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green bean salad with caramelized cherry tomatoes

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Ingredients

for the tomatoes:

  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt, or to taste

for the dressing:

  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 small clove garlic, crushed through a press or finely minced

for the green beans and salad:

  • 16 to 18 ounces green beans, washed, dried, stemmed, and broken into pieces
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 to 6 ounces feta cheese

Instructions

  1. Roast the tomatoes: Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) convection.*
  2. Coat the tomatoes in olive oil and sprinkle evenly with salt.
  3. Spread the tomatoes out on a sheet pan,** and make sure they’re all facing cut-side up.
  4. Roast the tomatoes for 35 to 45 minutes, until the puddles of juice concentrate and become syrupy. Carefully lift them up with a spatula, and remove them to a salad bowl (but do not wash the pan!).
  5. Make the dressing: Whisk everything together until very well combined. Set aside.
  6. Roast the green beans and make the salad: Set the oven to broil. Coat the green beans in olive oil and sprinkle evenly with salt.
  7. Spread the green beans out on the sheet pan on top of all the caramelized tomato juices.
  8. Broil until blistered, a little charred, and somewhat softened (about 5 to 10 minutes, but it could be even less depending on your broiler).
  9. Momentarily toss the green beans in the (now slightly dissolved) tomato juices. I like to just run the spatula down the middle once or twice to coat them a little (but do not scrape up the tomato bits—they’re extremely strong, and you just want a light coating), and then empty them into the salad bowl.
  10. Crumble the feta into the salad bowl, drizzle with dressing, and gently toss everything together, just until combined (don’t over-mix or the tomatoes and feta will dissolve).

Notes

* If you don’t have a convection oven, they might take a little longer, and you might need to rotate them once halfway through.

** For the cleanest flavor, it’s best to use stainless steel instead of aluminum, but I often use aluminum and it turns out totally fine. There’s a good Cooks Illustrated Article on the subject.