Vegetarian Green Beans Stew with Cucumber Salad Recipe

Do you sometimes find the abundance of the summer overwhelming? This is not a complaint, just to clear it up. It's just that when we go to the market and see all the fruits and vegetables that we missed so much we wanna grab everything and ask each other if we got enough like it is the end of world. Does that happen to you?

This weekend we went outside the city to see my grandmother and somehow we managed to come back with an impressive quantity of green beans from her garden. We thought we will divide it in 3: for some soup, with lemon (refreshing), for a beans-and-tomatoes-sort-of-a-stew and for some garlicky salad.

Let just start with the stew. I called it stew because I had no other better idea, but I never considered it a warming stew or your typical comfort food, but that may also be because I associate it with summer because my mom always used to prepare this from the freshest, most tender green beans. Of course, you can also make it with canned or frozen green beans and you can add some meat and some heat. We will talk about that in 4 or five months.

Also, as you can see in photos it is not the really green and rounded type of green beans, we used a more yellow, flat kind.  I find that the thin, rounded ones are better in salads or stir fries because they hold their shape better.

Ingredients for 3 servings:

500g green beans
1 onion
2 tomatoes
some tomato juice
1 bay leaf
a bunch of dill
salt and pepper

In a tall pan heat up some vegetable oil and then cook the chopped onion until golden. At this point you can also add some garlic if you fancy. After the onion is golden add the green beans and stir for a bit. Add water or stock until it almost covers the beans. At this point you can add the spices- bay leaves, dill (at this point I used a dill flower), salt, pepper and some chilli if you like it spicy.

Let it simmer and when the beans are half cooked, add the chopped tomatoes and the tomato juice. Let it simmer for 10 minutes or until it is done. Before you turn off the heat, sprinkle some more dill and check for salt.

This vegetarian dish goes perfectly with some pickles, but to let yourself be completely "summered" try a simple and fresh ....

Cucumber salad: 

Cut 4-5 small cucumbers in slices, sprinkle some salt over them, then some vinegar (we used balsamic, but you can always choose to be a rebel :)) and, of course, some dill.

Enjoy,
Mrs. G.