Green Bean and Cucumber Salad
For the Salad:
2 cucumbers
1 1/2 cups of green beans in bite sized pieces
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
For the Dressing:
2 whole garlic cloves
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
dash of salt and pepper
1. Peel the cucumbers. You can leave some of the skin on for color and a little texture. The heirloom variety we grew had a tougher skin than what you buy in the store so I found it helpful to remove some of the skin. Slice the cucumbers lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Then, slice down the length of the cucumber halves making half moon shapes (sorry I don't have a picture of this!). Add to bowl.
2. Cook the green beans in boiling water for 2 minutes. They only need to be blanched to make them a little more tender. Add to bowl with cucumbers.
3. Add the salad dressing to your taste and toss. Then add the feta and give the salad another toss to distribute the feta. This is great served right away or it will sit well in the refrigerator for a few hours.
For the Dressing:
1. In a jar, add the vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Most salad dressing recipes call for a 1 to 2 ratio of vinegar to oil. I find that to be too much oil for my taste but you can adjust according to what you like.
2. Smash the 2 garlic cloves with the back of a knife, no need to dice them, and add to jar. Put the lid on the jar and shake! Let the dressing sit for a bit so the garlic flavors it. You can make this dressing a day or two before to really get the garlic flavor in there. You don't add the garlic cloves to the salad, they're there just to infuse flavor to the oil and vinegar.
