Fresh Food Wednesday: Greek Garden Feast Recipe

I call this recipe Green Garden Feast because it has all the flavors of the garden and the Mediterranean.

 

Photo by Xandert, Morguefile.com license

My friend Helen is a wonderful cook. She shared a recipe that I’ve seen floating around Facebook that uses chicken breasts, potatoes and green beans sprinkled with Italian salad dressing to make a quick meal. I’ve been meaning to try it for several weeks now, but Hubby is fussy about meals, and I hate making a disappointing meal for him. So I decided that today would be ‘experiment’ day and I would make a few recipes I’ve collected to see which ones taste good. I had to tinker with the recipe. I tinkered so much that it’s a totally different recipe. And it came out great!The Back Story:  The Sad, Lonely Bottle of Greek Vinaigrette Salad Dressing  There’s always a story behind a story at my house, and this one is no exception. I tinkered with the original shared recipe simply to use up a bottle of Greek Vinaigrette salad dressing that neither my husband nor I could stand. Sure, it looked tasty in its fancy bottle on the grocery store shelf. Then I poured it onto a salad. And my taste buds flinched. It was sharp. Peppery, lemony, and with a lot of tarragon in it.  A lot. And more than a lot. Did I mention neither of us are big fans of tarragon?The bottle went back to the fridge, and there is stood sentinel amidst its more highly favored brothers of Thousand Island, Ranch, Blue Cheese and Italian dressing.The recipe I saw on my friend’s Facebook page called for a package of dried Italian salad dressing, the kind sold in envelopes that you mix with vinegar and water in a special cruet.  I decided to use plain old extra virgin olive oil and the rest of the Greek Vinaigrette dressing.The results were tasty, healthful, and used wonderful vegetables from the garden. I hope you like my new recipe, “Greek Garden Feast,” as much as I enjoyed making it!A Few Words on the IngredientsNot only did I have the bottle of Greek salad dressing lurking in the door of the fridge, I had two pints of canned potatoes in the cellar that needed to be used up.  I used one can of home-grown, home canned potatoes. If you do not have a similar item, you can use fresh potatoes from the garden. Rinse, peel and cube before using.The green beans were also from my garden and canned at home last year.  You can substitute low or no salt green beans from the market if you do not can your own green beans.Greek Garden FeastIngredients1 pint of potatoes OR 2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cubed1 can of green beans, rinsed and drainedHalf a can of chick peas, rinsed and drained1/4 cup of feta2 tablespoons Greek salad dressing (you can substitute Zesty Italian too)1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oilOven proof dish or casserole dish with a lidPreheat the oven to 375 degrees. In the dish, place a drizzle of olive oil on the bottom of the dish and swirl it so it coats the bottom. Place potatoes on one side and green beans on the other. Drizzle or sprinkle vegetables with salad dressing and remaining olive oil. Cover and cook 30 to 45 minutes. Add the chick peas during the last 5 minutes of cooking. When the potatoes are fork-tender, remove from the oven and place on dinner plate. Sprinkle with feta. Makes two portions of about 1- 2 cups.