Walnut and Feta GREEN BEANS

My husband, Joe, is not a huge fan of green beans.  Usually he eats them rather grudgingly, but every now and then, I’ll hit on a recipe that he deems to be a “keeper”.  Think I’ve done it with this recipe.  See what you think.

This recipe can also be chilled in the refrigerator and served as a salad.

Cooking Tip:

Walnuts and Pecans, quick chopping - a few walnuts and pecans can quickly be chopped with a pastry cutter.

* LOW CARB - USE GREEN ONIONS INSTEAD OF RED ONIONS

GREEN BEANS with WALNUTS and FETA

Table of Contents : VEGETABLES

1 cup water
1 1/4 tsp. salt, divided
2 lbs. fresh, small green beans, snapped on both ends & broken 2 or 3 times into bite-size pieces.
1 small purple onion, sliced very thin
1 small to medium clove garlic, finely minced; then crushed with a fork
¼ tsp. dill weed
1/8 tsp. ground red pepper
2 T. diced pimentos
4 oz. crumbled Feta or goat cheese
¾ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 T. balsamic vinegar

In a Dutch oven, bring water to a boil; add 1 tsp. of the salt and the green beans.  Return water to a boil; then cover pot and lower heat to simmer for 10 minutes or until just tender-crisp.  While green beans are cooking, prepare a bowl with ice and water to plunge the green beans into when cooking is complete.  This stops the cooking process immediately.  Drain the green beans completely; then put into a serving bowl.  Add the purple onion, garlic, dill weed, red pepper, and remaining ¼ tsp. salt, and toss gently to blend.  Add the pimentos, Feta cheese, and walnuts; gently toss again to blend.  Drizzle the olive oil evenly over the mixture; toss.  Then, drizzle the balsamic vinegar evenly over all, and toss. Taste for salt and add more, if needed.  Serve at room temperature or microwave until just barely warm.  Serves 4 to 8.

My brother, Tommy, grew the green beans shown in the recipe photo.  He tells me that they are  “bunch beans” because of the way they grow on the vine.  Every year since he retired and moved back to Robinson Springs with his wife Linda, to live in our grandparents beautiful old 1917 home, he has had a great vegetable garden. You surely would starve to death if you were depending on me to grow anything.  The only thing I can grow is Kudzu.  For those of you not from the South, it is that very prolific green vine growing over everything that doesn’t move.  It grows a foot a day and no one really knows what it does at night!  In the summer, it creates wild sculptures that hang from tall trees and blow in the breeze.  Actually, Kudzu holds the South onto our old globe as it spins in the universe.  What would we do without it?  I’d like to try!