·

Meat Free Monday: Marinated Green Beans with Olives, Tomatoes, and Feta

My in-laws came by for a visit this weekend and brought with them fresh String Beans from their garden.  I have to say that is one of my favorite things about summer -  fresh from the garden vegetables.

Freshly washed garden string beans

Since we had plenty of tomatoes on hand, I figured I’d try out the following recipe:

Marinated Green Beans with Olives, Tomatoes, and Feta

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
  • 1 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano  ( I just used ground oregano since I didn’t have any fresh)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/2 (8 ounce) package crumbled feta
  • 1/2 bunch fresh oregano sprigs ( I just used ground oregano since I didn’t have any fresh)

Directions

  1. Bring a pot of water to a boil over medium heat and drop in the green beans; cook until slightly tender, but still crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Immediately drain the green beans and plunge into ice water to stop the beans from cooking further. Drain the beans and place them in a shallow serving dish.
chopping vegetables
2.  Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook garlic in the oil for about 30 seconds. Remove the skillet from the heat. Stir in the olives, tomatoes, vinegar, oregano, salt, and pepper. Pour mixture over green beans. Toss together until beans are evenly coated.  Chill at least 3 hours before serving.
Marinated Green Beans with Olives and Tomatoes

3. Sprinkle feta cheese over the top and garnish with oregano sprigs.

Chef’s note: I let everyone just add their own feta as my kids aren’t crazy about feta cheese.  I also baked some Ciabatta bread to go along with this dish.  I loved the dish – it has a strong olive taste so if you don’t like olives I wouldn’t recommend it.  But I’m the girl that orders her martinis extra dirty…   My oldest son and my husband liked it.  The 2 younger boys weren’t that crazy about it.  They like their green beans to taste like green beans. I will definitely make this dish again but pull some beans to the side for the two younger boys.

Happy Eating