Time For A Green Bean Salad.

It's summer time and the salads are easy.

 

Today, it's a green bean and yellow squash salad with a fresh herb vinaigrette.

For the salad fixin's:

2 cup green beans, trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 yellow squash, peeled and diced

2 TB toasted sliced almonds

1 TB chopped red onion

2 TB crumbled feta

I use 1 TB kosher salt
to 1 quart water.

Heavily salted.

Here's why:

click here.

 Boil away.

Drain.

Then ice water bath

to stop cooking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To prepare vegetables:  Drop green beans into salted boiling water.  Cook 5-6 minutes.  Drain and plunge into ice water to stop cooking and set bright green color.

Blanch squash.  Drop into boiling water, cook 1 minute, drain, and ice water bath.

 

Combine all ingredients.

 

For the vinaigrette: 

2 TB balsamic vinegar

1 tsp coarse grain mustard

1/3 cup Bertolli light olive oil

pinch kosher salt 

1 tsp chopped basil

1 tsp chopped mint

Stir vinegar and mustard together.  Slowly drizzle olive oil into mixture, whisking constantly, until you have a nice emulsion.  Season to taste with a pinch of kosher salt.  Stir in basil and mint.

Pour over vegetable mixture and toss to coat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, this is your basic salad.  If you want to go off on a tangent, feel free.

You could use fresh mozzarella balls instead of the feta.

You could use a different nut, say walnuts instead of the almonds.

You could give it a zesting of lemon or orange.

You could go with dill or tarragon or parsley.

You could add cherry tomatoes.

It's up to you.