Potato Salad Goes Green

In a bowl of potato salad there was some green. Not a nasty, dirty, wet green with the fuzz of mold and an oozy smell, nor a dry, pretentious green, not worth sitting down to and not fit to eat: it was potato salad, and that means comfort.

And those of you who haven’t committed the first lines of The Hobbit to memory can enjoy this potato salad, too. It’s just as easy as any other potato salad, but can help you use up some of the other stuff you have languishing in the refrigerator..er..um…has more healthy and delicious green vegetables than you might typically see in this summer staple food.

This all started with a creamy tarragon dressing recipe for potato salad that I think I clipped from Martha Stewart Living Magazine ages ago. My tarragon plant survived the winter and has been growing nicely on my patio, so it was time to use some. I also had lots of broccoli and green beans from the CSA (the potatoes, creamy and sweet Yukon gold new potatoes with very thin skins, were from there as well.) Those greener things were destined to supplement the potatoes in a nice and tasty salad.

I steamed the beans and broccoli just a bit. I still wanted them to have some crunch and still taste like vegetables and not boiled green mush, but I also wanted to take the harder raw edge off of them so they would be more pleasant to eat in the salad. I used to microwave to steam them, much like I did for the asparagus in this recipe, then shocked them by running them under cold water, drained them well, and chilled them until I was ready to finish the salad.

The potatoes I boiled in their skins until cooked through, which, to me, is the only way to prepare them for salad. I let them cool, then chilled them as well. I find that cooked potatoes slice much more neatly when they are completely cold. You could peel the potatoes after cooking them, but since mine were organic, I left the very soft and thin skins intact.

The dressing started out as a simple vinaigrette laced with tarragon and thickened with sour cream. I let it stay pretty creamy, but I really bumped up the Dijon mustard content considerably and cut back the sour cream. The result was nice and tangy and the Dijon goes well with the tarragon, which is present but not overwhelming. You could use more if you love it, or replace it with another herb if wish. I think thyme would be good, and so might basil, thinly sliced, or chiffonade if you cook with your pinky finger extended.

I suppose the flavors and style of this salad might be considered French-influenced. Really for me, it was influenced by the fabulous fresh and green summer vegetables I happened to have on hand. That and a love of new potatoes in salads. I could eat potato salads every week and they’re so easily variable, who knows what I’ll be able to try next…. Spuds “go ever ever on.”


Potato, Broccoli and Green Bean Salad with Tarragon Mustard Dressing

1 pound boiling potatoes (I had Yukon gold new potatoes), about 4 medium-size potatoes
8 ounces broccoli crowns, cut into bite-size florets
4 ounces green beans, stem ends trimmed, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon coarse salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh tarragon

1. Scrub the potatoes clean. Place them in a large pot of cold water. Bring to a boil and cook, boiling moderately until the potatoes can be pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes (but rely on tenderness more than time). Cool the potatoes, then chill completely.

2. Place the broccoli and beans in a microwave-safe container. Add a splash of water. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Punch several holes in the plastic with a knife. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Carefully remove the plastic wrap, avoiding any steam. Plunge the broccoli and beans in ice water or run very cold water over them to stop the cooking. Drain well and chill.

3. To make the dressing, combine the vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Slowly add the olive oil, whisking until well-combined. Stir in the sour cream and tarragon. Set aside.

4. Peel the potatoes if desired (I didn’t). Quarter them and cut into about ½ inch slices. Place in a large bowl with the broccoli and beans. Add the dressing and toss well to combine.

Makes 6-8 servings. Leftover salad will keep for a few days refrigerated.


Other recipes like this one: Lemon Herb Potato Salad, Broccoli and Chickpea Salad with Mustard-Pepper Dressing

One year ago: Turkey Burgers with Cilantro Lime Aioli

Two years ago: Pickled Sugar Snap Peas

Revisiting Fire

It must have been a move on the part of the early industrialized generations away from barbaric cooking with fire. They wanted to prove they could use more interesting tools. They wanted to use modern devices like cooking stoves and pots that could hold and heat water. I’m chalking it all up to excitement over new-fangled culinary gadgets. They couldn’t really have set out to totally ruin string beans.

The green bean and yellow wax bean varieties we eat today no longer have the fibrous string that gave them their old fashioned name, but they’re still susceptible to destruction by over-boiling. Those mushy, brownish, vegetable-like bits that passed themselves off as green beans in my childhood almost made me swear off vegetables for life. Luckily, my mom grew lots of beans in her garden, so I knew what they were supposed to be.

I’ve been sticking with raw or blanched beans for most recipes, being afraid to overcook them. Recently, however, I came across a couple recipes for roasted green beans. I really enjoy other roasted vegetables and I figured that at high, dry heat, the beans would brown and perhaps crisp, but wouldn’t turn to mush. Since the season for green and yellow beans corresponds with the time I want to use the grill instead of the oven, I took back the fire and converted roasted beans into grilled beans.

I basically used the same techniques and equipment as I do to make grilled potatoes. A pan for the grill is essential, unless you’re really good at keeping beans from falling through grill grates. (You could also cover the rack with foil if you don’t have a pan.) I tossed the beans with olive oil, salt and pepper, grilled them until they were just getting tender and brown, then tossed the hot beans with a bit of lemon juice and fresh parsley. The results were so delicious it was hard to believe the recipe was so simple. And by revisiting primitive, fire-fueled (albeit with propane-fueled fire) cooking, green and yellow beans can be reintroduced to the realm of real food.

Grilled Green or Yellow Beans
I’ve had equal success with both green beans and yellow wax beans.

½ pound green beans or yellow wax beans, trimmed
1 tablespoon olive oil, preferably extra-virgin
¼ teaspoon salt
a few grinds of freshly-ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1. Preheat a gas or charcoal grill.

2. Place the beans in a large bowl. Add olive oil, salt and pepper and toss to coat the beans.

3. Place the beans in a pan on the preheated grill. Cover and grill 10 to 15 minutes or until the beans are beginning to brown in places, stirring or tossing occasionally. (You can always taste one to test for doneness.)

4. Remove from the grill and place in a large bowl (the bowl you used before is probably fine). Add lemon juice and parsley and toss to combine.

Makes 2 generous side dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: Grilled Potatoes with Lime-Herb Dipping Sauce, Green Bean and Shiitake Salad with Creamy Wasabi Dressing, Mustard Greens and Green Bean Stir Fry with Peanuts

One year ago: Granola

Adventures in Green Beans and Wasabi

Several months ago, when it was definitely the green bean off-season, Harry ordered an appetizer at a chain restaurant that consisted of battered and fried green beans and a creamy wasabi dipping sauce. While the dish itself was predictably average overall, I loved the combination of wasabi and green beans. I’ve been thinking about that combination since that fateful day and looking forward to the arrival of green beans in our CSA box like I never had before.


Those beans did arrive earlier this month, perfectly crisp and pale green, and earlier than I had expected. Fortunately, for once I was well-prepared and had a tube of wasabi paste waiting for the occasion.

If you’re not familiar with wasabi, it is basically Japanese horseradish. You can get it as a pale green paste (in a tube) or powder. I’ve found the powder in average supermarket spice racks, and the paste seems to be fairly easily available in the Asian food departments of those same supermarkets (by the soy sauce, rice vinegar, etc.) Its flavor is a bit more smooth and delicate than European horseradish, but it packs a similar punch. The vapors from a large enough dose can escape the soft palate to fumigate the nasal passages and make the eyes water. While I like that about wasabi, I realize that may not be everyone’s ideal culinary experience. If that’s not how you roll, consider this a warning to go easy on the wasabi.

As tempting as it would have been to make fried or tempura green beans and a wasabi dipping sauce, I decided to display this flavor combo in a salad. Personally, I think the best way to totally ruin a green bean is to cook it. That being said, I also find them a little too hard to chew as the main ingredient of a salad if they are raw, so I blanched them for this salad. If, rather than boiling the heck out of them, you just boil them for a few minutes, then shock them in ice water to stop the cooking, you’ll have pleasantly tender-crisp beans rather than the greenish mush that seems to have plagued so many childhoods

I also reconstituted a few dried shiitake mushrooms for this salad, which were quite a good addition. You could use a small handful of fresh shiitake caps instead. Other mushrooms might work also, but the distinctive, slightly smoky flavor of the shiitakes was really what I was looking for.

A few other Asian flavors round out the creamy dressing, but I have to admit that I may have overachieved when it came to the wasabi experience. I added a whole tablespoon of wasabi paste, and if you’re not adventurous when it comes to bold flavors, you’ll definitely want to use less. I’ve included a range of quantities of wasabi that I think is reasonable in the recipe below. To me, a little eye watering at the dinner table is all part of the show, but if that’s not your thing, use less wasabi and seek your thrills elsewhere.

Green Bean and Shiitake Salad with Creamy Wasabi Dressing
You could use a small handful of fresh shiitake mushroom caps in place of the reconstituted dried mushrooms.

¼ cup chopped walnuts
½ ounce dried shiitake mushrooms
1 pound green beans, stem ends removed, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives or green onion tops
1 tablespoon soy sauce (I use reduced sodium)
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon to1 tablespoon wasabi paste (1 tablespoon is very strong)
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil

1. Heat the walnuts in a dry skillet over medium-low heat until just beginning to brown. Remove from the heat and cool.

2. Place the dried shiitake mushrooms in a small bowl. Pour boiling water over them to cover completely. Let stand about 20 minutes or until completely reconstituted. Remove the mushrooms from the water and thinly slice. Set aside.

3. Prepare a large bowl of ice water and set aside. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the beans to the boiling water and stir. Boil 3 minutes. Remove the beans with a slotted spoon and plunge them into the ice water to stop cooking. When the beans have cooled, drain them well and place in a bowl.

4. Add the sliced shiitakes to the green beans. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, chives or green onions, soy sauce, rice vinegar, wasabi paste and sesame oil. Whisk well to combine. Pour the mayonnaise mixture over the bean mixture and mix well to coat. Sprinkle the toasted walnuts over the top.

Makes about 4 servings. Chill any leftovers for a few days.

Another green bean recipe: Mustard Green and Green Bean Stir Fry with Peanuts

Seitan Stir Fry

Well, I made about a pound of seitan, so I tried a stir fry with vegetables to test it out as an ingredient. I actually started with a recipe (unusual for me when making stir fry), which had, in addition to the seitan, shiitake mushrooms, some green beans (I used asparagus, too) and black bean garlic sauce, a perky Asian condiment. I also added some dried hot chile peppers, which turned out to be my downfall.

In an effort to create the more authentic flavor developed in a very hot wok, I’ve been trying to make stir-fried dishes at the maximum heat the largest burner on the stove will give. Unfortunately, when making this particular stir fry, I got a little careless with the hot pan and the peppers and garlic. I now have some idea what it is like to be pepper sprayed. I coughed, sniffed, blew my nose and wiped my eyes all through dinner, unable to taste much of anything.

So, the recipe and method weren’t perfect. I decided I wanted more asparagus, fewer mushrooms, and a lot less tear gas, so I tried again with the rest of the seitan. There was a limited amount of asparagus left in the refrigerator, but I did have some green beans, and, while I preferred the yummy asparagus, the beans were good too. I also was much more careful with the peppers and managed to avoid coughing my way through the meal.

Oh yeah, and the seitan was good in this stir fry. It pretty much picks up the flavors around it, especially the black bean garlic sauce, which is rich and savory, plus a little salty (loaded with umami if that’s what you’re into) like a soy sauce on steroids. You can find it with the Asian condiments in large grocery stores. If you don’t want to use seitan, homemade or otherwise, and you want to keep the dish vegetarian, you could use extra-firm tofu (I find that they resemble each other quite a bit). Just about any other dense protein, like chicken, pork or beef would probably be good, too.


Seitan Stir Fry with Asparagus, Green Beans and Black Bean Garlic Sauce
Based on a recipe in Cooking Light magazine

If you’re serving this dish with rice, it’s a good idea to wait until the rice is cooked, or almost cooked before beginning to cook the stir fry.

4 large dried shiitake mushrooms
1 cup boiling water
¼ cup Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
2 tablespoons black bean garlic sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoons canola, peanut, or vegetable oil
8 ounces sliced seitan, drained if stored in liquid
3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 dried chile peppers, broken in half
1 pound chopped asparagus, green beans or a mixture

1. Place the shiitake mushrooms in a small bowl and pour the boiling water over them. Let stand about 20 minutes, or until completely reconstituted. (You can slice, chop, etc the remaining ingredients while waiting for the mushrooms to soak.)

2. Drain the mushrooms, reserving the liquid. Thinly slice the mushrooms and set aside.

3. To the mushroom soaking liquid, add the Shaoxing wine, black bean garlic sauce, and cornstarch. Whisk well to combine and dissolve all of the cornstarch. Set aside.

4. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a wok or large frying pan over high heat. Add the seitan and stir fry until golden brown. Remove from the heat and remove the seitan from the pan. Set aside.


5. Add the remaining oil to the pan, leaving it off the heat. (This is how I avoided gassing myself!) Add the garlic and chiles and stir them for about 30 seconds. (If the pan is not hot enough for them to sizzle, you can return it to the heat, but be careful not to scorch them.)

6. Return the pan to the heat and add the asparagus and/or green beans. Stir fry 5-7 minutes or until they are tender-crisp. (I actually like mine a little crunchy.)

7. Add the mushrooms and stir fry 2 minutes. Stir in the seitan.

8. Stir the mushroom liquid mixture (to re-dissolve any settled cornstarch) and pour it into the pan. Stir and cook until the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from the heat and serve, preferably over rice or noodles.

Makes about 4 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Mustard Greens and Green Bean Stir Fry with Peanuts, Spicy Chicken Stir Fry

One Year ago: Simple Shredded Carrot Salad with Pomegranate Molasses Vinaigrette

Stir Crazy

Sometimes, the vegetables pile up. (I get big boxes of them from a CSA.) I like to try new recipes using this or that, and then something else gets neglected. When this happens, I try to take a look at what I have and improvise a soup, a pasta dish, or a stir fry, any of which will use up more than one and sometimes several vegetables in one dish. Last year, it was this kind of thinking that led to a pleasantly bitter stir fry with the mustard greens and green beans residing in my refrigerator together, both in desperate need of a new home.

Normally, I don’t bother thinking of a stir fry as a recipe. I usually just fling vegetables, and aromatics (and often proteins as well) around on high heat in a wok and splash things like soy sauce or tamari, rice vinegar or Chinese black vinegar, and something like Shaoxing wine on them, and serve it over rice or noodles. This time, however, I liked the way the ingredients worked and played together so well that I actually wrote down the details of the dish. Then, I waited a year to have both mustard greens and green beans in my possession at the same time, and tried it again. Hey, what do you know…still good!

Even though I wrote this up as a recipe, the vegetables are really just suggestions. You could use other spicy or dark bitter greens. We got a nice Asian sauté mix in our CSA box this week that I’m sure would work just as well. Alas, we didn’t get more green beans, but I think broccoli would work nicely, too. (Plus broccoli florets have all those nooks and crannies that so nicely trap stir fry sauces.) You could also use cabbage or even celery instead of the bok choy. Add a protein if you wish, such as chicken, tofu, beef, shrimp or pork.

Chinese black vinegar and Shaoxing wine are becoming easier to find in supermarkets and co-ops (and if you have an Asian market nearby they’re probably there.) I prefer their tastes, but you could use rice vinegar and dry sherry in their places. Since I don’t know anyone who just keeps a bottle of dry sherry lying around, it may take you as much effort to get a hold of that. You’ll definitely be able to find it, however, at a liquor store or wine and spirits shop. I have to say I don’t recommend the so-called “cooking wines” in the supermarkets (probably in the aisle with the vinegars), but, honestly, they probably wouldn’t totally ruin your meal either.

I find that the stir fry experience is much more enjoyable if I take the time and make the space to prepare everything before I even heat the wok

I hate flying around, trying to chop something in the 30 seconds it takes the garlic and ginger to cook or missing an ingredient in my rush…and then burning myself. If this lifestyle suits you, by all means knock yourself out. I find a vegetable stir fry to somehow taste better, however, when I’ve loved the process rather than resented it. The mustard greens and darkened peanuts should be pleasantly bitter rather than the object of my bitterness. I suppose you could say I prefer to be more Zen than “stir” crazy.

Mustard Greens and Green Bean Stir Fry with Peanuts
Have your accompaniments, such as rice or noodles cooked and ready before you begin stir frying.

3 tablespoons peanut or canola oil
½ cup raw peanuts
2 teaspoons sesame oil, divided
1 cup thinly-sliced onion
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 dried chile pepper, broken into a few pieces
2 cups chopped bok choy, stems and leaves separated
2 cups chopped trimmed green beans
¼ cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar
2 tablespoons Shoxing wine
1 bunch mustard greens, thick stems removed and discarded, chopped
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed well with ¼ cup water

1. Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add the peanuts and stir fry until just beginning to darken in color. Watch carefully and avoid burning the peanuts. Carefully remove the peanuts with a slotted spoon and set aside.

2. Add 1 teaspoon sesame oil to the hot oil in the wok. Add the onions and stir fry until they begin to brown and soften, about 2 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic and chile pepper and stir fry 30 seconds.

3. Add the bok choy stems and the green beans. Stir fry about 3 minutes, or until beginning to get tender. Add the soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar and Shoxing wine.

4. Place the mustard greens and bok choy greens on top of the other vegetables and liquid. All to steam about 1 minute, or until the greens begin to wilt. Stir the greens down into the rest of the ingredients and stir fry until the greens are completely wilted.

5. Stir in the cornstarch mixture and bring to a boil. Cook until the sauce begins to thicken. Stir in the remaining 1 teaspoon sesame oil and the browned peanuts. Serve with hot cooked rice.

Makes about 4 servings. Leftovers are great reheated the next day.