Healthy Recipes FRESH GREEN BEAN, WALNUT, & FETA SALAD

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Fresh Green Bean, Walnut, and Feta Cheese Salad dressed with olive oil and fresh mint vinaigrette.  It may sound bizarre, but it's one amazingly delicious flavor combination!

The flavor combination of this salad may sound a tad bit, well ... strange ... to some, but believe me, it's aMAZing.  The snap of fresh green beans, with the crunch of chopped walnuts, the saltiness of crumbled Feta, and refreshing zing of fresh mint pair just beautifully.  In a most surprisingly wonderful way.

My Mom is the one who first made this salad in our family.  We all immediately fell in love.  In my opinion, it's hard not to fall in love with such great flavor!

And it's pretty, too ... Don't ya think?  Just look at those bright colors!  Love it when yummy food is pretty too.  It's a nice bonus.

Much of the beautiful color in this salad comes from just-barely-blanched fresh green beans.  Blanching ... basically, cooking in boiling water for a teeny tiny bit of time and then immediately dunking in ice water to stop the cooking process {called 'shocking'} ... tenderizes vegetables to the bite while maintaining their vibrant color.

I adore the crunch of blanched vegetables.  I'm much more a fan of crunchy veggies than mushy ones.

So to whip up this flavorful salad, start by trimming and cutting some fresh green beans.

Then blanch them.

To blanch, I like to prepare one side of my two-sided sink with the ice water I'll need to shock the beans, and I place the colander to drain them when they're hot on the other side.

Once the beans are cooked for their very brief time, I drain them in the colander ... and then plunge them, colander and all, in the prepared ice water on the other side of the sink.

Then I simply pick the colander up out of the ice water to drain the beans again, and ... done!  A very easy way to handle the blanching-and-shocking process.

Next, combine all the dressing ingredients. including that refreshing zing of fresh mint. in a food processor.

Pour the minted dressing over the beans, which have been mixed with walnut, Feta, and chopped red onion, and you've got yourself a beautiful bowl of one amazingly delicious salad.

Don't be afraid.  Make this.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.  No, I know you will.

FRESH GREEN BEAN, WALNUT, & FETA SALAD

Fresh Green Bean, Walnut, and Feta Cheese Salad dressed with olive oil and fresh mint vinaigrette. -- It may sound bizarre, but it's one amazingly delicious flavor combination!

PREP TIME: 25 MCOOK TIME: 3 MTOTAL TIME: 28 M

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 lbs. fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into about 2-inch pieces
• 1 c. chopped walnuts
• 3/4 c. diced red onion
• 1 c. crumbled Feta cheese
• 3/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 c. white wine vinegar
• 1/4 c. fresh mint leaves, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add green beans and cook for only 3 minutes. 
2. Drain well and immediately plunge into ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain again and pat dry with paper towels.
3. Place green beans in a large bowl. Add walnuts, red onion, and Feta; gently stir to combine.
4. Combine olive oil, white wine vinegar, mint, garlic, salt, and pepper in the bowl of a food processor; pulse a few times to blend. Pour dressing over the bean mixture and toss. 
5. Chill for about an hour before serving.

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