Potato, Corn, and Green Bean Salad with Feta Cream and Herbs
Featuring peak season produce and a glorious late summer palette of emerald green beans, sunshine yellow corn kernels and tawny new potatoes, Potato, Corn, and Green Bean Salad with Feta Cream and Herbs makes for a satisfyingly succulent, tangy, and herbaceous dish for your lunch, dinner or picnic repast.
Servings: 6 4-6 servings depending on appetite and if this dish is part of a larger meal
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon sea salt to add to the water using for boiling
- 500 gms approx. whole baby or new potatoes yellow or gold varieties preferred, or if desired use larger potatoes, peeled and cut into smaller chunks
- 200 gms approx. green beans use “french” green beans if available
- 2 large cobs of fresh corn, shucked or 2 cups of corn kernels
- 1 cup labneh or thick Greek yogurt
- 1 cup feta
- ½ small clove garlic, minced
- Zest of one lemon
- A large handful of parsley leaves and stems included
- A large handful of dill fronds and tender stems included
- 3-4 tablespoon olive oil
- Juice of one lemon
- ¼ teaspoon nigella seeds
- ¼ teaspoon mild Turkish dried red pepper or other mild dried pepper flakes such as Korean Gochugaru or sweet paprika
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Fill a medium pot with water and stir in 1 tablespoon of sea salt. Set the pot on high heat and add the potatoes, leaving the unpeeled potatoes whole if small, or peel and cut larger potatoes in chunks if preferred. Boil the potatoes until almost fork tender.
- Add the green beans and boil for a final 2 minutes - if your green beans are quite thick or fibrous add them for a final 3 minutes. Drain the potatoes and green beans and set aside to cool - the residual heat will soften up the green beans a bit further so don’t worry if they are a touch too crisp at this point.
- Using the same pot filled again with fresh water (without salt), add the corn cobs and bring to a boil over high heat, cooking for 7-10 minutes depending on how toothsome you prefer your corn. Drain the corn and set the cobs aside to cool. It’s ok if the vegetables are still a bit warm once you begin to assemble the salad.
- While the vegetables are cooling, make the feta cream. Add the feta, labneh or Greek yogurt, and minced garlic to the bowl of a food processor, mini chopper, or bullet style blender and blend until quite smooth. Alternatively, if you don’t have any of these appliances, you can place the ingredients in a bowl and hand mash/mix. Add the lemon zest to the smooth mixture and gently incorporate with a flexible kitchen spatula as you scrape the mixture out onto your serving platter, making gentle mounds around the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Finely chop the leaves, fronds and stems of the herbs. Add into a large mixing bowl along with the olive oil and the lemon juice. Mix well, taste and add salt as needed, remembering that the feta cream will be somewhat salty.
- Use a corn zipper or knife to cut the corn kernels off of the cob, and place the cooled corn kernels, potatoes, and beans into the same bowl with the herb mixture and mix well.
- Mound the vegetable salad onto the feta cream, sprinkle with the nigella seeds and dried chilli flakes. Enjoy!