Chimichurri Grilled Green Beans

I love dishes that look fancy, are full of flavor, but don’t take a ton of time. Remember that old cooking show, “Semi Homemade,” that’s sort of how I enjoy cooking – especially after a long day of baking (insert shameless 3 Monkeys Macaroons plug here) and schlepping kids and I’m not even sure what I’m doing half the time but somehow the day. just. goes!!! Thankfully, so many brands make incredible sauces and marinades that make it so easy to cook delicious food at home in a pinch. One of those brands is Haven’s Kitchen (I already referenced their Chimichurri sauce in the the Chicken Thighs One Million Ways recipe.)

Living in New York City, without outdoor space, I have come to appreciate my grill pan. It’s totally, without a doubt, not even close to having a real BBQ, but it can still give a great char to proteins and vegetables. For this dish, I use the pre-snipped Green Beans because there isn’t enough hours in the day to do annoying, time-sucking things that Whole Foods can do for me. I spray my grill pan with Olive Oil Spray and let it get smoking smoking hot over high heat. I throw on the green beans and DO NOT TOUCH THEM for 4 minutes. I find the more you toss the green beans the less of a distinguished char you get. After I toss them using a wooden spoon, I then season the green beans with salt, pepper, garlic powder and ginger powder. Allow the green beans to grill for another 4 minutes and then continue to toss and grill for a few-minute increments until the beans are evenly charred and easy to bite through.

That’s basically it. Honestly, on a warm summer day, I would do this outside on the BBQ and just finish them with a squeeze of lemon juice and maybe a drizzle of truffle honey. Many times I have tossed them in my favorite pesto sauce, which is equally easy and delicious because IT’S PESTO! Yum! But for this recipe, I tossed the beans with feta cheese and Haven’s Kitchen Chimichurri. It has a very herbaceous flavor and the oily nature of this sauce really coats the green beans in tremendous flavor. I like tossing the beans with the feta while they are still piping hot so the feta warms a bit and gets a melty, creamier texture to it. If you want to make this dish totally vegan, swap the feta cheese for Violife Just Like Feta which is another one of my favorite things lately.