Greek Green Bean Salad – Perfect For Potlucks – Recipe
These green beans are perfect for a potluck; the beans themselves are blanched and shocked and you can then hold them cold a day in advance and dress them close to serving time. They can be cooked traditionally in a big pot, or in a simple sous vide setup if you are so inclined – I’ve offered both options in the recipe.
I’ve been on a big fresh marjoram kick lately. It is in the same family as oregano, but I think the flavor is more complex and resinous and interesting. It is especially well loved in Greek cuisine and pairs beautifully with feta and olives. If you can’t find fresh marjoram, use fresh oregano and/or thyme.
This dish is so simple that the quality of the feta and olives you use will make a big difference; buy the best you can afford. You might also add a bit of lemon or orange zest for even more flavor.
Also, you may have noticed that my new recipes have a shiny Save Recipe button next to them now. This will let you save recipes into a ZipList recipe box, which you can always get to from ZipList.com or the “Recipe Box” link in the menu at the top of the site. ZipList manages the recipe boxes for a lot of major sites, so I’m excited to offer this service. My favorite feature is that you can add recipes right to a shopping list and then have them show up in the app on your phone. I plan to go back and move some of my most popular older recipes into the ZipList format over time. Try it out and let me know how you like it!
- 1200 grams (2 1/2 pounds) green beans, trimmed and rinsed
- 70 grams (1/3 cup) extra-virgin olive oil
- 5 grams (1 teaspoon) kosher salt
- 200 grams (1 1/3 cups) creamy feta, crumbled
- 300 grams (1 1/2 cups) pitted taste black olives (I used Taggiascas), sliced
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Lots of fresh marjoram or oregano
- Set up an ice bath for shocking the blanched green beans.
- Cooking option 1: combine the green beans, olive oil and salt in a bag, seal, and cook sous vide at 85 C for 15 minutes. This can be done using the improvised sous vide method if you don't have an immersion circulator. Shock in the bag in ice water to stop the cooking.
- Cooking option 2: bring a very large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the green beans until just barely tender and still bright green, working in two batches if necessary. Shock in the ice water.
- When the beans are well chilled, transfer to serving bowl. If cooked using option 2, add the olive oil and salt now and toss well. Garnish with the feta, black olives, pepper and marjoram. Toss just before serving, as it looks beautiful before tossing.
since i’m eating vegan style these days, i wonder how these would be without the feta?
Perfect! Saved me from having to figure out the item for the next inevitable potluck that comes with being a school mom. Diane – I bet it would be delish without feta or you could sub with pine nuts or walnuts … or take it in a slightly different direction with cherry tomatoes.
Love those suggestions!
I love everything in this salad. It sounds like a great combo. I’ve pinned it to make later. Thanks!
I’m crazy about fresh marjoram. Will be one of the first herbs I plant at my new house.
Great recipe!
Now I can’t wait to plant more green beans. And marjoram.What would this be like with mint? Last season I ran out of ideas for the bean crop, but that was before I knew about your great site.
Mint would be fantastic in it, as would oregano or thyme.
I love green beans with feta. I don’t know what it is, but its delicious! I like the addition of the kalamata olives. Yum!
Adding a bit of orange zest made the taste wow, wow. The kalamata olives also made the salad.
Thank you for your great receipe you are an exceptionally good chef.
FYI the sous vide link is broken …
Fixed, thank you!
Made this for Super Bowl party. Nothing left. I have been asked to bring it again for another pot luck.