SEPTEMBER 2, 2010 ISSUE
Mountain Living
Beans Reach for the Sky
Kwintus, left, is sweet and wonderful and remains stringless even when the pods are enormous. Cosse Violette pole beans, right, has clusters of beautiful purple beans framed by purple stems, purple accented leaves and lavender blossoms.Although the Derby beans we ate this week were very tasty, they may be the last bush beans in our gardens. The more years gardeners work the soil, the more likely they are to want to pick standing up rather than bent to the ground.
The abundant rain and sunshine have all of the pole beans twining to the top of their fences and reaching for any nearby tall sunflower so they can climb a few more feet. When Lowell and I sowed our first bean seeds, the tall pole beans seemed to all have an abundance of strings and become tough when grown to any size. Today we have wonderful tall climbing beans that are completely stringless and remain tender even when they grow large and meaty. If we eat and process beans regularly, the same plants that began giving us delicious meals months ago are still producing new beans and blossoms.
Northeaster is often the earliest, with rich, sweet, flat pods that are tender and stringless no matter how big they get. This year we harvested our first crop from Neopolitan, an Italian bean that is very productive. Fortex has round beans that are tender and delicious even when they grow over a foot long. Coss Violette has clusters of beautiful purple beans framed by purple stems, purple accented leaves and lavender blossoms.
Kwintus may be the best of all. Another Italian selection, Kwintus is sweet and wonderful and remains stringless even when the pods are enormous.
We eat the first beans plain and revel in their beaniness. Next, they are still small and steamed, but we gild the bean lily with a little butter and fresh lemon. Soon, the beans are producing bushels, and we enjoy them roast them with olive oil and begin combing them with the other flavors of summer.
Fresh Beans with Tomatoes
Use your best, prettiest beans for this simple dish. The tomatoes add a little of their juiciness to the butter, which makes a lovely sauce that coats the beans for a delicious combination. You can enjoy this with any kind of small tomato. It is wonderful with little grape tomatoes that have good flavor all year and when we recently used sweet Sungolds it was the best ever. Although the tomato and bean combination is fabulous, you can use the same method with many other vegetables. Try asparagus or broccoli with tomatoes for more delicious dishes.
Ingredients:
3 cups cooked green beans
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 garlic clove
3 cups cherry or grape tomatoes
about ½ teaspoon salt
about 1 teaspoon sugar
freshly ground black pepper
½ cup fresh basil leaves
Preparation:
Cook your fresh beans or find your leftover ones.
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Peel the garlic and grate it into the butter. Cook for just a minute or so over medium heat, stirring constantly to make sure the garlic doesn't brown. Add the tomatoes, sprinkle with a little salt and sugar and cook, stirring constantly for about one minute.
Add the cooked beans to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, until everything is hot.
Pour into your prettiest dish, sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and cut thin ribbons of fresh basil over everything with your kitchen scissors.
Asian Green Beans
These fragrant beans taste wonderful and smell even better. They go well with any Chinese or Thai meal and are also good with sliced heirloom tomatoes and corn on the cob. Tender little green beans cook in just a minute or two and are perfect for this quick recipe. You can also use older beans, but be sure to steam them for a few minutes so they will be cooked enough when you finish the recipe. If I have some nice homemade chicken stock I will use it instead of the water for even more flavor. The combination of red hot pepper flakes, fresh ginger and black pepper makes the beans pretty spicy, so make sure your family wants all of that heat before you use the full amounts or up the spice if you want them blazing hot. If you like this dish in Chinese restaurants you may want to add some salt as the beans usually have soy sauce and salt but the soy is plenty for us. Although this is special with fresh green beans you can also enjoy this recipe with frozen or canned ones this winter.
Ingredients:
2 pounds fresh tender young green beans (about 6 cups raw)
2 tablespoons peanut or other light vegetable oil
1 medium onion
sprinkle of salt and sugar
1 teaspoon red hot pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
1 tablespoon fresh ginger
4 large garlic cloves
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon toasted dark sesame oil
Preparation:
Wash the beans well and prepare them for cooking. If they have strings, remove all of them very thoroughly. If they are young, tender and stringless, just remove the tips and tails. Leave small beans whole or break larger ones into pieces.
If your beans are not as young and tender as you would like, precook them by steam for just a few minutes while you cook the rest of the vegetables. Very young and tender green beans will not need the extra cooking and will be perfect just cooked in the pan.
Heat the oil in a very large skillet. Peel and chop the onion and add to the pan along with a pinch of salt and plain white sugar. Cook over medium high heat, stirring frequently, until the onion has wilted and is beginning to turn golden. This will only take a couple of minutes.
Add the red pepper flakes and continue to cook another minute or so to toast the pepper. Peel the ginger and garlic and mince. Add them to the pan and cook another couple of minutes, stirring constantly, until you can smell the wonderful garlic and ginger aroma.
Add the sugar to the pan and cook until it melts, then add the washed beans or the partially cooked ones if you needed to precook some older beans. Stir to coat the beans with everything in the pan and begin cooking while you mix the sauce.
Combine the water with the soy sauce and the cornstarch. Stir well until the cornstarch has dissolved. Add the cornstarch mixture to the beans and cook, stirring constantly, until the liquid comes to a simmer, thickens and turns clear.
Add the black pepper, drizzle with the sesame oil and serve piping hot.
To make a comment, ask a question or find out more about sources, contact Amy at amycookehcp@bellsouth.net.
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