Carrie: ICBC Shallots

My picture's not that great, but that's what happens when I forget to take the picture before we start serving. I decided to make green beans with shallots and pancetta for this week's ICBC ingredient. Green beans are one of our favorite vegetables in this house, and I make them pretty often. Normally what I do is saute them with onions and garlic and soy sauce for seasoning, so I figured shallots would be a good sub, and that pancetta would go nicely with them. It's a simple, uncomplicated side dish, and I think green beans are an easy, tasty way to incorporate vegetables into your meal.

Green Beans with Shallots and Pancetta
green beans
shallots
sliced pancetta
salt and pepper
(I can't offer much in the way of measurements in the green beans, something around five handfuls using a small girl's hand, and then I just added the shallots and pancetta proportionally to that.)

Set a pot of water to boil and drop green beans in boiling water until just tender but still a little crisp. Drizzle a few tablespoons of olive oil into a wok or saute pan and let heat up. Add pancetta and let the pancetta brown and crisp. Then add shallots and let them brown. After the shallots brown, add green beans and toss everything together to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook until desired tenderness.

Soy-Glazed Salmon Steaks with Sesame Green Beans

Soy-Glazed Salmon Steaks

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

4 salmon steaks

1. Heat broiler with rack set 4 inches from heat. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil. In small bowl whisk soy sauce, honey and ginger.

2. Place salmon on baking sheet. Brush with mixture. Broil till brown on top and opaque throughout (about 5-6 minutes). You will need to flip salmon to cook throughly, brush bottom side (as top) with mixture to fully saturate.

Sesame Green Beans

1 lb fresh green beans

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

coarse salt and ground pepper

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

1. Set steamer basket in large pot. Fill with enough water to come just to below basket. Bring water to a boil. Add green beans to basket. Reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook till beans are crisp-tender (15-20 minutes).

2. In medium bowl whisk together vinegar and oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add green beans and sesame seeds. Season with salt and pepper and toss.

---Review---

This was my first time cooking fish, of any kind, and it turned out quite well. The original recipe didn't say that you would need to flip the fish, which you will, so I didn't reserve any of the marinade, which would have been good to flavor the fish more. Still, it tasted quite good.

For the green beans I subbed olive oil as opposed to sesame oil, and don't think we really missed out on anything. They were quite good.

A good family dinner to share with Sam and B.

Wednesday Night Dinner: Roast Chicken and Assorted Veggies

I didn't know quite what to do for dinner this week, only that I was feeling a little lazy, so I picked up a roast chicken from Sunflower Market and then bought some red potatoes, sweet potatoes, an eggplant, and green beans. I tossed the eggplant in olive oil, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning and roasted them in the oven, not sure how long. I tossed the potatoes in olive oil and seasoning salt and roasted them for about 45 minutes at 400 degrees. I boiled the green beans to get them tender, before sauteeing them in olive oil and garlic. A pretty healthy, well-rounded dinner.

Green Beans and Chicken Sausage with Farfalle

So I'm beginning to learn that the fun part of cooking is seeing what I can throw together without a recipe. I needed to make something for dinner tonight and so here's what I threw together using ingredients in my fridge and pantry.

Green Beans and Chicken Sausage with Farfalle

green beans
two chicken sausages, sliced
8 ounces of farfalle
one small tomato, diced
Parmesan
basil
oregano
three cloves of garlic, minced
olive oil
salt

Prepare pasta according to package directions. Set a pot of water to boil for the green beans. When the water is rapidly boiling, add in a pinch of salt and drop in the green beans. Boil the beans until tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Drain.

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in large skillet. When skillet's hot, drop in the sliced sausages. Cook a couple minutes on one side, then flip. Brown the sausages and then pull them off the heat and place into a separate dish. Add another tablespoon of olive oil and drop in the green beans and garlic. Toss together and saute. After a couple minutes, return sausage to pan and then add pasta. Season with basil and oregano. Toss with another tablespoon or two of olive oil if needed. Turn off heat and sprinkle liberally with Parmesan cheese and top with diced tomatoes. Toss together and serve.

Serves 2 to 3 people.

Soy Sauce & Garlic Green Beans

Fresh green beans are the best. I love my mom's green beans and here's my own spin on them. It's pretty delicious and I had them for dinner tonight with some steamed rice and leftover chicken.

Ingredients
fresh green beans
soy sauce
minced garlic
olive oil
water

Wash and prep the green beans. Heat a skillet or wok on medium-high heat. Add a little bit of water and the green beans and cover. Let the water help steam them and cook until tender. Add a splash of olive oil and garlic to saute them in. Then add soy sauce and flavor to taste.