bold green beans

When I get green beans, I usually end up making my usual snacking lemon-garlic beans. I LOVE them so much that I'm starting to see green beans in a one-track kind of light. When I got some beautiful, crazy long (but not Asian long) green beans in my CSA share, I tried something new. I still wanted that zing and that bite that my dream beans give me, but I wanted some new flavours. Let me introduce you to these bold babies. They are perfect. Crunchy from a quick steam and a toss of sauteed walnuts and they also have power, thanks to garlic and ginger. For the recipe, you'll have to head over to Poppytalk and get it there.

Want more green bean recipes from my archives?
Green Bean Bundles
Green Beans & Tofu in a Thai Coconut Sauce
Green Bean Quinoa Salad
Colourful Chopped Vegetable Salad
Pasta Primavera

finger foods for a crowd: goat cheese stuffed dates & green bean/asparagus bundles

Last week, my mother-in-law asked if I wouldn't mind making some appetizers as she was having a garden party to launch her latest book. Although I responded enthusiastically, I was a bit worried since I don't really have much experience making finger foods en masse. While I did make much of the food for our wedding 3 years ago, the day was such a gloriously happy blur that I can't really remember much of it at all! So I did a bit of research and figured out a few things that would be cost effective and easy to prep and that would be a bit different than the cheese and fruit plates that would already be there.

The goat cheese stuffed dates were made the day before the party and the green bean and asparagus bundles the next morning before the party. They weren't labour intensive and were actually fun to put together with my stereo turned up loud. But really, the main question was how did the garden party ladies like the appetizers? Well, let's just say that they were quickly gobbled up and everything got rave reviews.

For the westfalian ham wraps, I do include a balsamic glaze that can be drizzled over the bundles. While I did prepare the glaze, I accidentally left it sitting on our kitchen table and only realized that I had forgotten to bring it along when we were well into the suburbs. Oops! The bundles were really tasty plain but I can only imagine that they'd be spectacular with that little drizzle of tangy-sweet goodness. For the recipes below I do use the measurements used for the garden party, but these would be really quite simple to scale down for a small dinner party.

lemon & goat cheese stuffed dates
1 large log of creamy goat cheese, room temperature
2 boxes of fresh dates
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 c roasted pecans, roughly chopped

Pit the dates and don't worry about the fibrous insides...that's just how dates are. In a medium sized bowl, mash up the goat cheese and the lemon zest together and start stuffing about a teaspoon (or a bit less) into each date. Arrange stuffed dates on a platter and sprinkle with the roasted pecans.

asparagus & green bean bundles
4 bundles of asparagus
2 lbs fresh green beans
1 large Costco-sized package of westfalian ham or prosciutto*
freshly ground pepper
1/2 c balsamic vinegar (optional)

In batches, steam the asparagus until bright green and still crisp, about 3-4 minutes. Cool immediately in a separate bowl filled with ice water. Drain and repeat with the process with the remaining asparagus and green beans. You may only need to steam the green beans for 2-3 minutes.

Wrap the ham around bundles of 2 stems of asparagus or 3 green beans until you have pretty looking bunches. Grind some black pepper over top and plate or set aside in refrigerator.

Reduce the balsamic vinegar in a small pot until it has become a little bit syrupy and reduced by almost half. Drizzle over asparagus and green bean bundles and serve.

* If your ham is quite wide, you can slice in half lengthwise. This is not only thrifty since you'll end up using less ham but a thinner ribbon looks nicer wrapped around the greens.

the secret of great tofu: green beans & tofu in a thai coconut sauce

I have finally discovered the secret to really great tofu. I mean, I have no qualms with tofu. I love it and have gotten well past that old teenage habit of flinching when my mom would hide tofu in lasagna. But this weekend, I figured out how to make tofu awesome and it involves just 2 simple steps.

One, press the tofu. I know, I've seen recipes that say, "press tofu", but have casually ignored that step. I thought I it was just something recipes said that I could easily bypass, which I did for years and years. A few times I have frozen tofu and then crumbled it which gives it a different texture but I didn't think that pressing that white block of soy could have such wonderful effects. Boy, was I wrong! And the pressing was easy too....it just required a little forethought. I wrapped the tofu in a clean kitchen towel, set it on a plate and then put my heavy cast iron fry pan over top. I also put my half-full kettle on top of the pan for extra heavy pressing. Worked like a charm. When I cut up the tofu into cubes and then gave it a quick marinade in soy sauce, sesame oil, red chilis, garlic and ginger, all of that liquid got quickly sucked into the tofu. Mmmm, can you say, instant flavour?


The second step for great tofu is tossing the flavour-soaked cubes with cornstarch before frying. This magical step achieves the hard-to-come-by dream of crisp, golden tofu. Just add a bit of oil to a cast iron pan or wok and, whoop, there it is. For years and years, I have just always sauteed my tofu without coating it...trying to let it's own glory shine. Didn't work the way I wanted it to, but throwing the tofu into a bag with a few spoonfuls of cornstarch? Magic, I tell ya!


So what did I do with this golden, dreamy tofu? I set it aside and put some green beans that I had picked up at the market earlier that day to good use. I roasted them quickly with similar flavours that I had marinated the tofu. Meanwhile, I stir fried some red peppers and then when the beans were nice and caramelized and just starting to wrinkle, I popped that into the pan too. Next, I mixed up some spices, a couple of spoonfuls of chili-garlic sauce and half a can of light coconut milk and threw that in as well with a bit of freshly squeezed lime juice near the end. Mix in the tofu and stir to coat, serve on top of brown Jasmine rice and dinner is served.

The thing about this recipe, is that I've gathered it in 3 parts, so if you want to make just the tofu, go ahead and skip the rest. Take that golden fried tofu and sprinkle it with kosher salt and cayenne pepper and man, you've got something good. Same with the green beans. Get them roasted and wrinkly and spicy and they'll make a lovely side dish. Or go whole hog (it doesn't take much time-wise) and mix everything up into one tasty dish.


green beans & tofu in a thai coconut sauce
1 block organic tofu, pressed and cubed
2 T soy sauce
1 t toasted sesame oil
1 t minced ginger
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 t red dried chili flakes
3 - 4 T cornstarch
2 T vegetable oil

Marinate the tofu in the soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and dried chili flakes for 15 minutes or until the tofu has soaked up most of the liquid. Reserve any liquid and extra chili, garlic and ginger for the stir fry. Add tofu to a bag containing the cornstarch and toss until cubes are coated. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large pan or a wok and fry up cubes until golden. Set aside.

1 lb green beans, rinsed & trimmed
2 T soy sauce
1 t sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t ginger, minced
1 t sriracha

Toss the beans in the ingredients and roast on a shallow baking tray for 15 - 20 minutes in a hot oven. Remove from oven once the beans become fragrant and have caramelized and just started to wrinkle.

1 large red pepper, sliced
2 large shallots, diced
1 T vegetable oil
2 T chili garlic sauce
1/2 can of light coconut milk
1/2 t Thai red curry paste (optional)
1 T soy sauce (plus any remaining liquid, etc. from the tofu marinade)
juice of 1/2 lime

In the same pan as you prepared the tofu, heat up oil and add in the red pepper and shallots. Once they get slightly wilted, add in green beans. Stir together the coconut milk, curry paste (if using), chili garlic sauce and soy sauce together and pour over the vegetables. Stir fry until sauce reduces and thickens, add the tofu, stirring everything until well coated with sauce. Squeeze in some lime juice, stir and then serve over rice.

c'mon summer

After a week of summer weather, it seemed Vancouver didn't want to cooperate with the season and grey skies, rain and cool weather arrived again. I don't mean to be pushy, but dammit, let's get on with summer already! This morning does seem to be warming up and I see blue skies and the sun peeking out, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. But maybe I'll have to chant some kind of mantra over and over again: c'monsummerc'monsummerc'monsummerc'monsummer....

Last week when it was warm outside, we ate this meal out on our balcony with a couple of icy cold beers. A cold salad dressed with a tart lemony dressing, chock full of green beans and fresh garden herbs...it seemed like there was no question about it: summer was here to stay. I'm hoping that by adding this recipe to my archives, summer will stay put.

And if you are spending your summer reading fashion & lifestyle magazines by the pool, be sure to check out the July issue of Chatelaine magazine (a popular Canadian mag). I was recently interviewed (briefly) by one of their writers about How to Start a Blog. Check it out!

green bean quinoa salad
1 c quinoa
2 c vegetable stock
3 c green beans, trimmed and cut into bite sized peices
1/2 red onion, diced
1 c fresh corn or thawed frozen corn
handfuls of fresh chives & parsley, chopped
1 lemon, juiced & zested
1/2 c olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
salt & pepper
1/2 c feta cheese, crumbled

1. In a dry pan, toast the quinoa until it gets golden and start to jump around. Remove from heat and rinse well under cold water. Meanwhile, in a medium sized pot, add the stock and bring to a boil. Add the rinsed quinoa to the stock and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the quinoa is dry and fluffy.

2. In another pot, steam the green beans until bright green but still crisp. Rinse well under cold water to prevent further cooking.

3. Mix the lemon juice, zest, garlic, olive oil, salt & pepper into a dressing. Place the quinoa, green beans, corn, red onion and fresh herbs into a serving bowl and toss with the dressing. Chill until cool. Garnish with crumbled feta cheese.

southern hospitality

Last night I felt inspired enough to make an entire meal with drinks, a main course, a couple of sides and a dessert. It even had a Southern theme! Unfortunately, my camera died before I could take a photo of everything plated, but rest assured, it was a sight to behold. Truely.

The first undertaking was drinks and since it was a southern meal, I decided to make some lemon iced tea. I don't like to add a lot of sugar, so please adjust to your own taste buds.

lemon ice tea

• I set my kettle to boil
• put 2 orange pekoe tea bags in my pitcher
• added the juice of 2 lemons and the hollowed out lemon carcasses (for extra lemony flavour, dontcha know)
• dumped in a 1/4 c of white sugar and poured the boiling water over the whole lot. I topped up the pitcher with cold water and stirred everything around. When the tea bags had finished their steep, I removed them from the pitcher and just let the mixture cool on the counter before refrigerating

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With my drinks taken care of, I was onto part two of this southern feast:

pulled pork sandwiches
I didn't really know what I was doing since I came up with this one on the fly, but it turned out nicely. Cornelius commented that this tasted like real barbeque, so I think I did good.

I took a pork loin and marinated it with a lot of crushed garlic, some chipotle powder, cumin, mexican chili powder, dried thyme and a bit of salt. After a couple hours of fridge-sitting, I popped the entire thing into a small covered roasting pan and into the oven for about an hour at 450 degrees. I then mixed together some ketchup, yellow mustard, honey, brown sugar, worchestershire sauce, cider vinegar and some xxx hot sauce and poured it over the pork. I dropped the oven temperature to 350 degrees and cooked it for half an hour before taking it out of the oven and shredding it all together into one big shredded porky mess of tasty goodness. Back in the oven for another half hour before we served this on whole wheat hot dogs buns (seriously, it was all we had & the meal didn't suffer from it one bit).
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I figured a potato salad was in order and I wanted something nice and light tasting. I had bought a whole wack of lemons (14 for $2) earlier in the day, so I figured I'd make up a lemon vinegrette and see what would come of that. The results? So fresh and tasty that the world "incredible" came up more than once.

incredible lemony potato salad
6 small yukon gold potatoes in their skins
2 stalks of celery with leaves, diced and leaves roughly chopped
1 large lemon, juiced and zested
1/4 c olive oil
1 t honey (or white sugar, if vegan)
1 t dijon mustard
1 small bunch of basil, torn
1 T capers
pepper and rock salt

1. Boil potatoes whole in their skins until done. Cool slightly and cut into large cubes. Place in bowl. Add chopped celery.

2. Mix together lemon juice, olive oil, honey and dijon into a dressing and pour over potatoes.

3. Tear basil leaves over top of salad. Add capers, lemon zest, freshly ground pepper and rock salt. Mix. Cool in fridge until ready to serve.
...

I've posted this recipe before, but it's so good that I have to post it again. An Everybody Likes Sandwiches first. It's that good. Actually, this time I used less lemons (last time I used 2), but even with just 1 fat lemon it was all good. It's the perfect snack or side dish for hot weather because these beans are eaten icy cold so it's the perfect foil for the heat of summertime.

Lemony-Garlicy Green Beans
1 lb of fresh green beans, trimmed
2 cloves of garlic, minced (1 clove if you aren't among friends)
1 fat lemon, juiced
2-3 T of olive oil
rock salt

1. Steam the green beans until bright green and crisp. You don't want to over cook these. Crisp = delicous! Drain and rinse in cold-cold water. At this point, I put the beans in the freezer just to get extra cold while I mixed the dressing.

2. For the dressing, mix the garlic, lemon juice and olive oil together. Transfer beans into a nice serving dish and pour dressing over top. Return to the fridge for extra coldness. Sprinkle generously with rock salt and serve. It's better than chips. Seriously.
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Okay, I lied about making dessert. I was fully planning on making a rhubarb and strawberry cobbler but after such a feast, Cornelius and I decided that adding dessert would be way too much. So we played board games and sipped homemade ice tea instead. I think we made the smart choice. The rhubarb can wait another day.

easy peasy snacks

Last night we had some friends over. They brought over the 1958 Newport Beach Jazz Festival dvd and the Monterrey Pop Festival dvd. We promised them snacks. Because it's been so hot, I didn't really want to do any serious cooking or baking, so I came up with 2 tasty and super-easy snacks.

Snack no.1: Popsicles
Start this one early in the day, so you can eat them by nightfall. In a blender, put in the following: a handful of frozen strawberries, homemade lemonade to cover berries and then some, and 2-3 tablespoons of vanilla yoghurt. Blend at high speed until mixed. You may have to add some more lemonade if it's too thick. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze. Ultra delicious.


*note: You can substitute any kind of berry or juice to this "recipe". I've made it with orange juice, cranberry juice, pineapple juice, etc. and have used blueberries, black berries, bananas (for cornelius only, cuz i hate them!), or peaches.

Snack no. 2: Lemony-Garlicy Green Beans
1 lb of fresh green beans, trimmed
2 cloves of garlic, minced (1 clove if you aren't among friends)
2 lemons, juiced
2-3 T of olive oil
rock salt

Steam the green beans until bright green and crisp. You don't want to over cook these. Crisp = delicous! Drain and rinse in cold-cold water. At this point, I put the beans in the freezer just to get extra cold while I mixed the dressing. For the dressing, mix the garlic, lemon juice and olive oil together. Transfer beans into a nice serving dish and pour dressing over top. I tossed the beans and the dressing together with my hands. Sprinkle generously with rock salt and serve. It's better than chips. Seriously.


* these are the left over beans from last night. the lemon juice "cooked" them so they aren't so crisp or green, but they still are tasty! also, you may find them too lemoney, and if so, cut down on the lemon juice.