I've posted about this Cashew-Ginger Tofu dish before. It's really a favorite for us - the tofu becomes very tender and the sauce is tangy/nutty/creamy/lightly spicy... and well, you know I love my sauces!
Today, though, I'll focus on the green beans. This side dish I just came up with and it won't be in ED&BV (there were only so many recipes I could squeeze in last minute!), so I will have to post it for you soon - especially because green beans are still in season. Often I prepare green beans by lightly broiling or sauteeing. With these cooking methods, they can retain a bit of a squeaky bite, which I enjoy sometimes... but not all the time. To fully tenderize them, they require longer broiling/sauteeing time or can be cooked in a stew or casserole, or simply through steaming or boiling. In this recipe for Dijon Herb Green Beans, the beans are boiled in a small amount of water until just tender to the bite, and then immediately rinsed through cold water to stop the cooking process. A dijon vinaigrette with chopped fresh herbs (I like tarragon or parsley, but dill or basil are also nice) is tossed through the cooled (and patted dry) beans. 
Here's a close up of the beans. Nummy, nummy!
This is a terrific side dish for the summer, or anytime of year because the dressing can be tossed into brussel sprouts in the fall or asparagus in the spring. The kids didn't care for the piquant dressing, and in anticipation of this distaste, I reserved some of the cooked beans. I gave them a dish of ketchup mixed with Udo's DHA oil and told them to dip their 'bean fries' in the ketchup. As you might expect, the yellow beans sold better as 'fries' than the green beans... so my next shop for beans was all yellow!
I'll post the recipe soon - you'll need 1/2 lb of green, yellow, or other colored string/snap beans. (Have you ever seen dragon-tongue beans? So much fun with their streaks of purple - though that purple disappears with cooking and the beans become a pale yellow - much like how purple snap beans turn a dark green with cooking.)
10 comments:
Love green bean! I have only had them once (well fresh ones) this season and they were the best yet. Looking forward for the recipes!
Oh my pre-order for ED&BV can not arrive soon enough. I can't wait! I should eat more green and yellow beans. I don't know why I don't because I totally adore them. I never even think to dress them up all fancy like you do Dreena!
Quick question for you Dreena. What do you think about the idea that we should moderate our soy intake? I swear, some days I get so discouraged because as vegans we are so good about all the animal products that we avoid and then it just feels like it is never enough because we are supposed to limit our soy too! Now what's a girl to eat? (I'm feeling only slightly guilty about giving into a tofu rampage this week)
Green beans are one of the very few (maybe only) veggies that I am not fond of. But the sauce sounds awesome, and I do love snap peas! I have seen those ragon tounge beans at the farmer's market, so maybe I'llpick them up and give them a try- I've never been very good at resisting buying fun looking food. Thanks for the post, I can't wait for ED&BV!
Veg-a-nut, the freshest green beans (or other color snap beans) are the best! They are much more tender than some of the beans you find in the stores off-season.
Biggie thanks, Melissa. :) With soy, I think there is *some* valid concern not to overdo soy, but I do believe that there is mostly a lot of misinformation and also fear tactics to limit or discourage consumption in favor of the dairy industry. Where I think there is valid concern is for vegetarians that consume a lot of soy over choosing other foods like legumes or nuts/seeds. Also, my feeling is that there is a big difference in consuming more pure forms of soy (tempeh, tofu, soy milk) and processed forms of soy (soy protein powders made with isolated soy; protein bars; soy cheeses, etc). I used to drink the Genisoy shakes years ago, and now I don't use them. But, I have no concern eating tofu or using soy milk. Also, I enjoy my treats, so I have soy ice-creams on hands, and we occasionally use soy cheeses - but our use of soy cheeses and soy sour cream, etc, is quite occasional. I've read that 1-2 servings of soy a day (being more pure forms) is just fine. It's when new vegetarians have soy for just about every meal that it is troublesome. And it's easy to overconsume soy in the transition to veg, because soy pops up in everything from chips to pasta to cereals. I never buy products with soy 'added' in - just not necessary imo. There's my two-cents! :)
Teresa, I think that's the first time I've heard you say you don't like a particular food/veggie! Yeah, get a small amount of the dragon-tongue beans some day and have one raw, and then try tossing with oil/salt and broiling until tender. Then add a tiny squeeze of lemon juice... then see what you think! But you know, if you still don't like them, that's totally fine - no one will ever convince me to like raw cabbage (ick)!
I have missed the last two weekends at my favorite farmer's market, so I can't wait for tomorrow morning when I can go again! Their weekday hours are so iffy.... but yes, I have seen those beans before and didn't know what they were called! I am also interested in trying the very long purple beans which I think are called Chinese string beans or something. They are about one to two feet long! I hear a stir-fry coming. Also, I got your very first cookbook, Dreena, and loved the Pesto Sauce and stuffed portabellas! (see my last post). I can never have enough cookbooks, but sometimes I just feel overwhelmed with all the things I want to make!
I'm excited about your new cookbook, and this tofu recipe alone could sell me on it! I'm also really pumped about those green beans--I love fresh green beans, especially when I can dress them up a little!
Thanks Dreena. That is encouraging. Sometimes all the information can be really imobilizing!
Ooh, I'll have to give those beans a try! I just picked up some yellow ones from the Farmer's Market yesterday (my 4 year old thought those looked yummier than the green ones) and I haven't decided what to do with them yet. :) I might have to steal your idea of letting the kids dip them, too...my kiddos do love dipping!
Hi Dreena...That cashew ginger tofu looks really good. Now that I've figured out what my "soy issues" were (soy protein isolate) I can freely enjoy tofu (well, with some limits!). I used to love the cashew chicken at Chinese restaurants (oh so many years ago) an have never really found anything quite like the sauce that was used. I can't wait to try this one!
Aimee
Oh my goodness! I cannot wait for the new book! I'm counting the days...
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