Blue Cayenne

Oh, how I wish I had a vegetable garden! I would try my hand at growing everything.

Gene, my good friend and neighbor, has a flourishing vegetable garden this year. On occasion, he lets me come down and dig around to get my fix. Along with tomatoes, zucchini and beets, he has beautiful bush beans and a few days ago I was lucky enough to get some of his first beans.

What a treat!

I’m far from alone in enjoying green beans. Green beans are the most popular edible pod bean in the United States.

Green beans originated in South America–probably Peru– thousands of years ago and their cultivation was spread to other parts of South America and northward by migrating Indian tribes. When the Europeans arrived in the Americas, green beans became part of the great Columbian Exchange. (You remember the Columbian Exchange from your history classes. America got, among other things, coffee beans, bananas, olives and onions. Europe, Asia and Africa got potatoes, tomatoes, vanilla and beans.)

In the European part of that exchange, the cultivation of the beans quickly spread throughout the Mediterranean region with the new crop becoming particularly popular in Greece, Turkey and Italy. Here is a 1543 European woodcut of a man ravenously-consuming green beans from the Americas–either that or he is shouting at the beans. Can’t tell.

So, this recipe, with its feta and mint, is a tip of the hat to that early Mediterranean love affair with the bean.

But first, a bit of food chemistry… This month, in their July-August issue, Cooks Illustrated Magazine ran a piece about cooking green beans. (They also featured the original version of this recipe.) Their article drew upon the writings of food expert Harold McGee (On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of The Kitchen). Seems that the magic in cooking tender vibrantly-green green beans is cooking them quickly in very salty water. Accoding to Cooks Illustrated (quoting McGee), “when vegetables are cooked in salted water, sodium ions displace some of the calcium ions in their cell walls…causing the vegetable to soften.”

Gene’s Beans: Green Bean Salad With Cherry Tomatoes and Feta

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds green beans (trimmed and cut into 1 to 2 inch lengths)
• 1/4 C. table salt (plus 1/4 t. for salad dressing)
• 12 ounces cherry tomatoes (halved)
• 1/4 C. extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 T. chopped fresh mint
• 2 T. chopped fresh parsley
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 1/4 t. pepper
• 2 ounces feta cheese (crumbled) or more to your taste

Instructions

1. Boil 2 quarts of water in a large pan. Add green beans and 1/4 C. salt to the boiling water. Cook until green beans are a bright green color and are tender. This will take 5-8 minutes.
2. When beans are tender, drain and immediately put into an ice bath until the beans are cool. When beans are cool, spin in a salad spinner until the beans are dry.
3. Combine tomatoes, oil, mint, parsley, lemon juice, pepper and salt in a large bowl. Add the green beans and toss to combine. Let the beans sit on your counter for a while to allow them to absorb the flavors of the other ingredients.
4. Plate on a pretty platter and sprinkle with feta.

7.8.1.2

197

https://bluecayenne.com/genes-beans-green-bean-salad-with-cherry-tomatoes-and-feta

This recipe is adapted from one that appears in Cook’s Illustrated Magazine. Here is the link: Green Bean Salad With Cherry Tomatoes and Feta.

Potato salad.

It’s a beautiful thing.

Buttermilk Potato Salad

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Ingredients

• 3 pounds small red potatoes
• Kosher salt
• 1 C. mayonnaise
• 1/4 C. buttermilk
• 2 T. Dijon mustard
• 2 T. whole-grain mustard
• 1/2 C. chopped fresh dill (or to taste)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 C. medium-diced celery
• 1/2 C. small-diced red onion
• Diced red onion, chopped parsley, chopped fresh red bell pepper for garnish

Instructions

1. Steam potatoes until they are tender when pierced with a knife. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut into halves or fourths depending upon the side of the potato.
2. Whisk mayonnaise, buttermilk, mustards, 1 t. salt salt and 1 t. pepper together. Set aside.
3. Assemble salad by mixing the warm steamed potatoes with the buttermilk dressing. Let the potatoes sit for a while so that they can absorb some of the dressing. Add celery and red onion, salt and pepper to taste. Toss.
4. Cover the salad and refrigerate overnight. Garnish and serve at room temperature.

Nutrition

Calories

2600 cal

Fat

171 g

Carbs

188 g

Protein

66 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

7.8.1.2

194

https://bluecayenne.com/buttermilk-potato-salad

This recipe is adapted from one that appears in Barefoot Contessa At Home. The book is available on Amazon here.

Ever considered making your smoothies in your washing machine?

I didn’t think so.

Apparently others have. ABP, a Hindi news station in India, has reported instances where Indian smoothies, lassis, have been bulk produced in washing machines. HSBC , the British multinational banking and financial services holding company, even distributed a cute advertisement about the practice. You can see it here:  HBSC Lassi Washing Machines.

So, why am I bringing this up? Smoothies have been on my mind lately and I’ve been enjoying a lot of them as breakfast drinks.  I recently came across a recipe for Mango Lassi Frozen Yogurt and I couldn’t wait to give that recipe a try.

A lassi, if you are unfamiliar with the drink, is an Indian smoothie made with dahi (yogurt) and water.  Indian sources are hazy about the ancient origins of the drink but not hesitant to tout its virtues. Lassi is claimed to have Ayurvedic healing properties, calming the mind and healing the body. Devotees credit the probiotic drink with everything from cooling you down on a hot day to aiding the digestion of heavy food.

The drink is a blank, creamy canvas for all sorts of variations including spice-laced lassis, sugared ones, and fruit-based ones like mango lassis. Sometimes there are other additives, too. Anthony Bourdain, ever the food adventurer, was able to seek out a lassi (a bhang lassi) laced with cannabis in Rajhastan. He recorded the experience on his program, No Reservations, and joked that he wanted a “wake up in the morning…what the hell happened?…where is my passport? these aren’t my clothes” kind of experience. Funny tragic man.

Here is the recipe for Mango Lassi Frozen Yogurt. It is as delicious as it is beautiful.

Mango Lassi Frozen Yogurt

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Ingredients

• 3 ripe medium-size mangoes (peeled and diced)
• 1 1/2 C. full-fat plain yogurt
• 1 C. half and half
• 1 C. sugar
• 1/2 t. grated lime zest (from one lime or to your taste)
• Juice of 2 limes (to taste)
• Kosher salt (to taste)
• Diced fresh mango, fresh raspberries and additional lime zest for garnish

Instructions

1. Puree mangoes in processor until very smooth. You need about 1 1/2 C. puree for this recipe.
2. Put mango puree, yogurt, half and half, sugar and lime zest into a large bowl and whisk until combined. Whisk the mixture long enough that the sugar dissolves in the liquids and is not gritty. Gradually add the lime juice and kosher salt to the mixture to your taste. (I added the juice of both small limes and a good pinch of kosher salt to my batter.)
3. Chill the batter and then churn it in the ice cream maker of your choice. Once it is churned, store the frozen yogurt in an airtight container in your freezer for 3 o 4 hours before serving. If the frozen yogurt is very hard when you are ready to serve it, let it sit on your counter to soften.
4. Serve garnished with diced fresh mango, fresh raspberries and more lime zest. (The fresh raspberries are spectacular with this dish.)

Nutrition

Calories

375 cal

Fat

25 g

Carbs

43 g

Protein

7 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

7.8.1.2

191

https://bluecayenne.com/mango-lassi-frozen-yogurt

This recipe is adapted from one that appears on the Serious Eats site here.