Over medium heat, heat the olive oil in a large skillet/frying pan. Add the onions and ⅔ teaspoon of salt and saute for 7-8 minutes, until lightly browned, golden and translucent. Cooked this way, the onions will add a lot of lovely sweetness to the cream sauce.

In the meantime, boil a kettle of water and trim the tail ends off the beans and add them to a medium pot. add another hald a teaspoon of salt and cover with boiling hot water. Pop on the stove, bring back to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 4-5 minutes, until the beans are tender to bite but still have a little resistance to bite and are still green. Drain under cold water, strain and set aside.

Back to the sauce, once the onions are softened, add the garlic, black pepper and nutmeg and stir through for 1 minute.

Stir in the cream and butter and cook the sauce over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, letting it bubble away a little. Stir it frequently and watch it thicken slightly over time.

Finally, add a little drizzle of lemon juice to introduce slight acidity to the sauce; this cuts down the richness.

Add the beans and stir through the sauce; leave on the stove until they are properly reheated.