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You are here: Home / Recipes / Vegetable side dishes / Runner bean and feta gratin

Runner bean and feta gratin

by Jeanne Horak on October 6, 2010 18 Comments in Vegetable side dishes, Vegetarian

RunnerBeanGratin © J Horak-Druiff 2010

Ah, October.  How did you swing around again so fast?

October is…

… the 10th month in the Gregorian calendar (which we use today) but was the eighth month in the Roman calendar, hence the “oct” part of its name.

… the month in which we celebrate St Crispin’s Day (patron saint of shoemakers)

… is the month in which daylight saving time ends in the UK and we revert to Greenwich Mean Time

… has the opal and the tourmaline as its birthstones

… begins in the starsign Libra and ends in Scoprio

… is the birthday month of (among others) Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu; actresses Susan Sarandon, Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Fisher; actors Chevy Chase, Roger Moore and John Lithgow; and musicians Sting, Paul Simon and Simon le Bon.

It’s also the month when anybody in the Northern hemisphere with a vegetable garden loses the will to live when faced with another batch of runner beans.  You’ve steamed them, boiled them, made runner bean stir-fry, put them in casseroles and salads, and made runner bean soup with them.  And still, they come.

Now what??

I’ll tell you now what – make runner bean and feta gratin with them.  It takes almost no time or effort, and it’s tasty enough to tempt even fussy eaters (the crispy cheesy crust makes them forget that they are eating greens, heh heh).  Think of it as my gift to everyone with an over-abundance of runner beans!

RunnerbeanGratin2

RUNNER BEAN AND FETA GRATIN (serves 2-3)

Ingredients:

about 2 cups runner beans, washed and chopped into 1 inch lengths
100 ml cream (I used double cream)
100g feta cheese
about 1/2 a cup of breadcrumbs

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

Steam or microwave the beans until just tender.  Place them in a shallow oven-proof dish.  Pour the cream over the beans and season with salt and pepper.  Top with crumbled feta and breadcrumbs and bake for about 20 minutes until the cream has thickened and the breadcrumbs form a golden crust.

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  1. nina says

    October 6, 2010 at 3:33 pm

    You have too many and I cannot seem to get them growing in my garden!!! Love the gratin idea though!!

    Reply
  2. Antonia says

    October 6, 2010 at 7:18 pm

    Runner beans are one of my favourite veg so do send a few my way if you have too many (!) This gratin looks so delicious though – I can imagine the feta works really well here.

    Reply
  3. Sally - My Custard Pie says

    October 7, 2010 at 5:19 am

    How lucky you are. It’s a vegetable that has to be eaten fresh from the garden in my opinion.

    Reply
  4. Firefly says

    October 7, 2010 at 7:28 am

    Very unusual looking.

    Reply
  5. meeta says

    October 7, 2010 at 8:43 am

    Oh i really like the idea – i am usually at a loss with runner beans but i love the pairing with feta here! yum!

    Reply
  6. Jan says

    October 7, 2010 at 10:04 am

    LOVE the feta idea – looks delish!

    Reply
  7. bellini valli says

    October 7, 2010 at 2:37 pm

    Scarlet runner beans would still have been climbing up the deck at the house this time of year. The hummingbirds would be headed to Mexico but we could still enjoy beans.

    Reply
  8. Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

    October 8, 2010 at 2:34 pm

    We don’t have any this year but I know that feeling well! This is a very imaginative way to use them.

    Reply
  9. norma says

    October 8, 2010 at 5:31 pm

    The only thing I grow in my apartment in Manhattan is dust.
    Great recipe. I am doing a Greek theme tonight. Too bad I saw this after I bought all my veggies. I have a big chunk of feta at home.
    Have a wonderful weekend

    Reply
  10. Free Recipes Online says

    October 8, 2010 at 8:11 pm

    Oh yes I can’t wait to try this one out for myself. It looks so so good to me. Ok let me calm down. LOL

    Reply
  11. joey says

    October 9, 2010 at 2:01 am

    October is my favorite month of the year…because I also celebrate my birthday during 🙂 🙂 Unfortunately, I have no garden…an overabundance of anything would be lovely! Especially if it results in a tasty gratin like this!

    Reply
  12. deeba says

    October 10, 2010 at 3:39 am

    Thank you, thank you, thank you …. another great way to get the beans ‘running’ to the kids. I love how this gratin looks.

    Reply
  13. Soma says

    October 12, 2010 at 12:31 am

    I love the runner beans. A simple beautiful dish. I would never have thought to do something like this with beans.

    Reply
  14. Sebastian says

    October 12, 2010 at 11:05 pm

    You know – this looks soo good, unfortunately I cant have the cream but I am guessing that i could do this with Quark(fat free substitute) and see how it goes. I wonder if mine will look as good as yours does though??

    Reply
  15. Jamie says

    October 13, 2010 at 9:08 am

    Wow this is so simple but looks so delicious and luscious! Husband loves beans like this and I love feta (and easy peasy recipes) so this is so perfect for us! And patron saint of shoemakers? So this month we have to go out and buy handmade shoes?

    Reply
  16. Erin says

    October 14, 2010 at 2:43 pm

    This looks delicious! I haven’t had feta is far too long, I think I may have to change that.
    I love your serving spoon, it reminds me of my great-grandmother’s silver.

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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