Papou's Fasoverakia (Green Beans)

Submitted by cbgreek

"I grew up watching my Papou make these every week! Even as a child I loved eating a big bowl of these green beans with crusty slices of my YiaYia's bread. When my Papou passed away at 99 (still cooking until the end!) I carried on the tradion of making this dish. For me and my family, this is the ultimate comfort food. You may believe the amount of olice oil is excessive, but I actually use more than I have indicated in the recipe- my family loves how it blends with the tomato and creates this magical sauce that makes you want to lick the plate clean!"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 40mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 2 lbs fresh green beans, whole and not french-ed
• 2 large sweet onions, cut into thick 1/2-inch slices
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced very thin
• 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 1 1⁄2 cups water
• 1⁄2 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt, add more as needed to taste
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

directions

1. Use a large stock pot or dutch oven, sautee onions over medium heat with the salt and pepper in 1/4 cup olive oil until onions just begin to soften- about 2-3 minutes.
2. Add garlic and potatoes and stir. Add the tomato sauce and water. Add the green beans last, stir all together until well mixed. Drizzle the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil on top.
3. Cook over medium -low heat, stirring every 15 minutes or so, until potatoes are fork tender and beans are soft. Add additional salt and pepper to taste.
4. This usually takes and hour and a half but I often lower the heat and leave the beans on for 2+ hours.
5. The beans are even better the next day- get out your bread, load up a bowl and enjoy yourself! Kali orexi!

Reviews

[Brian Holley]

This made a very pleasant change, and a nice way to cook potatoes. I used 1 tin of tomatoes and then blitzed them to made a sauce, added three tea spoons of tomato paste and a chicken stock cube. The olive oil was from our own olives so had a super flavour, none of that shop bought rubbish. We ate this with a ginger and soy steak, it went down well. You could also serve with fried chicken. I will be cooking this again it was so easy. Thanks for posting the recipe. Brian Holley

 

[LilPinkieJ]

This was very good. I found it to be a little on the bland side when it was nearly done, so I added some Greek oregano and some more salt. I only added 1/4 cup of the olive oil. I scooped out the beans and potatoes with a slotted spoon, then tossed some cooked wheat pasta into the leftover sauce. This was a good meal. Thanks. Made and Reviewed for PAC Fall 2008.