Green bean, tomato, and feta salad with walnuts 

There’s just something about eating seasonal that makes me feel good. 

In California, you can get most produce year round, but I like the idea of eating local fruits and veggies at their peak. 

I was reading a list of seasonal produce for August, saw green beans on that list, and started to crave them. 

Plus, on hot summer weeks like this one, sometimes a crisp, refreshing salad just sounds nice. Especially when that salad doesn’t involve any greens. 

You basically combine some lightly blanched green beans with some tomatoes, walnuts, shallots, and feta

And then you bring it all together with a nice bright lemon-mint vinaigrette

And that’s it! 

Ingredients

• 12 oz bag of green beans 
• 6 oz grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 4 oz crumbled feta cheese 
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced 
• 1/2 cup walnuts 
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/8 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon garlic paste
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 
• 4 large mint leaves plus 2 more for garnish

 Instructions

1. Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to medium and add green beans.
3. Remove promptly after 2 minutes, rinsing in cold water so the beans don’t keep cooking.
4. While the beans cool, make the dressing. Blend olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, and 4 mint leaves in high speed blender. 
5. Combine green beans, tomatoes, feta, and shallots with dressing. 
6. Top with walnuts and remaining mint, and serve. 

Serving Notes

• If you’re going to refrigerate this overnight, don’t add the walnuts until serving, or they’ll get soggy
• If you’re feeling fancy, consider pan toasting the walnuts for a minute before adding 
• If you don’t have apple cider vinegar on hand, I’m sure this would also taste good with white or red wine vinegar