Spring Sides: Green Beans and Favas with Parmesan

This is an example of a dish born on the spur of the moment. My family was coming for dinner and I planned to make a side of roasted broccoli, only I completely forgot to pick up the broccoli at Shoprite. 

 

Not inclined to go back there, I rummaged around the fridge and found some fresh green beans, and frozen favas. I decided to combine the two in the simplest way possible: a simple sauté with garlic, topped with Parmesan. 

 

The result was bright and springy, and the Parmesan was a great touch. I shaved it over the dish with a vegetable peeler, and it melted deliciously into the hot beans.  I think we all fought over the pieces with the most cheese! 

 

One note- I used a bag of frozen shelled favas from Trader Joe’s, but I prefer favas shelled twice, so after blanching I went through the ridiculous step of secondary peeling. I’m a perfectionist, I wanted to see the bright green!

 

This makes a perfect Easter side dish.

 

Green Beans and Favas with Parmesan, by me

Serves 6 as a side dish

 

1 lb skinny green beans

1 cup frozen pre-shelled fava beans

Parmesan cheese, to taste

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

2 big cloves garlic, smashed

Pinch red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Prepare a bowl filled with cold water and ice. 

 

Drop in your green beans, and boil for 1-2 minutes, until they just lose their vegetal taste but remain crisp. Lift out using a skimmer and immerse immediately into ice water.  Keep water boiling. 

 

Add fava beans to boiling water, and cook about 3 minutes. Remove to ice water and let cool completely.  Peel second shell, if desired. 

 

At this point, beans can be prepared a day ahead. (I like to store them in the skillet I’m going to cook them in, so when my guests are over I can just pull out the whole thing and go).

 

When ready to cook, combine olive oil butter in skillet and melt over medium high heat. Add pepper flakes and garlic, and sauté until garlic is golden brown. Add green beans and sauté 5 minutes, until warmed through. Add salt and pepper to taste.

 

Place in a serving bowl, and using a vegetable peeler, shave Parmesan cheese over the beans. (Alternately, use grated cheese). Add as much as you want, and enjoy!

Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus with Homemade Mayo

There are certain friends you can do anything with. That’s how it is with me and Jenn- she can always text me with some random suggestion and I’m always up for it, and vice versa. We’ve taken cake decorating classes together, done crafts, and both find it helpful to plot out stores to visit in malls before we actually go shopping. 

One afternoon where we were both off from work, she decided we needed to try making mayo from scratch. Not something I had ever considered before, and definitely not a phone call I’d get from everyone, but sure, why not? 

We used the food processor and after wasting 2 cups of oil, gave up. But Jenn got it right later on, and raved about how good it was. 

Months later, I decided to finally try it out on my own. It was so simple- 1 egg yolk, 1 cup of oil, salt, and a whisk-induced arm workout.  The mayo was delicious, with a lighter texture than the bottled stuff and a more delicate flavor from the olive oil.

I took the liberty of flavoring my mayo with lemon, parsley, and capers, and I used it as a topping for roasted potatoes and asparagus. It was sooo good. This is perfect dinner party fare, or would make a delicious side for a spring holiday meal. 

Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus with Homemade Caper Mayo

Serves 4-6 as a side dish

2 lbs fingerling potatoes (I used a mixed color variety bag)

1 bundle fresh asparagus

Olive oil

Flaky sea salt

Freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425 and line an aluminum sheet pan with foil. 

Slice potatoes in half or in quarters if very large. Drizzle with olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste.  Place on sheet pan and roast for 35 minutes.

While potatoes cook, prepare asparagus. Snap them at the ends to remove the woody part of the stems, and then cut the spears into 2 inch lengths.

At 35 minutes, add asparagus to pan with potatoes and roast another 10 minutes. 

Place on serving platter and dollop with mayo, recipe follows. 

For the mayo, basic recipe from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters:

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp water

1 cup mild olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice 
Pinch of salt

Caper Parsley Flavoring:
1 tbsp capers

¼ cup flat leaf parsley leaves

½ tsp grated garlic (you can use more, I just don’t love an intense garlic flavor)

Additional lemon juice to taste

Flaky sea salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together egg yolk and water in a small bowl. Add the oil in tiny drips, whisking constantly. You have to add it very, very slowly in order to create the emulsion. It is annoying, but go drop by drop at first.  After a minute or two, you will see everything start to thicken up and an emulsion form. Once that happens, you can add the oil a little faster, in a slow stream.  Keep whisking constantly; the process will take about 5 minutes. (Not actually that long, but it feels long!)

Once your mayo’s done, you can add the flavors. Chop together your parsley and capers. Add to mayo along with garlic. Taste, and add salt, pepper, and additional lemon juice as desired. Can be made ahead. Flavors will intensify as it sits; mayo will last about a week in fridge.

Experiment with this- try adding different herbs, spices, etc. You can create chipotle mayos, smoky mayos, arugula mayos- have fun!

Black Rice Salad

I was flipping through the healthy recipes in January's Bon Appetit, and stopped dead in my tracks at this gorgeous black rice salad on one of the pages. It looked delicious against bright orange squash, green onions, and purple microgreens.  I knew I had to make it for dinner.

I didn't have all the ingredients on hand, so I changed the recipe up significantly. It was the look I was after more than the squash and rice flavor profile. You can click here for the original, or read on for my version.

Fun fact, black rice is loaded with antioxidants, making it not only prettier, but also healthier, than white rice. (another fun fact, white rice is my #1 least favorite food).

Black Rice Salad with Carrot Slaw
1 cup black rice
2 carrots, sliced into thin matchsticks
1/2 a head of raddicchio, sliced into thin ribbons
1/4 cup chopped red onion (you could use scallions instead)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/3 cup rice vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Prepare rice according to package directions. Just a heads up, this type of rice can take around 35 minutes.

While rice is cooking, slice your carrots into thin matchsticks and slice the radicchio into thin ribbons. Combine carrots, radicchio, onion, and parsley in a bowl, and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together oils, soy sauce, vinegar, and salt and pepper.

When rice is ready, place in a serving bowl. Combine with carrot mixture, and drizzle with dressing. Serve hot or at room temperature.

To make ahead, you can prepare and refrigerate rice, carrot mix, and vinaigrette separately, and combine just before serving. If you let the rice and carrots sit together for too long, the carrots absorb a little of the black color.


Enjoy!

Lentil Salad

It’s January, and like everyone else in the world I’m trying to eat healthier. I’m being realistic about it too- healthy from Monday-Thursday. Weekends I can do what I want.  I’m not trying to lose weight or anything, I just think I could cut my cheese and carb intake slightly.

So I came up with this yummy, healthy lentil salad to take the place of the orzo or couscous we’d normally have on the side of dinner. It’s good warm, cold, or room temperature, and will last in the fridge a day or two.

Lentil Salad
1 cup lentils
2 ¼ cups chicken stock
¼ cup wine
1 package cleaned and cut butternut squash (do yourself a favor and buy this precut)
2 cups chopped Tuscan kale (don’t sub the curly variety)
¼ cup feta
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Arrange squash on baking sheet, drizzle with salt, pepper, oil (I don’t measure). 

Combine lentils, stock, and wine in a pot and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let simmer for 35-45 minutes, until tender and stock is absorbed.

While lentils cook, bake squash at 425 for 40 minutes.  

Combine lentils, squash, feta, and kale in a bowl and toss to combine. Drizzle with olive oil to taste, and salt and pepper if needed.

Thanksgiving Sides: Cauliflower and Green Beans

Last week I shared my favorite Thanksgiving side dish, Roasted Squash and Cauliflower. We wound up having a lot of butternut squash on our Friendsgiving menu this year, so I skipped my usual dish and opted for the roasted cauliflower by itself. I dressed with a lemon parsley sauce from Bon Appetit, and it was very simple and delicious.

Picture Source

Roasted Cauliflower with Lemon Parsley Vinaigrette, adapted from Bon Appetit
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
4 tbsp olive oil, plus 2 tbsp olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1 cup flat leaf parsley leaves
½ tsp lemon zest
2 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 425. Combine cauliflower with 4 tbsp oil, salt, and pepper on a baking sheet. Roast for 25-30 minutes, until browned. 

This can be prepared at this point up to one day ahead.

For dressing, combine remaining ingredients in food processor and season with more salt and pepper. This doubles easily.

The dressing can be prepared up to 4 hours ahead.

Before serving, reheat cauliflower if necessary (20 mins at 350) and toss with dressing. Serve.  

We also served green beans with shallots, a simple recipe that always gets rave reviews.

Green Beans with Shallots, adapted from Ina Garten
1 lb haricots verts (skinny green beans)
4 shallots
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Lemon zest 

Blanch green beans in a pot of boiling water for 2 minutes. Immediately transfer to ice bath to cool. Drain and pat dry. (Can be prepared at this point up to 1 day ahead).

 

Heat butter and oil in a saute pan and sauté shallots on medium heat for 5-10 minutes, until lightly browned.  Add beans, salt, and pepper, and toss just till beans are heated through.  Serve.

I love this recipe for entertaining because I can blanch the green beans in advance, chop up the shallot and put it in a bowl with the butter, salt, and oil. During my party I quickly sneak over to the stove, dump the bowl of butter and shallots in a pan, let it cook, and add the beans just before dinner. So easy!

Best Thanksgiving Tip: Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes

I love to be able to make things ahead of time for a party, as long as it doesn’t compromise the taste or quality. Certain things just need to be done at the last minute, and for a long time, I thought mashed potatoes were one of them.

 

I really wanted to serve them at my first Thanksgiving, but couldn’t get comfortable with the idea of mashing five pounds of potatoes, carving a turkey, and plating all the side dishes at once, in front of 15 guests, in my less than 80 sq foot kitchen. So I skipped the potatoes.

 

But the following year, I was messing around on Chowhound and saw this discussion on using your slowcooker to keep mashed potatoes warm, so that you could make them in advance.  

 

The directions were simple:

 

1.      Butter the slowcooker

2.     Pour in a little bit of half and half, milk, or cream (about 1/4 cup worth)

3.      Add mashed potatoes and put slowcooker on warm.

These will stay perfect for several hours. I cooked mine at 2:30 and served them at a 5:00 pm dinner.

 

I consulted with the USDA on the safety of this, because I’m neurotic, and they assured me that as long as the mashed potatoes stay at 140 degrees (which they should, easily, in a slowcooker), they will be safe. You can check with a food thermometer if you are worried.  Actually, you probably should check with a food thermometer just in case your slowcooker runs hot- if it's too hot, it will keep cooking the potatoes, and that’s not good either.

 

This is seriously one of the best tips I’ve gotten- you will be so relieved when your mashed potatoes are done hours ahead and still taste perfect!

Roasted Delicata Squash and Cauliflower

 

I’m obsessed with Wegman’s grocery stores. Great prices, great atmosphere, delicious catering, awesome cheese section, love the liquor store…I could go on and on.

But my favorite thing about them is their genius marketing. Every quarter, they put together their “Menu” magazine, full of quality seasonal recipes that use Wegman’s brand ingredients. For example, they’ll suggest a beef stirfry recipe, and you can go to the meat department and find “Beef for Stirfry” strips already cut and sized to the recipe, and then head on over to the vegetables and find all the items in the recipe precut, measured, and packaged. It’s not necessarily my favorite way to cook, but it’s brilliant marketing: make the cooking easy, approachable, and then sell everything needed for it. (Oh, and if you don’t want to cook, the recipes are obviously available ready-made in the Prepared Foods section).

Seriously, my dream job is to work for this magazine, if only their HQ wasn’t in a place I’d never live. 

 

Anyway, my number one Thanksgiving side dish recipe, Roasted Delicata Squash and Cauliflower, comes from an old issue of the Wegman’s magazine. It’s simple, healthy, and delicious, and it reheats beautifully, so you can make it the day before a party.

 

I wrote the recipe using Wegman’s ingredients, but if you don’t have a Wegmans nearby, I provided alternatives in parenthesis. I’ve done this recipe both ways, and it’s always delicious.

 

 

 

Roasted Delicata Squash and Cauliflower, from Wegman’s

1 head cauliflower, cored and cut into bite size pieces

1 20 oz pkg cleaned and cut delicata squash (alternately, a 1.5 lb delicata or butternut squash, cut into 1 inch pieces)

¼ cup Wegman’s Basting Oil (alternately, olive oil and your favorite dried herbs and a ½ tsp garlic salt)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 6 oz package baby spinach or arugula 

 

Preheat oven to 450.

 

Toss cauliflower, squash, and oil together. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast 30 mins, until browned.  (Can be made at this point up to one day ahead. Cool, refrigerate, and reheat for 20 minutes at 350 before serving). 

 

Add spinach to a serving bowl, top with hot cauliflower and squash mix, and toss. Serve.

 

Serves 6-8.

 

This is also good at room temperature, which makes it great to take to a Thanksgiving potluck.