Green Bean Salad with Hearts of Palm, Olives, Red Pepper, and Feta

Ingredients

• 1 lb. fresh green beans, preferably French green beans
• 1-2 cups sliced hearts of palm
• 3/4 cup Kalamata olives or black olives, drained and sliced in half
• 1 cup roasted red bell pepper from a jar, diced in pieces about 3/8 inch square
• 1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese
• fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1 T balsamic vinegar
• 2 T fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 1-2 T chopped fresh oregano
• 1-2 T chopped fresh basil

Directions

Trim ends from green beans. (I do this by gathering a handful, then standing them up on the cutting board while holding loosely so the beans all line up, then trimming the ends. Turn over and repeat with the other end.)Cut beans into pieces about 2 inches long.Steam beans using a steamer insert in a large pot with a tight-fitting lid or an electric vegetable steamer until they’re barely tender-crisp. I steamed mine 7 minutes; I would check at that point to see if they’re as done as you prefer as I like to keep the beans quite crisp.When beans are as tender as you’d like them, remove from steamer and plunge immediately into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.Remove beans to colander and let them cool and drain about 15 minutes, then spread beans out on paper towels and blot dry.While beans cook, drain and slice the hearts of palm, drain and chop red peppers, drain olives and cut in half, and measure out the Feta.Combine balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, lemon zest, chopped fresh oregano and chopped fresh basil and process until herbs are very finely chopped and dressing is mixed well. (I did this in the small bowl chopper attachment of my immersion blender with a bowl attachment, which worked great but you can also use a food processor.)To assemble the salad, combine the drained beans with sliced hearts of palm, olive halves, and chopped red pepper.Add as much dressing as needed to moisten salad and combine gently. (You may not need all the dressing.)Add feta cheese and stir enough to barely mix in feta.Grind over some black pepper and serve immediately.This will keep for several days in the refrigerator, but bring to room temperature before serving the leftovers.