately to a bowl of ice-cold water and leave to cool for at least 4 minutes before peeling.About 8 min
- While the eggs cool, cook the French beans in the same boiling water for 4 minutes until tender with a slight bite. Drain and spread on a clean tea towel — you want them to steam dry for a minute, not sit in their own water.About 5 min
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the torn bread and fry, tossing regularly, for 3–4 minutes until golden and crisp. Add the smoked paprika and a pinch of salt, toss for 30 seconds more, then tip onto a plate. Leave the pan on the heat.About 5 min
- Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the same pan. Add the chorizo slices and fry over a medium-high heat for 2–3 minutes until they begin to brown and have released their deep orange oil. Add the sliced garlic and fry for 1 minute more until softened and fragrant — do not let it burn.About 4 min
- Take the pan off the heat and add the sherry vinegar — it will sizzle and reduce almost instantly. Add the warm French beans and toss everything together so the beans are well coated in the chorizo oil and vinegar. Season generously with salt and black pepper.About 2 min
- Divide the bean and chorizo mixture between four plates or pile onto a large platter. Peel the eggs, halve them and nestle them into the beans. Scatter over the smoked paprika crumbs and the chopped parsley. Serve immediately while everything is still warm.
Tips
- The chorizo will release a lot of flavourful orange oil as it fries — this is the dressing for your salad. Do not drain it off; it is the most valuable thing in the pan.
- The egg timing above gives a yolk that is set but still creamy at the centre, which is ideal here. If your eggs are straight from the fridge rather than room temperature, add 30 seconds to the cooking time.
- Toss the beans and chorizo together while both are hot — the beans will absorb the flavoured oil and vinegar far better than they would if either had cooled down.
Ring the changes
- For a smokier depth, use half sweet and half hot smoked paprika in the breadcrumbs.
- Leave out the eggs to make this a lighter side dish alongside grilled chicken or white fish.
Keeping it
This is best eaten immediately. If you have leftovers, store the beans and chorizo separately from the crumbs (which will go soggy) in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat the beans and chorizo gently in a pan and make fresh crumbs. Do not store the halved eggs — peel and boil fresh ones when you reheat.
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