This recipe is my own contrivance, based on the mustard vinaigrette-dressed versions I loved in France and updated with Provençal elements: tapenade and herbes de Provence. I love the earthy, tangy addition of tapenade, and Trader Joe’s makes it easy with their very good version. They sell several types, and any will work for this recipe.

I always use the delicate haricots verts for this dish, but I can’t see why it wouldn’t also work with ordinary green beans.

The quantities listed here are approximate; add more or less, as your taste dictates! I reverse-engineered this recipe from the quantities I use for our Common Table version, which feeds 45 or so.

Ingredients – dressing

• 1/3 – 1/2 cup tapenade
• 1/2 t dried herbes de Provence (or substitute 2 T fresh thyme)
• 1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 T whole-grain mustard
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste

ingredients – salad

• 2 lbs. waxy potatoes (red or yellow), washed and cut into 3/4-inch dice
• 1/2 package haricot verts (French-style green beans), washed and cut into halves or thirds (bite-size)
• 1 red onion, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced

preparation

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Taste and adjust seasoning. Set aside.
2. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes and simmer until they reach the desired tenderness. Drain well and place in a large bowl.
3. Bring another large pot of well-salted water to a full boil. Add the green beans and cook for two minutes. Rinse the beans in cold water to stop the cooking process. Then drain them well and add to the potatoes.
4. Add the chopped celery and red onion.
5. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and stir gently but well. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
6. Serve at room temperature or cold.

notes

I discovered that cutting up the potatoes before cooking them — rather than after — means that they hold their shape much better. Cutting up the cooked potatoes makes for a mushier dish, which is not necessarily a bad thing! The ideal might be to cook just a couple of potatoes whole and then cut them up, so that they bind the ingredients together a bit better. I haven’t yet tried this… maybe next time.

For A Common Table, we use 10 pounds of potatoes, and one large (from Costco) and one small (from Trader Joe’s) bag of haricots verts, plus 1-2 large red onions and a head of celery. For the dressing, we start with 3 jars of tapenade and built up from there with the other ingredients.