Monday, April 4, 2011

Green Bean, Walnut, & Feta Salad

This delicious green bean salad is packed with flavor. I always substitute pecans for the walnuts because I like to think that I am a southern girl at heart. I don't have the original source for this recipe, but I did preserve the fact that it is in 1996 Recipe Hall of Fame.


Green Bean, Walnut, & Feta Salad

2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed
1 small purple onion, thinly sliced
1 (4-ounce) package crumbled feta cheese
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted
3/4 cup olive oil (I use 1/2 cup.)
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Cut green beans into thirds, and arrange in a steamer basket over boiling water, Cover and steam 15 minutes or until crisp-tender. Immediately plunge into cold water to stop the cooking process; drain and pat dry.

Toss together green beans, onion, cheese, and walnuts in a large bowl. Cover and chill 1 hour.

Whisk together olive oil and next 5 ingredients; cover and chill 1 hour.

Pour vinaigrette over green bean mixture, and chill 1 hour; toss just before serving.

Yield: 8 servings

Julie's Notes: I reduce the amount of oil in the vinaigrette. Also, I never seem to have enough prep time to chill the vegetables and dressing separately for an hour first, so I simply toss them all together and chill before serving.

11 comments:

  1. julie, this salad looks divine! perfect for spring!

    thank you so much for linking up to mangia mondays! i hope you'll come back every week!

    -kristin

    http://delightfullydowling.blogspot.com

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  2. Yum! And of course, you are a Southern girl at heart. You can take the girl out of Virginia but not the Virginia out of the girl! The rest of the US can benefit from our need to hug and feed everyone, right?

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  3. You take such great photos! Tell me what setting you use to take 'food' pictures. I have a food setting on my camera, but do you do something special or just a really, really good photographer.

    The dish looks wonderful and I always like to see what food is in the picture besides the wonderful salad or such you are spot lighting :)

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  4. I almost always sub in pecans when walnuts are called for. My California friends think I am crazy. You are quite the chef! I had no idea.

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  5. Yum - love green beans and feta - never thought to make a salad out of them! I'll have to try this. Thanks so much for sharing on Mangia Mondays!

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  6. i found you from mangia mondays!
    i never would've thought to put green beans and feta together either, but this looks great!
    awesome recipe.

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  7. Oh wow, this looks so good!! What a perfect salad for spring!

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  8. ok, this blog looks great, I love vegetables, and salads, and I want to make several of these. great ideas.

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  9. This looks amazing. I love all of the flavors.

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  10. I just made this last night and it was a huge success!

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