Marinated Cucumber And Green Bean Salad

Directions

1. 1
   First make the marinade by whisking together the vinegar, sugar, mustard, pepper. Don't add all the sugar at once: taste it first. We don't like it too acidic, so adjust to your taste.
2. 2
   Top the washed beans, keep whole, and parboil for 30 seconds if it's the fine, pencil-thin beans. For thicker beans, parboil for a minute. Rinse under cold water. If not very thin, slice them in two along their lengths.
3. 3
   With a potato peeler, peel ribbons from the cucumber, on all sides, until you reach the inside seeds. Discard the centre seed part. Roll the ribbons roughly.
4. 4
   Mix the vegetables plus the chopped spring onions in a bowl, and add the marinade and salt. Leave for 10 - 30 minutes, turning a few times.
5. 5
   Lift the salad out of the marinade (the cucumber will have shed some water too), and leave on a scrunch of kitchen paper just so most of the marinade is absorbed.
6. 6
   Pile on a plate, add the piquante pepper pieces if using, and sprinkle with coarse black pepper.