Green Beans, Take 2

I was headed home today daydreaming about making szechuan green beans, but when I actually got back, in a sheer fit of laziness (not wanting to walk an extra 20 feet to grab my computer and look up my recipe), I decided to look for  recipes in the cookbooks by the kitchen.  Am I ever glad that I did.  The second book I pulled off the shelf was More Best Recipes by the folks of Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen.  In this book series (I'm told that their Best 30-Minute Recipe is one of the top cookbooks around), the editors take a fairly common food and, through dozens and dozens of test runs and experiments, come up with the perfect, foolproof recipe.

Well, after checking the index, I discovered that a full four pages were devoted to green beans, both sauteed and roasted.  The common problem they saw with the former was that by the time the beans were cooked, the outsides were usually black and burnt.  Their solution?  Saute the green beans for six minutes, add a small bit of water and cover the pan, thus steaming them for two minutes, then uncover and turn up the heat to evaporate any leftover water, and finish sauteeing along with the flavorings/spices for two more minutes.  The result? Perfection.  Just the right amount of browning and wrinkling, fully cooked, yet still with a crisp bite.

Luckily for you, this recipe (along with variations, but without the long explanation of the recipe's development) is online!  I made the first variation, with smoked paprika and almonds.

Cook's Illustrated Sauteed Green Beans with Garlic and Herbs

And the list goes on

Zucchini, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, green beans, purple potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes of various sorts, green peppers, habanero peppers (much hotter than I anticipated, even at a very unripe stage), butternut squash, eggplant, pattypan squash, beets, okra, multi-colored carrots...I think that pretty much covers what I've been getting from my CSA subscription and the community garden.  Needless to say, I haven't been buying much in groceries lately except for eggs, milk, and the occasional bag of sugar for canning.  Speaking of which, I bought a half bushel of peaches the other week which I--besides simply canning a large portion of them--made into preserves as well as this delicious peach barbecue sauce (a great recipe that you could simply make fresh).  There are still a few boxes of jars sitting around waiting for an apple-picking excursion followed by applesauce making.  Hopefully they're not bothering my roommate too much!

So what does one do with all the aforementioned produce? Especially when extra, unanticipated zucchini show up on your doorstep?  Well, I've made buttermilk zucchini soup, ordinary zucchini soup, chocolate zucchini bread, pineapple-raisin zucchini bread, cucumber salad, cucumber and basil slush (I was incredibly skeptical of this, but it actually tasted fairly good), ratatouille, roasted root vegetables, sauted squash, okra and tomatoes, and borscht. For the latter (a great soup that utilizes a lot of mid- to late-summer vegetables), Mary and I used a conglomaration of a few recipes, and it turned out well.  We actually only used one beet.  One beet, which yielded 4 cups when grated.  No joke.

The beet which became the borscht:

I hope you're enjoying the bounty of summer as much as I am!

It was bound to happen...

Time for a confession.  Two days ago I bought 96 canning jars on Craigslist.  Yes, 96.  For only $22!  It was actually kind of a hike to get to the folks (45 minutes), but I had to go halfway there that day, anyway, so what's another 20 minutes?  I'd been wanting to learn how to can, so this was the impetus to get going.

Now my friend Mary and I are on a quest to fill said jars.  She'd helped with canning once before; I was a novice.  We mostly used information online, these two sites being particularly helpful:  All About Canning and National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Here is our first attempt--tart cherry preserves (step-by-step instructions on the first website above).  It was successful, we think.  The only difficult part, honestly, was waiting for the water to boil.  My burners have always been incredibly slow, and this involved quite a lot of water, so it was a long process, though fairly easy.

Now to do something with the other 20 lbs. of cherries, as well as the 25 lbs. of peaches ripening in boxes in the spare room.  Peach salsa or cherry butter, anyone?

You Are What You Eat

A series of portraits by Mark Menjivar made by examining the interiors of refrigerators in homes across the United States.  Click the link and use the arrows at the bottom of the page to cycle through the thirty-four photographs.


For three years I traveled around the country exploring food issues.  The more time I spent speaking and listening to individual stories, the more I began to think about the foods we consume and the effects they have on us as individuals and communities....An intense curiosity and questions about stewardship led me to begin to make these unconventional portraits. A refrigerator is both a private and a shared space.  One person likened the question, "May I photograph the interior of your fridge?" to asking someone to pose nude for the camera.

Food for Thought

The OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) recently published an interesting study on social indicators.  I was intrigued by the stats related to unpaid work (essentially, household work).

Among member countries (see below), Americans spend the least amount of time per day cooking and cleaning up (30 minutes on average), and the third lowest amount of time eating (74 minutes).  The OECD average is 50 and 101, respectively.  Give it up for the Turks, who average 74 minutes of cooking per day.

The American rate of participation itself--how many people cook, period--is also low.  This category led to some interesting stats.  For example, less than half of adults in India cook, but those who do spend almost three hours in the kitchen per day.  A large majority of the population in Denmark and Norway cook, but only for about an hour per day.  I assume these differences have a lot to do with traditional household structures (or lack thereof).

In other news, the French and Germans shop a lot, the Swiss live long, the Dutch trust people, and Icelanders have the highest rate of positive experiences (feeling well-rested, being treated with respect, smiling, experiencing enjoyment, etc.).


Member countries in the OECD:

Belgium

Denmark

Germany

South Africa

France

Netherlands

Finland

Norway

UnitedKKingdom

Italy

Spain

Hungary

Poland

Australia

Ireland

OECD

Korea

India

Turkey

Sweden

Slovenia

United States

New Zealand

China

Austria

Estonia

Canada

Portugal

Japan

Mexico

Green Beans Galore

This morning I headed out to a friend's family's small farm in Michigan.  Thanks to their generosity, another gal and I each came back with two buckets full of green beans after about an hour and a half of work.  This afternoon I've been blanching and freezing them.  One thing I like to do with fresh beans is to make Szechuan Green Beans like they serve at J. W. Chen's (see the previous post).  I actually didn't remember the name of the dish when I tried to replicate it, but it turns out that what I did is pretty similar to recipes online.  You'll also find my attempt at their Honey Chicken later in this post.

Green Beans à la Mrs. Chen's

• 12 oz. fresh green beans (there's no good reason for that quantity, it's simply the amount I happened to get from CSA last week)
• 1-2 T sesame oil
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 tsp. fresh ginger
• 1 tsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp. rice vinegar
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. sherry
• 1/4 tsp. sesame seeds
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

Heat oil in saucepan on medium-high. Add garlic and ginger and sauté for one minute. Add green beans and cook, stirring frequently, until they are dark green and crisp-tender.  Stir in remaining ingredients and continue to heat for a minute or two.

Honey Chicken à la Mrs. Chen's 

For this, I started with an online recipe but made some major adjustments.  The sauce would easily work with stir-fried chicken instead of batter-fried.

• 1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken, cut into 1" pieces
• oil for deep frying

Batter:

• 1/4 cup corn starch
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 cup water

Sauce (some of the amounts are approximate; I was unaware of exactly how much I added of various things):

• 1 1/2 T. oil
• 1 T. ginger, minced
• 3 T. garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 c. honey
• 3/4 c. water
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1 T. rice wine vinegar
• 2 tsp. soy sauce
• 1 T. cornstarch, mixed with 1 T. water

• Sesame seeds (to garnish)

1. Mix all ingredients for batter, cover, and let sit for 30 minutes.  Be ye not surprised, it will be fairly thin.

2. Heat oil to 350 degrees.  Coat chicken with batter and deep fry in batches until thoroughly cooked and golden.  Drain on paper towels.

3. To make sauce, saute ginger and garlic in the oil in a medium saucepan.  Mix in all remaining ingredients except cornstarch, stirring well.  Add cornstarch mixture and simmer until thick.

4. Coat chicken with sauce, and garnish with sesame seeds.  Accompany with rice.

Serves 4.

Summer's in full swing!

As if the 100 degree heat index wasn't signal enough, it's clear from the abundance at the farmers' market that summer has arrived in the Bend.  My most recent CSA batch came with some new produce for the season--cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, green beans, and onions.  The tomatoes have really taken off in our community garden, and I spied an almost fully grown zucchini today, along with a couple small peppers and yellow squash.  (I promise I'll get a photo up! Unfortunately, my camera and computer have had a slight tiff and are refusing to speak to each other at the moment.)  A friend's little brother even discovered some wild black raspberries growing nearby when he was visiting.  I think I've managed to beat the birds to them, so far.

Last week a few of us went to the Blueberry Ranch, a local joint that advertises itself as the largest organic blueberry farm in the Midwest.  We each picked a bucket or so, with most of them winding up in the freezer, if not muffins, cobbler, or pie.  Nothing says delicious like having a stock of blueberries a few feet away!

Look forward to an upcoming post about replicating the Szechuan Green Beans and Honey Chicken at one of our best local restaurants, J. W. Chen's, known affectionately to those in my program as "Mrs. Chen's" or "Madame Chen's." (I wonder why no one has suggested Frau Chen's, yet?)  In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite recipes from around the interwebs.

Forty-Four Clove Garlic Soup

Bourbon Chicken

Wheat Bread with Flax Seed (There seems to be a typo--I increase the wheat flour to 2 1/4 cups.)

Nancy Silverton's Deep Dish Apple Pie (Do not be deceived by the nature of the website.  I actually own the cookbook from which this is taken, though I've only tried two recipes so far.  This has to be one of the most complicated desserts I've ever made, as well as the most intense apple pie I've ever eaten.  It's certainly worth making...maybe once a year.)