Roasted Potato, Tomato and Green Bean Salad

I have a lot to learn when it comes to gardening.

Like how many tomatoes we’ll actually have if we plant 25 plants. Or how many ears of corn we’ll get from 4 rows. And how many zucchini keep popping up after I think the plants are done producing.

All these things that keep my kitchen counter covered in vegetables. The porch, ice tub, and mail bin full of that day’s harvest….I hope, by next summer, that this will happen again.

Maybe next year I’ll expect it and won’t be so surprised. I doubt that will happen, but I’d like to think that the more I do this, the more I’ll know what I’m getting myself into.

The green beans are taking over again.

I thought – naively – that our green beans were done. Over. No more for this year, happy we canned 15 jars, ate a ton, and gave some away.

The garden, and those lush and lovely rows of green beans, decided to laugh right in my face.

Seems as though our dirt is pretty good ‘round these parts because in the past two nights, Nick has picked another 15-20 cups of green beans.

I’m pretty sure I know what my weekend will look like. I see a green bean covered kitchen and another date with the pressure cooker.

But besides putting more green beans away for winter, I have had fun coming up with new ways to whittle down the pile of beans in the house.

This salad was a last minute thought, a way to use up the last (or what I thought was the last) of our green beans a week or so ago.

Our first few tomatoes were soft and ripe, the cilantro bright, the green beans snappy.

Tossed together with some garlic and smoked paprika roasted yukon gold potatoes and olive oil, this take on potato salad is the perfect way to celebrate everything about summer.

Even if you have to make it again a week later.

Roasted Potato, Tomato and Green Bean Salad

Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed and diced
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 5 roma tomatoes, halved
• 2 cups fresh green beans, trimmed
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
• 2 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Toss diced potatoes with olive oil, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
3. Place in a single layer on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
4. Roast at 425 for 25-30 minutes.
5. Place halved tomatoes on baking sheet with potatoes, drizzle with a little oil, salt, and pepper, and return baking sheet to the oven.
6. Cook the potatoes and tomatoes for 10 minutes. Remove from oven.
7. While potatoes and tomatoes are in the oven, bring a pot of water to a boil.
8. Add green beans and cook, 3-4 minutes, until bright green and crisp-tender.
9. Remove green beans and place in a bowl.
10. Toss green beans with potatoes, tomatoes, cilantro, and oil.
11. Serve warm or room temperature.