I love summer and all the yummy fresh veggies that are available in our area. I "borrowed" this salad from a spot here in town called Camp 4 Wine Bar. D and I stopped in there a few weeks ago to enjoy some tasty paninis and salads for lunch and the owner, Damon Robbins, brought out samples of the latest salad he's been working on. I, of course, paid very close attention when he told us what was in it! I tried recreating it at home and I have to say it turned out pretty good! Here's what I did:
Ingredients:
About a pound fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-3 inch pieces
2 large tomatoes
Feta cheese
3 fresh basil leaves
Dry sherry
Olive Oil
Red wine vinegar
Salt
Pepper
To start, I placed the beans in a steamer basket in a pot and steamed them until they were just barely cooked. Still nice and crunchy. Once they were done, I immediately placed them in an ice bath to "shock" them, or stop the cooking process. While those were cooling, I got the tomato yumminess going. Cored, seeded and chopped the tomatoes. Minced the basil. Mixed this all in a bowl with a cap full of Dry Sherry (Damon actually said he used Sherry vinegar. I didn't have any of that so I improvised...), about a tbs of olive oil, a couple shakes of the vinegar and some salt and pepper. To serve, I made little piles of the beans on each plate and then settled a hefty scoop of the tomatoes on top. Finished off with a little crumbled feta and voila! Delicious....on a side note, I picked up the tomatoes and the beans at my favorite fruitstand. You cannot beat the freshness and flavor of veggies fresh from the farm rather than sitting in the grocery store. I've gotten to where I just don't eat tomatoes when they're not available at the stand because they're just not worth it. No taste. Mushy. Yuck. Oh, and I got the basil from my own lil backyard herb garden! Yumm!
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