Fresh Tart

Green Beans with Pork & Black Bean-Garlic Sauce

FreshTartSteph — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 10:33:21 PDT

Transform green beans into a spicy, salty meal. A little pork, a little black bean-garlic sauce...a lot of sticky-savory deliciousness. Recipe for Green Beans with Pork & Black Bean-Garlic Sauce at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Green Beans with Pork & Black Bean Sauce

FreshTartSteph — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 12:45:11 PDT

Green beans are the first vegetable that I genuinely liked. My grandparents grew them in their garden, and my Grandma Meyer would pick them fresh, boil them until they were tender, and serve them with lots of butter and salt. Alongside walleye fried crispy in...butter.

What was not to like?

I still like them the same way - but these days, with just a pat of butter and a sprinkle of salt. It's nice that a little of both goes a long way.

It's also nice to change things up, like this dish which transforms green beans into a spicy, salty incredi-meal. A little pork, a little black bean-garlic sauce, a lot of sticky-savory deliciousness.

I realize as I type this...I've suggested the Asian equivalent of butter-n-salt. OK, maybe not all that different. But still so, so good.

Yeah, finger-swipe-through-the-pan good.

Green Beans with Pork & Black Bean-Garlic Sauce
Serves 4 as a side dish, 2 as a main course

1 lb. green beans, trimmed
1/4 lb. pork sausage or ground pork (I used pork breakfast sausage, specifically the pork breakfast sausage from Blue Gentian Farm)
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp. minced ginger
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp. black bean-garlic sauce
2 tsp. Thai fish sauce
1/4 c. water
toasted sesame oil
optional: chopped toasted almonds

Bring a saucepan of salted water to boil. When water boils, add green beans. After 3 minutes (water will not quite return to a boil), drain in a colander. Set aside.

In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the sausage and onion together. Stir in the minced ginger, red pepper flakes, black bean-garlic sauce, fish sauce, and water. Add green beans and toss to coat. Saute for 5-10 minutes, until water evaporates, the sauce thickens, and the beans become tender.

Transfer beans to a serving plate. Sprinkle with sesame oil and almonds (if using). Serve warm (not hot; the flavor will be better).

Getting Fresh

FreshTartSteph — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 21:40:00 PDT

The Minneapolis Farmer's Market is a fun place. It's not as fabulous as say, San Francisco's - what is? - but I still get a rush walking around, especially on Saturdays when it's crowded, buying beautiful veggies and thinking about all the ways I can use them. Today I picked up heirloom cherry tomatoes, for the garlicky tomato & bread gratin I made for dinner tonight (we had our neighbors the Hatzungs over for a chilly swim and warm din). I also bought (more) green beans, as well as raspberries and fingerling potatoes. We ate the green beans tonight, and the raspberries (atop a lemon picnic cake), but the potatoes I'll save for tomorrow or Monday.

Although, hmmmm, I'm not going to be making din tomorrow night since Kim, Suz, and I are heading to True Thai for our every-few-weeks dinner out. Well, luckily potatoes taste good even several days after being picked... Especially these little gems, I bought them once before from the same vendor and was pretty blown away by how delicious they were. I'm thinking a little lemon-butter and salt will do them nicely. Can't wait.

Hey, look at that, I've been on Facebook for one full year! Thank you, Maud, for introducing another (very fun!) timesuck into my life! I think I've most enjoyed seeing everyone's pics, especially of their kids, especially of friends from high school and college that I don't get to physically see often enough. It's like an everyday reunion/Christmas card - nice! If (realistically, when) you join up, I suggest you become a fan of moderate epicurean (and painters staceyemeyer and maudbryt) to boot.

Sleep tight!

Moderate it: baking half of a cake is a nice way to not have a bunch of sweet leftovers hanging around - Whole Foods cake mixes make just one 9-inch layer. Works nicely with the lemon picnic cake recipe.

Tomatoes, Green Beans, Carrots

FreshTartSteph — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:44:00 PDT

What's this you see? The sorry banquet (wedding, fundraiser, church dinner, you name it) side-dish we've all had a million times, green beans with carrots? Yep, it is indeed - and it was deeeelicious. The green beans and carrots both arrived in my CSA veggie share today, so I simmered until just tender and tossed with a little butter and minced chives. So fresh, wow, the way they're supposed to taste. How...fun!

No, I didn't serve a baked chicken breast alongside (I can only go so far with the banquet kitsch), but instead made these pretty little tomato souffles. I found the recipe online (recipezaar), adapted from Earl Peyroux's book Gourmet Cooking. Peyroux had a long-running cooking show on PBS (although I've never seen it) and the book looks actually pretty fantastic. Funny the things you discover when you google "tomato souffle" (as you can tell, I'm still reaching, looking for inspiration, more than a bit tired of my usual fish& veggies). The souffles are so simple - hollowed-out garden-ripe tomatoes, filled with a tomato-egg filling (I added a bit of goat cheese as well, but I think any cheese would be nice), baked until puffed and browned. Next time I'll add a bit more cheese and salt. As constructed, less than 200 cals/tomato, nice.

Speaking of veggies, I had a great idea tonight, in the vein of one of my (unfulfilled) fantasies...living close enough to everything I love to bike and walk to-and-from. Restaurants, grocery shopping, oh heck even a farmer's market (it's the France/Italy fantasy, where one markets with a basket, buying fresh bread, bottle of wine, cheeses, and fresh veggies on the way home from work... Photo, also a fantasy, I neither bike in the city without a helmet, nor with a fedora, hahaha...)

Since I can do exactly none of those things from where I live, I decided to bike to pick up my CSA veggie share, just a few blocks away. All went well on the way there (although it was a tad tricky getting on my high-bar bike with jeans on, strreeetch), with my last-week's empty box flattened and tucked under my arm. I uber-ungracefully hopped off my bike, deposited the flattened box, and picked up my new box, chock-full of veggies. It was...really heavy! WAY too heavy, in fact, to handle with one arm on my way home, although I gave it my best shot (getting up on my bike, lifting the box, and quickly realizing there was no-way, no-how to balance it with one arm). So I had to put the box back, bike home, and drive back to pick the thing up. Talk about un-fantasy! If anyone watched the whole event, you're very welcome for the entertainment (my attempted box balancing on my neighbor's driveway must have been...completely dorksville at best).

And hey, I have to mention because it's a deliciously good deal, we enjoyed a glass of - get this - Virgin Vines Chardonnay before dinner. Virgin as in Richard Branson, yep, we learned of it from John's parents (you can buy it easily in NYC). As far as we know, it's not available locally, but it sells online for less than $13.00/bottle. And it's tasty, I'm rarely a fan of domestic Chardonnays (I just do not dig the oaky Chardonnay thing) but this is completely simple and clean and crisp, very food friendly.

And Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Moderate it: souffles are really so easy, and pretty, and not heavy at all. And oh, they're delicious to boot! With an average of one egg and a couple of tablespoons of grated cheeseper person, they seem so much more decadent than they really are. Enjoy!

FreshTartSteph — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:45:00 PDT

Hey, I forgot to say Happy St. Patrick's Day yesterday! Mostly because I hardly thought about it, until I decided to rummage through the cooler to see what I could scare up for dinner. What I discovered was quite green - green beans and arugula - hey, a subconscious St. Patty's Day dinner! I created a soup with the arugula, basically following the delicious watercress soup recipe I posted awhile back - a simple broth, pureed with fresh greens and a bit of cream. We also had a few shrimps, which I chopped and sauteed with minced garlic and included as a garnish. All nice. Green beans, boiled until just-tender, finished with a bit of butter and a sprinkle of salt. The way my Grandma Meyer always made them. As in, simply perfectly.

(That might look like Irish soda bread in the background, but I wasn't that motivated - just a whole-grain Toast to Bread baguette that I pulled from the freezer. Sorry!)

I'm trying my best to stabilize on the food front these days - Mexico threw me way off my game, and my body reacted so badly (puffpoof!), I'm really looking forward to getting back to normal. Since my return I've consumed many pots of magically depuffing green tea, a variety of fresh fruit and veggies, and attempted to steer away from processed grains. (Easier said than done while entertaining!) The efforts have paid off, although I leave for San Francisco tomorrow - one of the most amazing food cities in the world. Aaaagh! But since I'm traveling with Nathan (not John), the focus won't be on fine dining/wine, plus we'll be walking a lot, so hopefully moderation will rule the day, even while on vaca. (No surprise here, I am, er, particularly moderation-challenged while on vaca...) Stay tuned...

FreshTartSteph — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:39:00 PDT

Here are the veggies and herbs (from my LaFinca veggie share) that I have to play with this weekend:

carrots
fennel
green beans
corn
kale
tomatoes
cucumber
zucchini
summer squash
onions
basil
dill

The carrots and fennel are terrific additions to a packet of Potatoes on the Grill. Summer squash would be nice too. In addition, I love steamed carrots with a little butter and lots of fresh dill and lemon.

The green beans, oh man, I'm so roasting half of them for Roasted Vegetable Panzanella, one of my very favorite meals. The other half I'll save for Spicy Braised Green Beans, which calls for tomato and onion as well. Fried Walleye with some Spicy Braised Green Bea ns? Ohhh, now that's a summer meal. What night can I pull that off? Might have to wait until Monday...

I didn't feel like boiling a big pot of water last night, just for John and me, so I sliced the kernels off of a couple of ears of corn and sauteed them quickly in a bit of browned butter (adds a lovely, nutty flavor). Salt and pepper, done. Easy and sooo yummy. I think I'll do the same for the kids tomorrow night.

The basil is going to become a small batch of pesto - I like to have a bit on hand for stirring into sauteed corn (stir in a diced tomato with the pesto, so pretty). Or for swirling into Instant Vegetable Soup (an assortment of vegetables grated together, brought to a quick simmer with water, and finished off with a sprinkle of cheese; delicious and very nutritious, and also a good way to use up veggie-share veggies!), which makes a perfect, quick lunch.

The cucumber already became Cucumber-Mint Raita, and I already ate it, ha. Ditto for the zucchini (see below for Zucchini-Tomato Gratin).

The kale, hmmm, there's not much of it so I'll probably just saute it with garlic, then steam it with a small amount of water until it's quite tender. With salt and pepper, and a drizzle of good balsamic, it's pretty hard to beat. Even if no one else in my family thinks so...

Yeah. It's shaping up to be a very colorful, healthy, moderate (no parties, no party food!) weekend. Yay, my butt lurves veggies!

FreshTartSteph — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 12:46:00 PDT

Oooh, it's a hot one out there today, definitely a day for hangin' by the pool. Just John and me, since my stepdaughter left for a trip today, and Nathan's spending the afternoon with his dad's family. So...a little sun, a late-afternoon shower, a simple, light dinner of grilled shrimps with spicy braised green beans, a 6 pm baseball game, and we're all gooood. (Recipe posted in comments, below.)