Greek green beans with tomato and garlic

Eat like a Greek during a heatwave

I’ve been meaning to share this little gem of a recipe for quite some years now, but somehow, I never got around to it.

This is simple Greek cooking at its finest, and a dish made for weather like this. I’m not sure what it’s like where you are, but here in the Netherlands we’re absolutely sweltering. I picked my son up from school yesterday and the car thermometer hit 44°C! For a moment, I felt like I was back home in Athens. It’s crazy!

Some might call this a salad, but I consider it a proper main, especially when I pair it with a generous chunk of cheese. I usually go for Greek fresh mizithra (goat’s and/or sheep’s whey cheese) but a semi-hard sheep’s milk Graviera works beautifully too. Add a couple of slices of decent sourdough with a good crust for mopping up all those glorious tomato and olive oil juices, papara-style, which is the bit we all secretly look forward to, and you’ve got yourself something special.

When I’m back home in Greece, I make this with a lovely, aromatic variety of green beans called τσαουλιά (tsaoulia). Over here, I use standard green beans (sperziebonen in Dutch), haricot verts (French green beans that are thinner and have a robust flavor) or those wonderfully long green beans–yardlong or asparagus beans (αμπελοφάσουλα/abelofasoula in Greek). Any of them will do. Just go with whatever is most fresh and in season.

Greek green beans with tomato and garlic

This is a simple yet not simplistic dish and its flavor depends largely on the quality of the ingredients used.

Choose the juiciest, most ripe tomatoes, the freshest green beans, the best tasting garlic, and of course Greek extra virgin olive oil, which is the best in the world in my opinion.

Below, I’m including a guide on how to choose green beans.