Green Beans Cool White Cheese And Hot Radishes Recipes

GREEN BEANS WITH CHEESE SAUCE

Steps:

• Bring 1/4 cup water just to a boil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the green beans and salt, cover and cook for 2 minutes. Uncover, raise the heat to high and cook until the water has evaporated, about 1 minute. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the butter and continue cooking until the beans are crisp-tender, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.
• Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring, until golden, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk, garlic powder, dry mustard, black pepper and cayenne and cook, whisking continuously, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the cheddar cheese and cream cheese and heat until melted. Pour the cheese sauce over the green beans, or serve on the side.

THE CRUNCHIEST VEGETABLE SALAD

Steps:

• Prepare the vegetables:
• Place cucumber, radishes, and scallions in a colander set inside a bowl of ice water. Press down on vegetables to submerge. Let soak, stirring occasionally, until very firm and crunchy, at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour. Drain and pat dry.
• Meanwhile, cook beans in a large pot of boiling generously salted water just until their color intensifies and they are barely softened, about 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, immediately transfer to a large bowl of salted ice water (use about 1 Tbsp. salt for every 2 quarts water).
• Return water in pot to a boil and repeat cooking process with sugar snap peas; add to bowl of ice water with beans. Let vegetables cool; drain and pat dry. Trim beans and remove strings from sugar snap peas. Slice into large pieces on a steep diagonal.
• Make the dressing and assemble:
• Whisk lime juice, oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and sugar in a large bowl; season dressing with salt and pepper. Add beans and peas and toss to coat. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Add cucumber, radishes, and scallions and toss to combine. Transfer to a platter.
• Do Ahead
• Beans and peas can be blanched 2 days ahead. Cover and chill. Dressing can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and chill.

GREEN BEAN SALAD WITH HOT MUSTARD DRESSING

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
• In a large bowl, combine mustard powder and 2 tablespoons of very hot water; mix well. Let stand for 5 minutes to bloom. Add oil, shallot, rice vinegar, ginger, sugar and garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Whisk until smooth, then stir in scallions.
• Once the water is boiling, add the green beans and blanch them until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Drain and transfer to the large bowl. Season with salt and pepper, and toss until evenly coated in the dressing. Let cool, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
• Transfer beans to a serving bowl or platter. Serve at room temperature or chilled, and top with the pecans.

GREEN BEANS, COOL WHITE CHEESE, AND HOT RADISHES

Steps:

• The tiniest of fava beans have an affinity with young, snow-white goat cheeses. I like to use them in an early summer salad with Ticklemore, the cheese that Robin Congdon makes at his farm in Devon with milk from Sharpham Farm, the Buddhist retreat. Otherwise, I'll use whatever is suitably crumbly, milky, and mild. It is a salad that seems to gain much from being eaten outside, under the shade of an umbrella, when there is much new, pale green growth in the garden.
• For two of us I use a little over 4 ounces (125g) of podded beans, an equal weight of cheese, ten radishes, and three or four sprigs of parsley. I use the parsley leaves whole, adding them to the boiled and skinned beans, the cut radishes, and the thinly sliced cheese with just a splash of olive oil, the mildest I have. The coolness of the cheese, the heat of the radishes, and the buttery taste of the beans make a fresh, clean-tasting salad of utmost purity.
• The Italians, and especially the Florentines, who were known as "the bean eaters," have some noteworthy recipes for this mild bean. In the late 1980s I ate them lightly cooked and skinned in an arugula salad, then on the same trip, in a risotto with Gorgonzola. At home, I have also used the beans in risotto with goat cheeses the texture of fudge and with the saltier blues such as Beenleigh and the majestic Stichelton.