Day 10: Eat Your Vegetables

A few people have suggested recipes and cooking as topics for this month's theme. The fact is, I enjoy cooking, and baking even more, but I can't say after all these years of practice that I'm a seasoned (ha!) pro. Well, maybe at brisket, from a traditional family recipe taken from the internet. I do have a few "old standbys" that can be counted on to please the crowd, and because I've spent an inordinate amount of space discussing meat and candy already, I'm going to devote today's post to those neglected green parts of my "balanced" diet.

Today's first recipe came from TV Guide about 10 years ago, from a column called "Celebrity Dish" with Vicki Lewis, who starred in NewsRadio. The theme of the week was "Oscar Noshes for Award-Night Bashes." I do think I've served this dish at Oscar parties, only because I serve it at nearly every party. I've never caught anyone in the act, but I wouldn't be surprised if guests have tried to lick the bowl--the sauce is just that good.

I'm not going to give you the original recipe, because after digging this crumpled, yellowing relic out of my recipe scrapbook, I can see that I've clearly been improvising for who knows how long. And I like my version, so here it is:

Sweet and Savory Green Beans

1 lb. green beans (I use the Trader Joe's haricots vert, pre-cut and washed in the bag, but only because I'm a lazy slob who hates our mother, the planet Earth)

1/2 cup pine nuts (optional)
1/2 cup black currants (optional)
Dijon mustard
Honey
Balsamic vinegar (the best stuff you can find)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil or steam the green beans until tender but still green and fresh-looking. Set aside. (This dish can be served warm or room-temperature, also useful for parties.)

2. Add honey, mustard and vinegar to a bowl. You'll need to eyeball it: I do about a Tbsp. of honey and vinegar, and a heaping teaspoon of mustard. You can double those amounts if you're making more beans. Add pepper and salt. Whisk vigorously until dressing emulsifies. Dip your finger in and taste (I won't tell.) If you want it sweeter, add more honey and vinegar--zestier, add more mustard.

3. Place beans in bowl (as well as currants and pine nuts if you desire, but the beans are plenty delicious without) and toss like a salad until beans are fully coated in dressing. Serve immediately, or arrange in decorative platter for a later buffet.

My next dish also has an illustrious history--I first made it in 1994. The recipe is a stained photocopy from a book on Thai cuisine that my friend Jane checked out of the UCSD library. She was planning an authentic Thai feast, and it truly was a feast. She spent a couple of days preparing that meal, but later I asked her to cook some of the simpler stuff with me at home. We decided on Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce (I still make the peanut sauce; the satay is labor intensive since we had to thread it onto bamboo skewers) and Cucumber Salad, and they were both exquisitely scrumptious and very different from my usual mid-week meals.

By now, I've made this salad a hundred times. If you make it, be aware that it's most delicious cold, so let it chill several hours in the fridge before serving (and in a sealed container, it keeps for two weeks!)

Sweet and Sour Thai Cucumber Salad

4-6 pickling cucumbers (can substitute hothouse or Peruvian cukes, but standard full-size have too many seeds)
2 shallots (can substitute 1/2 a red or Vidalia onion)
1 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup water
4 Tbsp. sugar
pinch turmeric
2 large cloves of garlic (original recipe calls for one, but I love garlic)
1/2 tsp. salt

1. Peel cucumbers, cut length-wise, and slice into very thin half-moon slices.
2. Chop shallots or onion.
3. Place cucumbers and onion into large heat-safe bowl.
4. In saucepan, combine vinegar, water, sugar, salt, minced garlic, and turmeric (note: use a very SMALL pinch unless you want the whole dish to be bright yellow) and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir to dissolve sugar.
5. Pour boiled mixture over vegetables and allow to cool slightly. Cover and refrigerate.

Serving suggestion: Serve with saucy chicken dishes, especially those with Asian flavors. Also great with peanut noodles.

Readers, I'd love to hear your "simple but special" veggie preparations. Bon Appetit!