Ginger Sesame Green Beans
We celebrated Labor Day in Connecticut with Paul's brother and sister-in-law with lots of amazing vegetarian food. We left salty breezes behind and arrived back to the hot, humid jungly hills of Pittsburgh last night to a barren fridge yielding a dinner of either hotdogs or green beans. We opted to continue the vegetarian theme of the weekend, and whipped up a batch of these Ginger Sesame Green Beans we have been loving all summer. Spicy, tangy and gingery, these green beans are addictive! Check out our summer bounty round-up for other ideas for summer vegetables.
Yield: serves 6-8
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds green beans, trimmed
- 5 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
- sesame seeds for garnish (optional)
- cilantro for garnish (optional)
Steps:
- Steam green beans until just cooked through.
- Puree the vinegar, oil, sesame oil, honey, garlic, ginger, salt and cayenne until smooth, taste and adjust seasonings.
- Pour the dressing over the cooked green beans and serve hot or at room temperature.
Honey Sesame Vinaigrette
The season of bounteous and beautiful salad greens has arrived in force. With our fridge bulging with market lettuces we thought it was time to share one of our favorite dressings: Honey Sesame Vinaigrette. This quick and easy dressing brings warm and zinging ginger flavor, balanced with sweetness from honey and roasted undertones of sesame. Honey Sesame Vinaigrette is also a great base vinaigrette to customize with your favorite fresh herbs: cilantro, mint, Thai basil, green onions, and chives all taste great.
Beans with Avocado Green Goddess Dressing
I am a sucker for a colorful veggie, and when I saw these vibrant purple string beans at a farm stand on the way home from work, I was smitten! With a wacky color-scheme in mind, I paired the quickly steamed beans with dollops of lime-hued green goddess dressing, made creamier and healthier by the addition of avocado instead of mayonnaise. Avocado Green Goddess Dressing is my take on the retro 70's classic. This cheerful side dish is ready in 10 minutes, and adaptable to whatever produce you have on hand.
Carrot Soba Noodles with Ginger and Kale
Today we are sharing a gluten free and vegetarian main that we absolutely love. Omit the fried egg, and you've got yourselves a vegan classic. Exclusionary food labels aside, this a lovely, simple, seasonal dish that is ready in 15 minutes. The trick to a great soba noodle dish is going big on flavor, so we heaped on the pungent tastes of garlic, ginger, and soy. Seasonal variants of soba noodles with a pungent vinaigrette and veggie noodles is a frequent favorite in our household. Our summer version of this dish includes zucchini noodles and grilled squash.
Crunchy Broccoli Stem Slaw with Hoisin Vinaigrette
We’ve been taking our meals outside and the on the road recently, with sunny skies and weekend trips. This supremely Crunchy Broccoli Stem Slaw with Hoisin Vinaigrette is a portable salad win. We love this slaw for its deeply satisfying crispness, starting the brilliant use of thinly sliced broccoli stems, slivered red cabbage, bright carrots, crunchy peanuts and baked tortilla strips top off this slaw, with a punchy Asian inspired vinaigrette featuring hoisin and ginger. With a base of sturdy veggies, this slaw only improves as it sits, making it a prime work or school lunch, travel salad, or potluck dish. To cut down on prep time, you can grab a bag of pre-cut broccoli slaw mix at your local grocery.
Grilled Vegetable Soba Noodles with Rosemary Garlic Sauce
Cooking delicious food for guests with dietary preferences calls for creative use of the season's bounty. Our goal for a weeknight dinner with friends was a vegetarian, gluten-free main dish, using seasonal vegetables, ready in 30 minutes. After a visit to our local famers’ market, we set to work creating a vegetable based pasta dish with flavor and texture that would appeal to a wide range of eaters. To make Grilled Vegetable Soba Noodles with Rosemary Garlic Sauce, we grilled up fresh broccoli, cauliflower, green beans and zucchini. With a roasted garlic sauce in mind, we added whole garlic cloves to the grill, to see if we couldn’t achieve a roasted garlic flavor without turning on the oven. It worked brilliantly. While the vegetables and garlic grilled, we cooked up a quick batch of buckwheat soba noodles, a toothsome noodle that is also gluten free and cooks in 4 minutes. For a subtle sauce that would accompany the dish without overpowering the fresh flavors, we clipped some rosemary from our garden, added our grill-roasted garlic, a flurry of nutty parmesan cheese, and bright lemon for contrast. Enjoy summer vegetables and homespun food shared with the ones you love.
