green beans

PAGB (Passive-Agressive Green Beans)

by Anne Maxfield on November 25, 2011

Accidental Locavore Passive Aggressive Green Beans

The Accidental Locavore wants to know: can a recipe for green beans be passive-aggressive? It can’t, but like everything else that is grown and cooked, it picks up the qualities of its environment, what the French call terroir.  This particular recipe for green beans didn’t start out passive-aggressive, it just got caught in the cross-hairs.

Imagine, if you will, being asked to come up with a recipe for the following quote: “The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts.  No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving”  ~H.U. Westermayer. Certainly not your usual warm and fuzzy Thanksgiving missive. My first response was “Gee, that’s so upbeat, let me look for the rusty razor blades….” Meanwhile I’m thinking, what goes with seven times more graves than huts? Enter the humble green bean.

But why is that passive-aggressive? First of all, the recipe was sent because it was easy (an earlier per-requisite) and I just wanted to fulfill my promise and forget about it. If you knew the Accidental Locavore really well, you would know that green beans, even when disguised as haricots verts, are not one of my favorite veggies. They’re fine, just not on the top-ten. Add to that the Thanksgiving tradition of green bean casserole and you’ve got all the sizzle of the aforementioned rusty razor blade.

When I was describing this to a friend of mine, he just started laughing. “Passive-aggressive green beans, I love it!” So if you’re looking for three ways to cook green beans and they can be as passive or aggressive as you would like), click here.

And let me know, am I over-reacting to the quote? Or annoyed by the explanation that “It should be an inspiration to those without jobs, those who have lost and may still lose their homes and jobs. Those who miss being able to shop, shop, shop.” Isn’t a better message what Marcus Samuelsson posted on Twitter: “When a person is down in the world, an ounce of help is better than a pound of preaching.”?

 

 

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What the Accidental Locavore Does With Arugula, Peas, Broccoli and More

by Anne Maxfield on July 8, 2011

Accidental Locavore Farm Box Week 5

This week’s farm box for the Accidental Locavore was packed full of great stuff! There were radishes, turnips (both with their greens), green and yellow beans, peas, arugula, mesclun, perfect tiny heads of broccoli, small bunches of dill, rosemary, thyme and sage and the last of the season’s strawberries.

When the Locavore drove up to pick up my box, all the plants at the farm that had been under cover were suddenly almost a foot tall. So what to do with all this bounty? First, an arugula pesto made with some of last week’s wild arugula, tossed over homemade fettuccine. Then added: sautéed peas and broccoli with strips of prosciutto and topped all of it with Parmesan. Delicious!Accidental Locavore Pasta With Arugula Pesto

The beans inspired a Salad Nicoise with some of the beautiful lettuce, a couple radishes, basil from the garden, local eggs, and lots more goodies.Accidental Locavore Green & Wax Beans

Then, the rest of the broccoli, tossed in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, steamed for a few minutes and roasted to go with grilled steak. Great broccoli!

Later in the week, the peas were quickly sautéed in olive oil with toasted cumin seeds, cayenne and a splash of lemon juice to go with an Indian salmon in mustard sauce.And for a home-alone locavore, braised turnip greens were used as a bed for a pan- seared lamb chop, fragrant with the rosemary and a little garlic.

The Accidental Locavore has been feeling a little guilty about the massive amount of plastic bags used for storing all these great greens and has been trying to re-use them when possible. Recently I was checking out alternative storage solutions, which seem to be limited and still mostly plastic. Any kind of hard containers (plastic or glass) take up way to much (already limited) refrigerator space. And just dumping greens in the crisper drawer doesn’t work because they go limp way too quickly.

Any good ideas for storing produce out there?

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Recipe for Green Beans and Wax Beans Pickled With Horseradish

by Anne Maxfield on October 22, 2010

Accidental Locavore Green and Wax BeansAs part of the most recent baskets, the Accidental Locavore had a lot of beans, both green and wax. Since it was a little cold for a Salad Nicoise, and I was in a pickling mood, I put up the beans with a recipe from an earlier Food and Wine. The recipe is really easy, no cooking involved, and you don’t need any canning equipment, just some one pint jars. It’s also a good way to take advantage of the last of the dill and tarragon in the garden. The recipe says the beans are good after 24 hours, however they weren’t. Be patient and give them a week for the flavors to develop.

For 4 pint jars of beans:

  • 4 pint jars (run them through the dishwasher to prep them)
  • 1 1/2 pounds of beans (I made 1 jar of wax, and 2 of green, you can also mix them)
  • 8 cloves of garlic, cut in half (4 halves for each jar)
  • 8 sprigs of dill (two for each jar)
  • 4 tarragon sprigs (one for each jar)
  • 4 teaspoons black peppercorns (one for each jar)
  • 4 teaspoons horseradish (one for each jar) (loving heat, I used the hot horseradish)
  • 1 1/2 cups white vinegar
  • 1/4 cup kosher salt
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups water

Trim the stem ends of the beans so they fit in the jars. Pack them into the jars, tip side down. Each jar also gets two sprigs of dill, one sprig of tarragon, 4 garlic halves, a teaspoon of peppercorns, and a teaspoon of horseradish. In a large jar, or mixing bowl (I used a very large measuring cup), combine the vinegar, salt and sugar. Shake or stir until the sugar and salt is fully dissolved. Add the water, and mix. Pour over the jars until they are completely full. The beans need to be completely submerged. Cover and refrigerate. You can eat them after a day in the fridge, but give them a week, and you’ll be glad you did. They should keep in the fridge for 3 months. Enjoy!

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Recipe: Riffs on Armenian Pickles or Mixed Pickled Veggies

by Anne Maxfield on August 6, 2010

Accidental Locavore Pickled VegetablesThere’s not much that the Accidental Locavore won’t attempt food and cooking wise, but pickling, and canning scare me. Last Sunday, I decided to confront that fear, and make the Armenian pickles that my mother used to make. Armed with a dozen jars, I called mom and got a couple of her recipes. This is what I did:

  • First I cut up some pickling cucumbers and cauliflower that were in a recent farmbasket.
  • They soaked in salted water (brine) for 2 hours (while I ran out to get the jars).
  • Each jar gets a clove of garlic, and a 1″ piece of hot red pepper (I used serrano chiles since I had them), and a small handful of coriander seeds. I also had a little pickling spice so I tossed that in too.
  • Fill the jars with your vegetables. I had a lot of veggies from the farmbasket, so I used the cucumbers, and cauliflower, some green beans trimmed, strips of yellow peppers, carrots, and pearl onions. The original recipe also calls for green tomatoes, but since I was trying to use what I had…
  • Top the jars with a sprig of fresh dill
  • Heat 3 quarts of water, 1 quart of vinegar (I used 2/3 white vinegar, and 1/3 cider vinegar), and 1 cup of kosher salt to a simmer. Remove from the heat and fill the jars to the top.
  • Let them sit for 3 weeks.

I also put the sealed jars in a water bath, brought that to a simmer and let them simmer for about 10 minutes, but my mother later told me that wasn’t necessary. I’ll let you know in a couple of weeks how they turned out. Have you ever made pickles? How do you do them?

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Accidental Locavore Farmbasket Week 7: Does Size Matter?

July 12, 2010
Thumbnail image for Accidental Locavore Farmbasket Week 7: Does Size Matter?

 This weekend, while we were shooting our next Accidental Locavore video, I learned a lot about zucchini, and summer squash. Bet you didn’t know that they can double in size during the course of a day. So if you’re the type who gets tired of watching paint dry…  Also size does matter. If you’re serving them in slices, choose [...]

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