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

Directions

Trim ends from green beans. 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. 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. 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.