Category Archives: salad

Simple Cranberry Bean and Arugula Salad

Cranberry beans and arugula from Farmer Dave’s

Suman will be back for our two final market days, but this week Wendy came up with an easy salad that Greg prepared, adding his own twist (lemon juice and garlic) for the dressing.

There really isn’t a set recipe for this.  Just shuck as many beans as you need, (see below for pounds to cups shucked) cover with cold water, bring to a boil and cook 20-25 minutes or until tender. In the meantime, rinse, dry, and roughly chop the greens or your choice, (we used arugula for its peppery bite) perhaps to make one or so cups lightly packed greens to 1 cup shucked beans, and then use your imagination to create a dressing or just grab your favorite prepared brand. Greg opted for lightly sautéing some minced garlic, and combining it, oil and all, with some additional olive oil and lemon juice, along with a touch of salt and ground black pepper. It was quite tasty!

Cranberry beans also do well in stir fry dishes and are especially suitable for soups. Read on for a bit more about this versatile legume.

About Cranberry Beans
Also known as borlotti, pink-flecked cranberry beans are available fresh in the late summer and fall. Creamy and flavorful, they’re delicious in soups or stews or can be tossed with olive oil and herbs for a simple side dish (though they lose their gorgeous coloring once cooked).

How to Store: Fresh, unshelled cranberry beans can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for three to four days

How to Cook: Fresh cranberry beans are very easy to shuck. One pound of beans in the pod yields about 1 1/3 cups shucked beans, or enough for about two to three people. To cook, shell the beans and put them in a medium saucepan. Cover with cold water, bring to a boil, and cook until tender, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Courtesy of the James Beard Foundation

Quick and Simple Cucumber (or any veggie!) Pickles with Honey

What to make when you know it will be a hot day and  it might rain and end the cooking demo early? Quick Cucumber Pickles, that’s what. I tried making them at home earlier in the week but decided to try it with honey instead of sugar since I  can get honey at the market, and I am glad I did. The recipe I used called for 1/3 cup sugar but noted the ingredient as “optional,” so I was not worried about an exact equivalent.  In this very simple recipe, while you can’t directly taste the honey, you can tell there is something different going on. Plus, since these are not pickled with heat, the honey maintains all its phytonutrients. NOTE: No worries if your honey is crystallized – just stir to dissolve in the water and vinegar mix before adding to the veggies.

Here is the recipe as I make it. Note that you can use green onions instead of regular (in fact, I had no choice at the market because only green onions were available from our farmers that day) and, along with cucumber, and mix it any other veggie such as whole cherry tomatoes (really! I have since tried cherry tomatoes and they work great) radishes, and/or bell pepper, etc.

This is a slightly modified version of the recipe from the  Bless This Mess blog.

Quick and Simple Pickled Cucumbers

1 cup water
1/3 cup vinegar (apple cider, white, and rice wine are all good)
2 tablespoons honey
1  teaspoons salt
sliced garden cucumbers (about 2 cups)
sliced onion or green onion (about 1/2 cup)
additional vegetables as you like (bell pepper, whole cherry tomatoes, etc.)

In the jar you will store the pickles in, add the water, vinegar, honey and salt. Stir until all mixed and dissolved. Add the cucumber, onion, and other veggies, press veggies down so covered with the brine, cap the jar and put in the fridge for at least an hour or so or up to a week – if they last that long!

Simple Grated Beet and Carrot Slaw With a Touch of Tang

No, not that powered orange concoction – or am I dating myself?  

Before the big rains started on 8/4/18, I managed to put together a very simple yet surprisingly tasty slaw from the simplest of ingredients: beets from Kelly’s Farm, carrots and parsley from Flat’s Mentor Farm, and onion from Farmer Dave’s, plus a touch of olive oil and rice vinegar – that’s it!

There is no hard and fast recipe as to proportions, but I grated two medium sized beets and three small carrots ending with a proportion of perhaps 3:1 beets to carrots, then minced a half a medium sized onion, and chopped enough parsley to make 1-2 tablespoons. After mixing all that up, I added a tablespoon, give or take, of olive oil and a tsp or two of the rice vinegar – just enough to be noticed but not at all overpowering.  That’s it!  When you try making it at home, try adding different veggies (radish would be fun) and ramp up the seasonings if you choose, or just keep it simple – it works any which way.

Recipe and photos by Wendy Dennis