Salt

2 cups green beans

2 cups yellow wax beans

Ice water

1 cup almonds, skin on, roughly chopped and toasted

Pesto:

1/4 cup blanched almonds

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup watercress, leaves and stems

2 cloves garlic

1 small bunch watercress, for garnish

In a large sauce pot, bring one gallon of salted water to a boil. Prepare a bowl with water and ice on the side, creating an ice bath for the beans. Drop the green beans into the boiling water and cook until bright green and tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from the water with a strainer and plunge into the ice bath. Repeat this process with the yellow beans, keeping the yellow and green beans separate. After removing the beans from the water, put them in a colander and let sit.

To prepare the pesto, put the almonds, olive oil, watercress, and garlic into a blender and start at a slow speed just to get it going; then blend until smooth and thick.

In a bowl toss the green beans with desired amount of pesto and 1/2 cup toasted almonds. Place the green beans down in a tall pile distributing onto 4 plates. repeat this process with the yellow beans (putting them on top of the green beans), garnish with some fresh watercress and serve.