Fasolakia Lathera Recipe (Greek Green Beans in Tomato and Olive Oil)

Fasolakia lathera is one of the clearest examples of what ladera cooking actually is: green beans, simmered for a genuinely long time in a generous amount of olive oil and tomato until they have gone completely soft, well past the point most other cuisines would consider a green bean done, and the oil itself has become part of a thick, rich sauce.

This is deliberate rather than an oversight. A ladera green bean is meant to be tender all the way through, having absorbed the tomato and oil fully, not crisp or al dente, and judging the dish by the standards of a quickly blanched green bean side misses the entire point of the method.

It appears constantly through Greek summer, when green beans and tomatoes are both at their best, and it is eaten as a genuine light main course with bread and feta as often as a side to grilled meat.

Key preparation steps

1. Trim green beans and cut potato into chunks.
2. Cook onion and garlic gently in a generous amount of olive oil.
3. Add the beans, potato and tomato, and simmer slowly until completely tender.
4. Cook uncovered towards the end so the sauce thickens properly.

Why so much olive oil

Ladera dishes use a genuinely generous quantity of olive oil, far more than most cooking would call for, because the oil is not simply a cooking medium here, it becomes the body of the sauce itself once it has simmered together with the tomato and vegetables for the better part of an hour. Skimping on the oil produces a thinner, less rich result that is not really the same dish.

Building the base

Cook chopped onion gently in the olive oil until soft, then add garlic and, if using, a potato cut into chunks, which bulks out the dish and soaks up the tomato sauce just as well as the beans do. Trim the green beans, removing the tough ends, and leave them whole or halve them depending on their size.

The long, slow simmer

Add the tomatoes, a little sugar to balance any sharpness, and enough water to almost cover everything, then simmer gently, covered, for thirty to forty minutes, until the beans are completely soft rather than merely cooked through. Towards the end, remove the lid and let the sauce reduce and thicken properly, which is the finishing touch that separates a good fasolakia from a watery one.

Resist the urge to test doneness the way you would for a quickly blanched bean. It should give easily and taste fully cooked through, with no raw bite left at all.

Tips from my kitchen