I am very keen on the whole family eating together and of course eating the same thing,  I might have mentioned before that I am not a big fan of “kid’s food” and who needs it. Be adventurous, there are so many delicious things to try and honestly who wants the headache of cooking lots of different dishes?  That said, it is not always plain sailing to keep the customers happy.  One of my children is currently off pasta, rice (except Paella – how does that work?) and sausages, neither like mashed potato and the other doesn’t really go a bundle on many vegetables.  I am nothing if not determined however and this salad suits everyone.

The crisp beans with sweet tomatoes and salty feta go together unbelievably well. I can’t quite say perfect marriage, too many contenders but that sort of thing.   My daughter loves the beans because of the garlicky dressing and the feta (but not the tomatoes), my son loves the beans and tomatoes (but not the feta) and I love it because the bowl is always empty.  I often serve this with roast chicken or lamb and it is one of the sides I am most likely to make to go with a barbecue.   It is a perfect solitary lunch or supper, quick, easy (so simple I am almost embarrassed to put it up as a recipe) and cheap too.

A twist on this and particularly good with chicken or fish is to lose the feta and have loads of garlic, lemon (zest and juice) and parsley or dill along with some black olives.  I do alter the components depending on who is eating the salad and would usually add olives the version you see in the photograph.

I served this, as you can see in the picture, with some focaccia which is simply the wild garlic one I wrote about in May but now that the wild garlic is over I use a regular good olive oil on its own but you could easily whizz up some other herbs if you like.

Green Beans with Tomatoes and Feta

250-300g green beans, topped and tailed

A large handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

75g feta, cubed

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 clove garlic, crushed

Cook the beans until just tender.  Mix the oil, vinegar and garlic in a bowl with a little salt (remember the feta is salty) and pepper then add the beans and turn them well in the dressing, put in the tomatoes and feta and mix gently until just coated.  Taste, you may want to add a little more seasoning.  Serves 4.