Full of Beans

"Help!" said my friend Laura, "I've got beans coming out of my ears." Well, at least she had them coming out of her garden.

I thought immediately of one of my favorite bean salad recipes. I'd found it in Cooking Light about eight years ago and I've tried to make it a couple of times a summer ever since. The thought of it made me wish I had a garden full of beans.
Lucky for me, it was Copley Square Farmer's Market day and the people from Silverbrook Farm in Dartmouth, MA still had some tasty-looking beans, both green and yellow. I also bought some cherry tomatoes and some basil from them. (Normally, I grow herbs in window boxes on my balcony, but this year's plants succumbed to overwatering, courtesy of Mother Nature, during Boston's near-record wet July.)

This recipe is ridiculously easy to make, but it's both delicious and unusual. One key is to find a mild feta -- you don't want this to be too salty. I'm going to use one of my favorite goat cheese fetas from Brookfield Dairy in New Hampshire.


GREEN AND YELLOW BEAN SALAD WITH CHUNKY TOMATO DRESSING AND FETA CHEESE -- Jack Bishop, Cooking Light, June 2001

Ingredients:
4 cups of water
3/4 pound of green beans
3/4 pound of yellow beans
2 cups chopped tomatoes (I used quartered cherry tomatoes)
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
1/2 cup (2 oz.) crumbled feta

Directions:
Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Cook beans in boiling water for 5 minutes or until crisp tender. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain again.
Combine next 4 ingredients (through pepper) in a bowl. Divide beans evenly on 8 plates. Top each serving with 1/4 cup of the tomato mixture. Sprinkle each serving with one tablespoon basil and 1 tablespoon crumbled cheese.
Enjoy!