This growing season has been so great, you guys! The quantity of vegetables hasn’t gotten overwhelming, and the variety has been a joy.
This week wax beans showed up for the first, but hopefully not last, time. It’s been fun having all these fresh beans to play with — so far this summer I’ve made Italian-style green bean and potato salad, Asian-inspired sesame green beans and, this week, a good old-fashioned American three bean salad. And I haven’t run out of ideas yet, so bring on those beans, Farmer Ted!
In addition to the beans, let’s see what else turned up in my CSA in Week 9.
Week 9 Haul:
- Lettuce
- Tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Bell peppers
- String and wax beans
- Swiss chard
- Bianca onions
- Bunched basil
What Rolled Over?
A few onions and a quarter head of red cabbage. Hopefully carrots will show up soon and I can turn that lingering cabbage into slaw!
Tomato Count
This week: 9
Season to date: 33
We got two large heirloom tomatoes and were allowed to choose 7 from a selection of small-to-medium sized tomatoes. I went for the roma, which are great for making tomato sauce.
What I Made (Italics represent CSA vegetables used)
- Filet mignon topped with caramelized bianca onions and blue cheese, roasted mushrooms, sautéed swiss chard with shallots, garlic and lemon
- Caprese BLTs, three bean salad with wax and green beans, red bell pepper, cucumber and bianca onions
- Linguine with fresh tomato sauce, side salad with lettuce, tomato, bell pepper, cucumber and homemade croutons
- Cucumber and jalapeno salad
- Pesto
Technique of the Week: A Lighter Three Bean Salad
I love three bean salad in a way that borders on odd. I mean, who feels passionately about three bean salad? Well … I do. So when wax beans turned up in this week’s haul, I knew exactly what I was going to do with them!
The problem with a lot of three bean salad recipes is that they call for more sugar and oil than I care for. I want to taste vegetables, not salad oil! The dressing for my version of three bean salad takes my preference into account, but you can certainly increase the sugar and oil to ¼ cup each if you prefer a sweeter salad. I also like to round out the three beans with some cucumber and bell pepper, which is not necessarily traditional, but is very tasty. Plus, I’m drowning in cucumbers.
This is homemade three bean salad but seriously the canned stuff is still my jam
A photo posted by Jolie Kerr (@joliekerr) on
For the salad:
1 pound of mixed wax and green beans
1 15 ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
¼-½ cup onion (about half a small onion), diced and soaked in water for 5 minutes
1 small red bell pepper, diced (optional)
1 cucumber, diced (optional)
For the dressing:
2 tablespoons salad oil
⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the green and wax beans until just tender, 4-5 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold running water to stop the cooking.
Prepare the dressing by whisking all the ingredients together.
In a large bowl, combine the cooled green and wax beans with the kidney beans, onions, bell pepper and cucumber, if using. Dress the salad and, using your hands, toss well to combine. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour before serving.
Standout Meal of the Week: A BLT Mash-up
The bunched basil we got this week, along with two beautiful heirloom tomatoes, put me in mind of two things: Caprese salad and BLT sandwiches. So I decided to mash them up and serve what I’m now calling “caprese BLTs” alongside the three bean salad for a perfect Sunday dinner to eat on a hot summer night.
The CBLTs consisted of turkey bacon, sliced fresh mozzarella, lettuce, tomato and basil on sliced and toasted sourdough bread. You could, of course, substitute whatever kind of bread and bacon you prefer — just bear in mind that the bread should be hearty enough to hold all those wonderful ingredients without the sandwich falling apart in your hands!
Join me here each week, as well as on Twitter and Instagram, as I wash, chop, cook and eat my way through my CSA using the hashtag #CSASurvival. Got questions for me? Ask away!
