Blanching means you’ll only cook the beans for a couple of minutes, then lift them out with a slotted spoon and place them straight into a bowl filled with ice cold water. This helps to make the green beans soft without having to sauté them until they are black on the outside. It also helps them keep their nice green color! But you can sauté green beans without blanching - so just skip it if you're OK with firmer beans. I don’t mind a bit of crunch, but if you want your beans to be soft all the way, you pretty much have to cook them in salted water first.