Ellie’s Green Bean Salad

There was a time when my family lived on green beans. 

We first began focusing on eating local, seasonal foods when we lived in Atlanta, Georgia.  The local food scene in Atlanta was in its beginning stages and we enjoyed the fledgling farmers’ markets that began popping up around town and meeting the new farmers. 

For some reason during much of the year one of the only reliable local crops was green beans.  Not just during the extremely hot and humid summer, but during most of the year.  Thus we would buy and eat green beans whenever they were local.  Which, like I already said, was for most of the year!

Basically we were eating green beans all the time.  This caused us to get just a little bit sick of them.  It also forced us to use them in more than one way.  We started thinking about how green beans didn’t just have to be boiled and served with a bit of salt and butter.

Fortunately one of our favourite farmers noticed the bean fatigue on his customers’ faces and he shared this family recipe with everyone. 

The recipe has become a family favourite and we love passing it along to others.  We’ve been using our own beans from our garden this summer which makes it extra exciting, but it will work wonderfully with any fresh local green beans.  Try mixing together a few colours of beans for some extra visual interest!

250g green beans, trimmed, chopped, and steamed

2 tbsp. walnuts, chopped and lightly toasted

2 tbsp. parsley, finely chopped

2 tbsp. red onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp. local oil

1 tsp. local vinegar

1 tsp. mustard (any kind)

Salt and cayenne pepper

To steam the beans bring an inch of water to a boil in a pot or pan and set a steamer over it, then add the beans and cover, steaming for 4-5 minutes.  Remove the beans after steaming and transfer them to a bowl.  Chop the walnuts, parsley, and onion.

Briefly toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan over medium heat, until they are fragrant (just a couple minutes).  

Make the dressing  by whisking together the oil, vinegar, and mustard.

Mix everything together in a bowl, but reserve some of the walnuts and parsley to top the salad.  Season lightly with salt and a dash of cayenne.  

So Much Asparagus

So you bought a ton of asparagus, now what?

Asparagus season is a great time of year.  Partly because asparagus is the first real vegetable of spring, but also because it’s just such a tasty vegetable.  If you’re anything like me you might find yourself buying it multiple times in a week while it’s in season because of the fear that it will soon be gone.  However, if you just end up cooking it and throwing a little butter on it every night you might be missing out on some other delicious opportunities.  And what if you don’t save any of it for later in the year?  You don’t want to end up eating asparagus from Chile… or maybe you do, but I don’t.  So be sure to freeze some of it. 

Have it with eggs

One of our family’s favourite things to do with asparagus is making it the main course of our meal by pairing it up with some eggs.  A fancy way to do this is to make an asparagus and mushroom quiche.  A simpler variation of the quiche is to make a frittata.  But the simplest method is to cook up some asparagus then top it with some fried eggs!  It’s easy, it’s tasty, and makes a grain light main dish.

Asparagus with Fried Eggs and Parmesan

Serves 4

Ingredients:

·        ½ - 1 lb asparagus, washed (and ends snapped off if tough)

·        4-6 eggs

·        1-2 tbsp. butter (or olive oil)

·        salt and pepper

·        grated parmesan cheese

Heat a pan over medium heat with about a half inch of water in it.  Add the asparagus, cover and cook for about 5 minutes.  Pour off the water, add the butter (or a bit of olive oil), a dash of salt and pepper and fry for a couple minutes, then remove from heat.

While the asparagus is cooking fry up the eggs without breaking the yolks.  Cover the eggs to help them cook since you won’t be flipping them.

Serve the asparagus topped with the eggs and sprinkle with the grated parmesan cheese (or other hard cheese) and a bit more freshly ground pepper.  Accompany the meal with some nice crusty bread and a simple Caesar salad, it’s like eating spring!

Simple Spring Greens Caesar Salad

Ingredients:

·        Assorted spring greens (lettuce, spinach, chard, beet greens, dandelion greens, pea shoots, etc.)

·        ¼ cup olive oil (or local oil)

·        2 tbsp. cider vinegar

·        2 tbsp. mayonnaise

·        1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

·        1-2 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 tsp. garlic powder)

·        salt and pepper

·        grated parmesan cheese

Rinse and dry the greens, then chop them coarsely.  Make the dressing by adding all the ingredients to a small jar and shaking. Toss the greens and dressing, top with parmesan and serve.

Tons of Asparagus Variation: If you have so much asparagus you don’t know what to do with it cook up a bit more by blanching it (cook it in boiling water for 4-5 minutes, then cool it in ice water) and add it to the Caesar!

Moosewood's Perfect Protein Salad - A Local Adaptation

According to cookbook author Molly Katzen, this recipe was the result of looking in the fridge and finding only some cooked soybeans and wheat berries.  Not bad for such humble beginnings, and this salad is a new family favourite!  The key for me was the addition of one habanero pepper from Mark Brubacher.  Be careful with those peppers, they are extremely hot.  But they’re worth it too, they have such great flavour and the spiciness helps warm your whole body!  But even if you leave out that extra kick of spice you’ll still find this a very satisfying salad. 

The name of the salad refers to the combination of a grain and legume, which results in the full range of amino acids we need.

Moosewood’s Perfect Protein Salad

Adapted from The New Moosewood Cookbook by Molly Katzen

Ingredients:

·        ¾ cups dry soybeans

·        ¾ cups dry wheat (or rye) berries

·        ½ red onion, minced

·        2 medium carrots, finely chopped 1 cucumber, seeded & finely chopped

·        1 hot habanero pepper, seeded and minced (optional)

·        1-2 cloves garlic, minced 1 Tbs. dried parsley 1 tsp. dill

·        ¼ cup mayonnaise (you could make your own if you want it local)

·        ¼ cup cider vinegar

·        ¼ cup tangy yogurt 

·        ¼ - ½ cup crumbled feta cheese 2 teaspoons salt

·        freshly ground black pepper, to taste

·        optional: add other diced vegetables like celery, tomatoes, or anything else that sounds good.

Soak the wheat berries and soybeans overnight in separate jars or bowls.  Rinse them several times the next day.  Cook the soybeans in one pot, covered completely with plenty of water, and the wheat berries in another pot with 2 cups water, over low heat simmering for 1 – 1.5 hours.  The wheat berries should be soft, while the soybeans will retain a bit of a crunch.  Drain, rinse, and allow to drip dry for a few minutes in a colander. 

While cooking the grains and beans chop your vegetables and mix together the vinegar, mayonnaise, and yogurt.  Mix these together in large bowl, adding in the spices and seasonings.  Add the grains, beans, cheese, and mix all ingredients together.  Test the flavour and adjust spices and seasonings to your liking.  Serve or refrigerate for later.  Makes a great lunch or dinner!

And by the way, look what ingredients Bailey’s has right now for the salad (basically everything you need to make it):

·        dry soybeans (from Round’s)

·        wheat berries (from Oak Manor)

·        red onion(from Bowman’s or Stevanus)

·        carrots(many options)

·        cucumber(from Roseland Produce)

·        habanero pepper(from Mark Brubacher)

·        garlic, (several options)

·        dried parsley (from Brenda Knechtel)

·        dill (from Brenda Knechtel)

·        mayonnaise (you could make your own if you want it local)

·        cider vinegar (from the Cider Keg or Filsingers Organic)

·        yogurt  (several options)

·        feta cheese (several options)

From Jon Spee, who shares more of his KW Locavore adventures at localkitchener.ca