Elena's beans

Every Saturday when I make the rounds at the City Market, I always visit Erica or Joel from Free Union Grass Farm, who sell great eggs and meat, and Elena, who sells homemade pies and fresh produce. Early in the season, Elena has wonderful lettuces that we use to make salad everyday. After that, I go with the green beans, which Elena always has in several varieties, often including the thin French filet beans (haricots verts) I like best. In addition to her beautiful produce, I love visiting Elena because she was born in Italy and still speaks Italian, and because she and her husband Donal used to put on the much-missed Sun Run Five Mile race in the middle of the summer (it was hot as could be!). Food, Italy, and running, all in one stall at the City Market. The only thing missing is soccer.

Green Beans with Walnuts and Olive Oil

Adapted from Amanda Hesser in the New York Times

Time: ~20 minutes

We have quite a few green bean recipes we like, but this is the one I make the most often, along with the ridiculously easy Garlic Green Beans. The original recipe calls for walnut oil. It tastes wonderful with these beans but it's a bit pricey and I got tired of keeping it around just for this dish. Use walnut oil if you have it, but good-quality olive oil works well, too. The original recipe also says to cook the beans in water seasoned with enough sea salt "so that it tastes like ocean water." Amanda Hesser undoubtedly knows a lot more about food than I ever will. But if someone tells you to cook something in water that tastes like the ocean, don't believe them.

¼ cup (1 ounce) coarsely chopped walnuts
¾ pound green beans, preferably haricots verts
fine sea salt
2 tablespoons good olive oil, or walnut oil if you have it (see note)
a pinch of flaky sea salt (like Maldon)
coarsely ground black pepper

    1. Place a large saucepan or saucier pan of water on to boil. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the walnuts in a small, light-colored pan (I use an old toaster oven rack) and roast them in the warming oven until they just begin to change color, 5 to 10 minutes. Watch closely as they burn easily; once you smell them, it's time to take them out. Set aside.
    2. While the water is coming to a boil and the nuts are roasting, stem the beans. You can use a knife for this job, but I usually just snap the ends off by hand. When the water boils, add a few generous pinches of fine sea salt (see note) and stir to dissolve. Add the beans and cook until they are tender but still somewhat firm, about 4 minutes for thin haricots verts, longer for fatter beans. Don't overcook the beans—they will continue to cook some after you drain them—but you don't want them to be too crunchy either.
    3. When they're done, drain the beans, then dump them onto a clean kitchen towel. Fold the towel over to dry the beans a little bit, then empty them into a serving bowl. Use a pair of kitchen tongs to toss the hot beans with the warm walnuts and the oil. Season with a pinch of flaky sea salt and a few generous grinds of black pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature. Serves 2.

The City Market returns

The City Market returned last weekend. Yesterday I made the rounds and was glad to see old vendors and new, including MarieBette, which had many tasty treats out. I had a canele, which I've seen described as being "sort of like a hand-held creme brulee." I'm looking forward to seeing them at the City Market every week!

I also saw Elena, who had some nice greens, including lettuce and kale. This is an easy way to get some greens in during the early spring.

Sautéed Kale

1–2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, more for serving

150 grams baby kale or other tender greens

kosher or flaky sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

    1. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan or skillet over medium heat. Add the kale and stir to coat with the oil. Season with salt and pepper and stir again. Sauté briefly until the kale is just starting to wilt.

    2. Add 2 tablespoons of water to the pan, cover immediately, and steam for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Taste for salt and pepper. Drizzle with a little fresh oil, then serve promptly. Serves 2.

Summer tomatoes, part III

To a New Yorker with an Italian heritage, Caprese Salad may be the highest and best use of ripe summer tomatoes, but that's not the case here in the South, y'all. Many Southerners swear by the tomato sandwich, by which they mean ripe tomatoes between two slices of (untoasted) white bread slathered with Duke's Mayonnaise. Mmmmm, doesn't that sound tasty? And they can get pretty damn feisty if you try to fancy it up beyond that. With regard to the white bread, for example, one writer, in an article titled "The best sandwich in the universe," warns that "[y]ou must not make this bread, nor should the word 'artisanal' be uttered within 100 paces of it. You must purchase this bread and the word 'crappy' must be at least somewhat applicable to it." Aren't you glad I learned to cook from a woman who was raised in southern Italy and not the southern U.S.?

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How not to make a sale

Having grown up with a great salesman for a father, I heard lots of stories from Grandpa Guy about the many creative ways he used to close a sale. Well, here is an example of how not to sell whatever it is you're trying to sell.

A guy knocked (banged loudly, actually) on our screen door the other day. When I reluctantly answered, he introduced himself and said he was with a financial services firm in Charlottesville and had just moved into the neighborhood next to Cale. I told him it was a great school and you all had really liked it there (except for the music teacher, who thought Cassie was tone deaf—is it uncool of me to say LOL here?). He looked at me and said, "Oh, so are you retired then?" To which I replied, "Do I look old enough to be retired?" There was a long pause as he played out the scenarios in his mind for how to answer that one without doing any more damage to his chances to sign me on as a client. Too late. Grandpa Guy got a good laugh out of such a rookie mistake when I told him this story. And I imagine the guy must have been new to this, as who sells financial planning services door-to-door? Soon I'll have CPAs banging on my door looking to do my taxes.

If you go to the farmer's market this time of year, there are beautiful tomatoes in almost every stall. It seems almost sinful not to have a tomato at dinner every night. Usually, I just cut a tomato into chunks and dress it with some good extra-virgin olive oil and a little flaky sea salt. If I'm feeling more ambitious, I'll also chop up a few fresh herbs and add a cucumber if I have one. Or, if I've gotten some of Elena's beans at the market, I can throw this salad together for a change. If you let the salad sit for 15 minutes, all the tomato juices and vinaigrette pool together in the bottom of the bowl, so it's nice to have a crusty loaf of bread on hand to tear off pieces and sop up the tasty juice.

Green Bean and Tomato Salad

Adapted from Cooking for Mr. Latte (2003)  by Amanda Hesser

sea salt
1 pound green beans, trimmed
1 tablespoon (15 grams) Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
pinch of sugar
freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup (53 grams) good extra-virgin olive oil
3 ripe tomatoes

    1. Bring a 3-quart saucepan filled with water to a roiling boil over high heat. Season generously with salt, then add the beans. Cook until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Drain, then wrap in a clean kitchen towel to dry.
    2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the mustard, vinegar, sugar, a few grinds of pepper, and a pinch of salt. Whisk in the oil gradually, until the vinaigrette is emulsified.
    3. Core the tomatoes and cut them into 1-inch cubes. Cut the cooked beans in half. Add the beans and tomatoes to the bowl, and toss with the vinaigrette. The dressing and tomato juices will pool in the bottom of the bowl, so a piece of crusty bread to soak up the juices is good here. Serves 4.

The request hour, episode II

Dylan asked recently about the recipe for frittata with zucchini, which Mom made for him a while ago. But it's not zucchini season. That's the beauty of a frittata though; you just put in whatever you have on hand that's fresh and seasonal. Last week I discovered that Brad really likes spinach so I picked up some tender, early spring spinach from Elena at the City Market and threw it into a frittata along with a few small potatoes I had stored. Later in the summer, when we have more zucchini than we know what to do with, we'll swap out the potatoes for pieces of zucchini. And if you don't want anything green in there, leave it out, the frittata will still be good (especially if you use farm-fresh eggs, which make all the difference).

Frittata with Potato and Spinach

Adapted from The Art of Simple Food (2007) by Alice Waters

For the spinach, you can substitute kale, chard, broccoli rabe, or any other greens. If you use greens with tough stems, like kale and chard, you’ll need to separate the stems from the leaves. Cut the stems into ¼-inch pieces and add them to the pan along with the onions and potatoes. Many other things can be stirred into frittatas, including chopped roasted peppers, mushrooms (see recipe below), zucchini, even pasta.

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 medium shallot or ½ small onion, finely diced (~¼ cup)
2 very small (less than 2-inch) organic potatoes, quartered and sliced very thin
1 bunch baby or tender spinach, washed and coarsely chopped (see note)
kosher salt
6 farm-fresh eggs
freshly ground black pepper
a pinch of cayenne pepper
a handful of chopped fresh herbs, such as oregano, basil, and/or parsley (optional)

    1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in an ovenproof 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and potatoes. Saute for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the spinach, and season everything with salt. Cook until the onions and potatoes are softened and the spinach is wilted and tender, about 4 or 5 minutes. Transfer the vegetables to a small bowl.
    2. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a large bowl. Add a good pinch of salt, a few twists of black pepper, a pinch of cayenne, and the herbs, if using. Beat lightly with a whisk or a fork until the mixture is uniform. Stir the vegetables into the beaten eggs.
    3. Return the skillet to medium heat and add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. When the oil is warmed, pour in the egg mixture and stir gently to evenly distribute the veggies and herbs. Once the bottom is set, lift the edges with a thin silicone spatula to allow some uncooked egg to flow underneath. Repeat until the egg on top is mostly cooked. Put the pan in the oven and bake until the frittata is set on top, dry to the touch, and puffed (it will deflate when you flip it), about 5 minutes.
    4. Carefully remove the hot pan from the oven (don't forget the pot holder or oven mitt!). Run the spatula around the edge of the pan to loosen the frittata. Carefully invert onto a plate or platter, and cut into quarters. Serves 2 to 4.

3-egg mushroom frittata ready to be flipped out of the pan

Frittata with Mushrooms

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large shallot or 1 very small onion, finely diced (~½ cup)
½ pound wild, cremini, or white button mushrooms, cleaned and thinly sliced
6 large eggs, preferably farm-fresh
¼ cup (15 grams) freshly grated Parmesan or Grana Padano cheese
2 tablespoons minced fresh herbs such as basil, oregano, and/or parsley, optional
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

    1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the oil in an ovenproof 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot or onion and sauté until translucent and softened but not browned, 3 to 5 minutes depending on whether you’re using shallot (less time) or onion (more). Add the mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms have released their liquid, the liquid has evaporated, and the mushrooms are golden brown and delicious, about 8 minutes.
    2. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a large bowl. Add the grated cheese, herbs, a good pinch of salt, and a few twists of black pepper. Beat lightly with a whisk or a fork until the mixture is uniform.
    3. Add the egg mixture to the skillet, and stir gently to evenly distribute the vegetables. Once the bottom of the frittata is set, lift the edges with a thin silicone spatula to allow some uncooked egg to flow underneath. Repeat until the egg on top is mostly cooked. Put the pan in the oven and bake until the frittata is set on top, dry to the touch, and puffed (it will deflate when you flip it), about 5 minutes.
    4. Carefully remove the hot pan from the oven (don't forget the pot holder or oven mitt!). Run the spatula around the edge of the pan to loosen the frittata. Carefully invert onto a plate or platter, and cut into quarters. Serves 2 to 4.