Marinated Green Beans

~ Hometown Girl

In my quest to add interest to my salad bar, I have frequently served Four Bean Salad along with the typical salad bar fare. Being both flavorful and colorful, it is always an excellent addition, yet at the same time, I wanted another  green bean dish to serve as an alternative. Never really finding a recipe that I was satisfied with, I began experimenting. After several years (yes, years) of trial and error, I finally developed the recipe that I had envisioned, and its incredibly easy. I simply call it Marinated Green Beans. Not only is this recipe great as part of a salad bar, it works as a side dish for a family meal especially  when serving Italian food, and it is also a convenient choice for potlucks and picnics since it contains no mayonnaise and can be served cold right from the cooler. Marinated Green Beans is a garden-friendly recipe as well, as it is a perfect way to use some of the produce from a prolific green bean patch. I will say that I experimented with a number of commercially prepared and homemade vinaigrette dressings and I kept coming back to Olive Garden brand Italian dressing, but feel free to do your own experimenting. Enjoy!

Wash and snap one pound of green beans.
Combine dressing ingredients.
Boil green beans four minutes.
Drain.
Arrange cooked green beans in an air-tight container.
Add dressing and marinate at least two hours.
Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese and serve.

Marinated Green Beans

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. young slender green beans
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Dressing:

  • 2/3 cup Olive Garden Italian Dressing
  • 2 – 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • Dash cracked black pepper

Garnish:

  • 1 – 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

Directions

  1. Wash and drain green beans and snap off blossom ends (snap off tails if desired).
  2. Bring a quart of water to a boil in a medium pot; add salt; add prepared green beans and cover.
  3. Once pot returns to a boil, set timer for four minutes (Cook time depends on size of green beans. If beans are a little thicker, add another minute to the  cook time).
  4. Immediately plunge cooked green beans into very cold water to cool. Drain and set aside.
  5. Combine dressing ingredients and set aside.
  6. Arrange green beans in an air-tight container, drizzle dressing over beans, cover and refrigerate for at least two hours. (Swirl the beans around in the container from time to time while marinating). 
  7. To serve, arrange green beans on a platter draining away most of the dressing. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

Recipe Compliments of cookbooklady.com