Thursday evenings are exhausting. Partly because we are at the tail end of the school week and partly because of after school swimming. Combine damp towels, tired children, bags galore, a couple of instruments and rumbling tummies and we have a recipe for an emotional evening. 

To ease the load and my stress levels  I have found it essential to be ultra organised when it comes to dinner. By cooking ahead of time, dinner becomes a quick exercise in boiling up pasta, warming the already home cooked and refrigerated sauce and blanching the veggies. All this can be done while the children shower, snuggle up into their pyjamas and set the table eager to eat.

This evening I served up a Warm Green Bean Salad with Ravioli Bolognese. I had purchased several boxes of silky spinach and ricotta ravioli from the Norton Street Grocer in Leichhardt earlier in the week and popped them into the freezer ready for this evening’s meal. The sauce – My Super Tasty Bolognese recipe published on the 13th May – was slowly simmered in my oven earlier in the day (this can also be done the day or evening prior). Lovely long green beans were topped and tailed and set aside with the dressing then simply blanched in boiling water for four minutes while the ravioli was cooking. 

My recipe for Super Tasty Bolognese is versatile and generous. It can be served with spaghetti, macaroni, gnocchi or spooned into taco shells or over golden polenta. It also makes an ideal school lunch option which can be scooped easily out of a Thermos by school kids keen to get back in the playground.  

Warm Green Bean Salad to serve 8 people
The quantities can be halved if cooking for a smaller number of people. 

Ingredients
1 kg of fresh young, green beans – washed, topped and tailed. 
sea salt to taste
ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
50 g feta – I used Dodoni Greek feta because my family likes the sharp flavour but the choice of feta is entirely personal. Creamy Danish style feta also works well. 

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and carefully drop in all of the beans. Keep an eye on the time, cooking them for only 4 minutes. Any longer and they will become limp and unappetising. 

In the meantime combine all the other ingredients (with the exception of the feta) in a small jar and shake to combine.

Once the 4 minutes are up, drain the beans in a colander and tip into a serving bowl. 

Drizzle immediately with the other ingredients and toss through. 

Crumble the feta over the top and serve.