Green Bean Cooking Tricks and Wisdom

I learned a trick and some wisdom from this recipe I will pass on to you. And not difficult either. It's green bean time. I got a big garden-fresh bag of them from my neighbor who has the best gardening spot for beans.

Green Beans with Olive Oil, Basil and Parmesan (serves 4)

1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces
1/3 cup red onion, chopped fine
1/3 cup washed, patted-dry, and chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
bowl of ice water
2 tablespoons of Parmesan or Romano cheese, grated
salt to taste
fresh-ground pepper to taste

1. Put the tablespoon of salt in 3 quarts of water. Heat the water to boiling.
2. While you wait, chop the red onion and put it into a bowl of water to soak (mellows the flavor; that's the trick).
3. When water is boiling, put the beans in it. Cook for 2 to 5 minutes depending on the beans. You want them bright green and slightly crisp ("al dente"). If you cook them longer than 7 minutes they will lose their bright color. (That's the wisdom.)
4. Meanwhile, drain the chopped onion well, put it in a large bowl with the olive oil and vinegar, and prepare a separate bowl of ice water.
5. When beans are done, turn off the heat and use a slotted spoon to transfer them into the ice water so they stop cooking. Then drain them well; perhaps pat them dry. Place in bowl with the red onion,oil, vinegar and chopped basil and grind in some black pepper and toss. Then add the grated cheese and toss a bit more. Salt to taste. Serve.

Dairy-Free Ice Cream with No Ice-Cream-Maker

All you need is a blender to make your own dairy-free fruit ice cream. This easy recipe is from How It All Vegan, by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer (1999) and the photo is of the recipe made with frozen unsweetened strawberries. But any fresh or frozen fruit goes. Try peach!

"Anything Goes" Fruity Ice Cream (4-6 Servings)

2 cups soft tofu (or 1 aseptic nonrefrigerated package)
1/2 cup soy milk
1/3 cup oil
1 cup sugar (or 1/2 cup packaged sugar-stevia blend)
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1-1/2 cups "Anything Goes" fresh or frozen fruit (your choice)
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
dash of salt

In blender, combine all ingredients except 1/2 cup of the fruit, and blend together until very smooth and creamy. Place in a sealable container and freeze. Remove from freezer and defrost for 20-40 minutes. Place back in blender and blend again. Spoon back into the container and add the remaining fruit. Re-freeze. Remove from freezer 5 minutes before serving.

Basil-Walnut Spiral Dinner Rolls

I have way more pesto than I can use on pasta, so I had my bread machine stir up some half-white-half-whole-wheat dough, and then flattened the dough to a rectangle, massaged it with olive oil, cut it in half, paved each half with pesto and walnuts, rolled it up, and cut the tubes in two-inch pieces. These I flattened with the heel of my hand so the pesto-and-walnut spiral showed, placed them in pans and let them rise (outdoors! It's plenty warm there!) and baked for 15 minutes at 375 degrees. It made 14 rolls.

Machine dough, handmade dough, okay; but frozen bread dough, although convenient, has less texture and  high-fructose corn syrup in it, and it probably can't stand up to the taste of basil pesto.

How to Make 'Em Want Salad

Shrimp excites most everyone; so does avocado. Steam and chill the shrimp, add sliced avocado and grapefruit sections and serve on top of romaine. Drizzle this with your regular vinaigrette, doctored with a spoonful of prepared mustard. Mustard ties the flavors together wonderfully. Just remember: "Shrimp, Avocado and Grapefruit Salad." I threw in a halved cherry tomato.

Now's The Time

Go buy a watermelon. Cost about $5.99-$7.99 per this year because of fuel prices from trucking them up to here from Kennett. You will not regret your purchase. When we were kids we'd drill a hole in a watermelon and pour a bottle of vodka in it, slowly, and wait til the booze was all absorbed, then we'd eat it and get down with some Three Dog Night and Elton John. We weren't as ashamed to dance then as folks seem to be now. Our churches didn't say we couldn't.