Your Best String Bean Salad

Green beans, lemon, agave nectar, feta, red onion, and marjoram.

Amanda's daughter Addie and Kristen chat about the day's news while Amanda and Merrill study Midge's recipe.

A top-and-tail-a-thon.

Marjoram!

That's most certainly Merrill slicing the red onion so thinly.

Before: in the beans go for a little blanching, just enough to take off the raw edge.

After: super-green beans.

It's easy to snap the ends of tender young haricots verts.

Mayo and olive oil make a lushy, silky base for the dressing.

This recipe calls for raw zucchini, which was something new -- and great -- for us.

A particularly lovely tarragon sprig.

We ended cutting the zucchini roughly the same size as the beans.

Merrill checks the heat -- plenty of salt and a vigorous boil ensure crisp, vibrant green beans.

Jennifer Ann calls for green peppercorns (dried, not fresh), which have beautiful papery skins and a heat that sneaks up on you.

The beans take barely more than a minute -- make sure not to overcook them!

Shocking them in ice water stops the cooking immediately, making for a crunchy salad.

It was almost a shame to chop up those beautiful tarragon leaves.

But they look so gorgeous flecking the dressing!

Halved beans are much easier to get your mouth around.

Amanda pours the dressing over the beans and zucchini.

She attempted to fold everything gently together, but the dressing leapt out of the bowl and attacked her pretty pink top. (We managed to rescue it with a very wet towel.)