Incredible Green Beans with Feta & Dill
I do most of the cooking at home so I’m always happy to take a break from time to time. If I’ve been running the kids from sport to sport sometimes it’s nice not having to come home and make dinner too. That leads me to these Incredible Green Beans with Feta and Dill, and how happy I was the first time I came home to the smell them cooking.
Not only was I happy there was food ready but Green Beans with Feta & Dill is crazy good. Now, to confess anyone that knows me and cooking, I can never be happy with a recipe in a cookbook so I had to tweak it a little. Trust me when I say that the tweaking was only for the best.
The origins of Green Beans and Feta
The original recipe came from a Greek cookbook we have called “Greek with Gusto”. The recipe is on page 49 and is called Green Beans and Feta or “Fassolakia Feta” in Greek. It’s a great, simple recipe but I just had to add a little French flair into the Beans.
The Addition of Butter, White Wine and Lemon Juice add richness and added acidity. Changing the water to a Chicken or Vegetable Stock adds a little more depth of flavour. Finally caramelizing the Onion adds such a wonderful sweetness to balance out the Lemon Juice and White Wine.
The first step in making Incredible Green Beans with Feta & Dill is to not always do the first step. hmmmm confused me too lol… let me explain. Usually the first step I take is blanching the Beans, buuuut that depends how old the Green Beans are.
My wife loves to grow Green beans in summer, they’re so beautiful and tender there is no need to blanch. But if I buy Green Beans from the grocery store in November they are probably hard and a little woody. If that is the case then I will take the first step which is to blanch. Hope that clears things up a little.
the art of blanching
Blanching is easy, but there are a couple things that will help make it better. First, make sure to Salt the water and I don’t mean a dainty pinch I mean a tablespoon or more. Don’t worry all that Salt won’t soak into the Beans but it will help to flavour them.
Second, Have an Ice bath ready to go when you have finished cooking. If you just pull Vegetables straight out of hot water and leave them they will continue to cook. To prevent them from getting mushy a good idea is an ice bath. Cold, cold water and ice in a bowl, remove the Vegetables and place immediately into the ice bath.
Lastly, don’t walk away once the Vegetables go into the water. They only need to cook for 1-2 minutes, so stand by with tongs or a slotted spoon and count your mississippi’s.
The start of incredible Green Beans
Mise en place, you’re going to get tried of hearing it but truthfully it’s 50% of all great cooking 😛 . Slice the Onion, a little thicker than you might normally, rough chop the Garlic. Remove any stems off the Green Beans and cut them into 2 – 3 inch sections. Finally measure out the rest of the ingredients… see that wasn’t so hard.
( If you’re blanching the Green beans Now is the time to do it. )
In a large pan or pot, over medium heat, add the Olive Oil and Melt the Butter. Add in the sliced Onion with a good pinch of Salt and Pepper. The S&P will help draw out the moisture and caramelize the Onion. Keep the temperature low because we want to sweat the Onions not sauté.
After about four minutes add the chopped Garlic to the pan for another minute. Add in the Green Beans and another good whack of Salt, turn the heat to medium high and sauté for 5 more minutes. Keep the ingredients moving so they don’t stick to the bottom and burn.
After the Beans are just starting to show some color from the pan add the White Wine Vinegar and turn the heat back to medium low. 30 seconds later after the Vinegar has reduced, add the White Wine. Two minutes after that add the Stock. Relax for 5 – 7 minutes as the Stock reduces.
the finishing touches
After the Stock has reduced it’s time to finish everything off, and we saved the best for last.
• Toss in a couple hits of Butter and continue to stir until it has melted and incorporated.
• Chop the Dill and Parsley and add 95% of it into the Beans, save a little to garnish.
• Same with the Feta, add 90% in and mix because who doesn’t like melted cheese, and save the 10% for garnish.
• And finally splash in some Lemon Juice for a little added brightness and some extra Salt and Pepper to taste.
Give everything a good toss, spoon into your favourite platter, garish with the Dill, Parsley and Feta and dig in…Enjoy!
Incredible Green Beans with Feta & Dill
Ingredients
- 4 cup Green Beans
- Ice
- 1 Onion
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 Tbsp Butter
- 2 Tbsp Wihite Wine vinegar
- ¼ cup White Wine
- ¼ cup Chicken or Vegetable Stock
- Salt and Pepper
Finishing
- ¼ cup Fresh Dill chopped
- ¼ cup Fresh Italian Parsley chopped
- 1 Tbsp Butter
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- ½ cup Feta
Instructions
Blanching Grenn Beans
- Start by removing all the stem tips on the Green Beans and cutting them into 2" – 3" sections.
- In a pot large enough, and more, to hold the Green Beans add water and 1 – 2 tablespoons of Salt. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmmer.
- Once the water is at a simmer and the Beans are cut grab a mixxing bowl and fill with ice. Add cold water to the ice and set aside close to the where the Beans will cook.
- Drop the Beans in the simmering water and count 90 mississippi's, pull a Green Bean out and test. It should still be firm but softened slightly. Remove and plunge directly into the Ice bath.
- Let them sit until they are cool to the touch and not giving off any heat. Strain them and set asiade.
Building the Flavour
- Peel and slice the Onions, a little thicker then normal. Crush and rough chop the Garlic
- heat a large pan over medium heat and add the Olive Oil and Butter. Once the Butter has melted and is bubbling add the Onion and turn the heat to low, we don't want to saute just sweat the Onion. Add a good pinch of Salt and Pepper and cook for 3 – 4 minutes.
- After 3 – 4 minutes add the Garlic, stir and cook for another 1 – 2 minutes.
- Add the vlanched Green Beans and another pinch of Salt and turn the heat back up to medium high. Continue to toss the Green Beans, Onion and Garlic to prevent the Onion and Gralic from sticking to the Bottom.
- After the Green Beans have cooked for 4 – 6 more minutes splash in the White Wine Vinegar, turn the heat back to low and toss the pan to lift any little pieces stuck to the bottom.
- After the White Wine Vinegar has reduced, 30 seconds to a minute, add the White Wine and reduce again by half.
- Add in the Stock, toss and simmer for another 5 – 7 minutes
Finishing
- Turn the Heat off, Toss in the 1 Tbsp Butter, stir until incorperated.
- Add 90% of the Feta, chopped Dill and chopped Parsley, save the 10% for garnish, and add the Lemon Juice. Toss or stir to combine, let the Feta melt slightly and dish into a serving bowl.
- Sprinkle the top with the reserved Dill and Parsley and spread the Feta around… Enjoy!