‘fasolakia’ is one of the most tasteful, easy to make and nutritious summer foods in Greece. what is really common in my country, is for people to have their own kitchen garden, growing their own vegetables and herbs. I remember the one my grandparents used to have, a really big one, with all kinds of fresh vegetables and a big walnut tree. the beans were always heading to the sky as this one in Jack’s fairytale…

 the recipe

ingredients

• 1kgr. green beans
• 4 medium potatoes
• 200gr. red sauce
• 1 big onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 100gr. parsley
• 50ml. olive oil
• 300ml. lukewarm water
• salt & black pepper

directions

• Start with preparing the beans. Using a knife, cut the stalk and the edge of each beans. In practice, you should remove approximately 3cm length of both edges of each bean. If the beans are really long cut them in half.
• Wash them well with plenty of water and drain them.
• Peel the potatoes and wash them as well. Cut them in big pieces, size of an ice cube.
• Peel the onion and garlic and cut them in fine thin slices in a bowl. Then wash well the parsley and mince it in the same bowl.
• In a big deep pot add the olive oil and warm it in medium fire.
• When the oil is ready add the onion, garlic and parsley and steer for some seconds. After 5′ add the beans, potatoes, red sauce, salt and pepper and mix well.
• Finally add the lukewarm water, cover the pot and cook it for 35′-40′. Make sure that after the first 20′ of cooking, you taste the sauce and correct accordingly with salt and pepper and add some extra water if needed. In the end you should have a nice sauce with your beans.
• When ready serve with some Feta cheese, fresh crispy bread and a glass of red dry wine and..

Enjoy!

Tip!

This dish is also delicious if you decide to eat it cold (room temperature) the next day! In fact, it’s this type of food that when served after one day the taste is more mature, the flavors are nicely bonded with each other and seems more balanced!