Mariss recently put out a call for inspiring summer recipes. My desire to cook plummets in hot weather, so I was pleased to discover her quick and easy chicken salad recipe.
I thought I’d share this recipe for a green bean salad that I have been making frequently this summer. It’s really tasty, and lasts for days in the fridge, so saves you having to cook for a few days if you don’t want to!
The recipe comes from Molly Katzen’s Enchanted Broccoli Forest.
Swiss Green Been Salad
- 1 1/2 lbs trimmed green beans
- 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp dried tarragon
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1/2 tsp salt, plus black pepper to taste
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/3 lb Swiss cheese, grated
- 1/2 cup chopped olives
- 2 peppers; 1 red and 1 yellow or green
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds
- Steam the green beans until just tender. Remove from heat and rinse under cold water.
- Combine everything else except the lemon juice, vinegar and almonds in a large bowl.
- Add the drained beans to the bowl. Toss until ingredients thoroughly mixed. Cover and marinate for at least 2 hours (overnight is good too).
- Stir in the lemon juice and vinegar within 10 minutes of serving. Top with almonds.
What do you make when you’re feeling uninspired in the kitchen? Even better, what about when you’re inspired but just don’t want to go to much effort?
That looks wonderful! I’m going to have to try it.
Frankly, when I am uninspired; pour ‘bite-size’ shredded wheat into a bowl, add skimmed milk, marinate for about a minute, eat with spoon.
Yours is much better
Himself does the cooking, but this is something I can cope with eating: jacket potato, cooked and hot. Salad leaves from garden or supermarket, coleslaw and french dressing (or dressing of your choice). Coleslaw on potato, dressing on salad… yum:)
Thanks for the shout-out
Your recipe looks fantastic. I’ll have to print and try it out. Frankly, I’m intrigued by anything from a book called “Enchanged Broccoli Forest”!
It looks delicious, and perfect for summer! I have recently discovered the merits of a homemade curry (why was I afraid before? Brits do it all the time), and after some experimentation came up with a quickie chicken pseudo-tikka masala recipe. It’s not particularly authentic (neither is chicken tikka masala!), but it feels a lot more industrious than pasta with tomato sauce as a quick weekday dinner.
Wow. That looks delicious! I had to double check because I have two of her cookbooks but I most often use her Moosewood book. Thank you for reminding me to dig that one out and peruse through it – as I recall it also has some wonderful sandwich ideas as well.
Believe it or not I make a lot of soups in the Summer. I also make lots of salads and here’s a quick easy one. Soak bulgar wheat for 1 hour in water. Drain and toss in halved cherry tomatoes, parsley and maybe a little green onion. Mix together olive oil and red wine vinegar toss again. Salt to taste.
Well, luckily, Rog has gotten into making super delicious yogurt from scratch, so when I want something quick and easy and satisfying, I just mix some of that yogurt with raspberries, blueberries and strawberries, or just with some cut up peaches.
I think we making each other’s mouth water. That looks delicious!
That looks delicious!
The most I’ve cooked this summer is…watermelon! Oh, I did make Deviled Potato Salad from Rachel Ray’s cookbook last week with my own variations. Turned out very well!
it looks delicious!
if i dont feel inspired – we eat out
if i am lazy, soup or pasta in winter, in summer salads and mezzes- I tend to cook mediterrenean since i was brought up on that food, so mezzes/tapas are homefood to me.
Mollie Katzen is the queen of vegetarian cookbooks – I have several. Ah yes – inspriation, I could use a bit of that! Lately I’ve discovered broccoli rabe which is so sweet. Blanch it and toss with red pepper slices, snow peas, chick peas, dressing with whatever vinaigrette appeals. Also, I’ve recently fallen for the tuscan dish of beans and tuna. It is as easy as a can of good tuna packed in olive oil, a can of white beans drained and rinsed, minced red onion and sprinkled with lemon juice – all mixed up together.
Ooh yummy – haven’t seen her books – my other half is a veggie so will check those out and I can see Summer Bean Salad on our plates v soon.
Orangette is my current queen of inspiration and easy salads: http://recipesorangette.blogspot.com/ and I have made her cherry, goats cheese and rocket salad from My Homemade Life a ton of times this summer.
If Sarah sees this…my favorite vegetarian cookbooks are from Sarah Kramer. “La Dolce Vegan” is a good one.
Summer…I like sliced strawberries on a bed of fresh baby spinach, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and roasted nuts or seeds. Some people like to include red onion but I have not tried it that way.
Last week I was making a fruit salad of peaches, apple and blueberries…decided to toss it with pineapple juice and a splash of coconut rum since I didn’t have any coconut. It is GOOD!
That looks great – thanks for sharing it!
I’ve been using my leaf chard a fair bit this year, shredded and stir fired with a sliced red onion and freshly cooked brown rice. It’s served with a big squeeze of lemon juice, black pepper and feta cheese thrown on top. It really is rather delicious.
You have great taste! That bean salad is our all-time summer favorite. My two daughters have memorized the recipe and we’ve received many requests for the recipe over the years that we’ve brought it to various gatherings.
sounds delicious and perfect for summer. I love cool, refreshing salads!
I’ve been struggling with this a bit lately as I’m not terribly good at improvising in the kitchen (yet! I am practicing though!) I do better with a plan and some nights it’s just so HOT, or I’m just spent. I’ve been making variations on this and other salads from 101 cookbooks a lot though: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/lemon-cucumber-tofu-salad-recipe.html
This salad sounds and looks fabulous, thanks for sharing it! I’ll definitely give it a go