Green Bean, Tomato and Olive Salad

The Fannie Farmer Cookbook has been around since 1896, originally published under the name The Boston Cooking School Cook Book.  It has had more than a dozen printings, but my copy is from 1979.  It was the first cookbook I owned, purchased for me by my mother one Christmas.  So when talking to her yesterday about this great big bag of green beans I received this week from CRO, she suggested that I go to the tried and true Fannie Farmer for ideas.  I did and do you know this is one of the best green bean salads I think I've eaten. With just a few changes, most of this recipe came from my 1979 edition originally titled "Raw Green Beans, Tomatoes, Olives, Scallions, and Celery Salad".  I changed it only to reflect what I had on hand and what we like.  Sometimes the old cookbooks have simple things that are timelessly tasty!  This is one of them. 

Green Bean, Tomato and Olive Salad

1 bag CRO green beans, ends trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cup CRO grape tomatoes, halved
3/4 cup Greek olives
1/2 cup CRO red onion, chopped (about 2 slices)
1 red or green pepper sliced very thin (like matchsticks)
2 Tbs chopped parsley
2 Tbs chopped cilantro

Dressing:
1/4 cup grape seed or olive oil
2 Tbs red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Fill a large bowl with ice water.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the beans 2 minutes.  Immediately drain and rinse the beans in cold water and transfer to the ice water for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, prepare your other ingredients.  Drain the beans, pat dry and transfer to a large bowl.  Add tomatoes, olives, onion, peppers, parsley, and cilantro.  Toss to combine.  Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl until emulsified.  Pour over the salad and toss again to combine.  Serves 4-6 generously.  

Tomatoes, Banana Peppers, Black Beans

Mile-high Rice and Beans

I still had those two beautiful Clarion tomatoes resting on the sill of my sunny kitchen window this week.  I loved looking at them because they remind me of summer and growth and new crops coming.  Now fall is here, the sun is waning, the nights are much cooler and there are no new crops on the horizon.  I was almost reluctant to use them because that would signify the end of the growing season.  But earlier this week I had a craving for one of our household mainstays as plant-based eaters - rice and beans.  We call ours "mile-high" because we pile on so many veggies!  We use all sorts of combinations of vegetables so use the recipe below (which is adapted from the Engine 2 Diet book) as a rough guide and create your own version with whatever vegetables you like. The sensory experience of the warm rice and beans with the cold vegetables is a metaphor for this transition from late summer to early fall.  Enjoy!  

Mile-high Rice and Beans 
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained (or cook up your CRO dry black beans if you still have them!)
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 Tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)
1 tsp chili powder
2-3 Clarion River Organics Tomatoes, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
1 cup corn, frozen or canned
2 carrots, grated
2 Clarion River Organics banana peppers, seeded and chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro, course stems removed and chopped
2 avocados, peeled and cubed
3 cups cooked brown rice (you can cook the rice while preparing the vegetables) 

Heat the beans with vegetable broth, Bragg's and chili powder.  To serve place several spoonfuls of rice onto large plates and ladle beans on top.  Pile generous amounts of the chopped vegetables, cilantro, and avocado on top of the beans.  Serves 3 to 4.  

Week 7 - Recipes - Colorful Lemony Kale Sandwiches - (Kale, Squash Blossoms, Garlic Scapes (week 6))

Kale Sandwiches?  Seriously?  Please stick with me on this one - these are not only pretty sandwiches, but colorful, refreshing, and satisfying! They will actually cool you off on these hot summer days! 

The Lacinato kale (also called Dinosaur Kale) included in this week's delivery is more tender and less bitter than curly red or green kale.  In this recipe, it is just barely steamed to tenderize it slightly.  It can be used quite successfully raw in salads too.

A neat thing about this sandwich is that, instead of ho-hum mayonnaise, the bread is coated with either hummus or, for a very gourmet taste, garlic scape pesto.   Scapes were in the week 6 delivery so if you still have yours try my garlic scape pesto recipe.

This recipe will make two sandwiches, but if you want to make more, just increase the amount of all the ingrediants.  If you don't have the heart to zest a lemon (or are lacking a zesting tool such as a microplane grater), you can leave the zest out, but you may want to add just a bit more lemon juice in that case.  As with any special sandwich, these may take a bit longer to make than oh say, PB&J, but the result will be worth it! 

Colorful Lemony Kale Sandwiches

(recipe adapted from a similar one in The Engine 2 Diet book)

1/2 bunch Clarion River Organics Lacinato Kale

1/4 cup garlic scape pesto (garlic scape pesto),  or hummus - store bought or homemade

4 scallions, white and green parts, sliced

1/2 bunch cilantro, stems removed, roughly chopped

1 lemon, peeled, sliced very thin, and seeds removed

2 Clarion River Organic Squash blossoms, petals only, rinsed

1 tomato, sliced thin

Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon

4 slices whole grain bread

The prepped ingrediants

Cut the kale leaves away from the center rib

Cut the kale leaves away from the stem by placing leaf on a cutting board and drawing the tip of a knife straight down along the edge on both sides of the center rib.  You can save the stems for another use (try them sautéed in olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes as a side dish) or just discard them.  Chop the leaves roughly into bite-sized pieces.  Place the kale in a steamer basket set over  a pot of simmering water and steam 4-5 minutes until just wilted and still bright green.  Place steamed kale in a separate bowl and toss with the juice and zest of half a lemon.  Set aside.

Toast the bread until lightly browned and crisp.  Divide the pesto (or hummus) between two of the toast slices and spread thickly.  Top this with the divided scallions, cilantro, lemon slices, squash petals and tomato slices.  Place half the kale/lemon mixture on top of each sandwich and top with the remaining toast slice.  Cut sandwiches in half and enjoy!