SAUCE MAGAZINE
Posted On: 08/01/2009
Royal Burgundy, black Asian, red Asian, Isar, Chinese long, asparagus bean – fresh new beans wait at farmers’ markets this August for discerning shoppers. These beans don’t stop at green; they grow in purples, yellows, striped burgundy and cream, too. Greens range from light lime to deepest blue-green. Some grow slim as drinking straws, others flat and broad, from 6 inches long to 36 inches long. It’s a new world of beans.
Last summer I bought Chinese long beans from Claverach Farms near Eureka. The beans looped in a lazy ring on the counter. Uncoiled, they were nearly 20 inches long. The pods looked and felt fuzzy, the color a deep green, the seeds small and tight. I hadn’t eaten or cooked them, so I asked Lucy Tyksinski, a Claverach employee who runs the farm’s market stand, how to use them. She suggested to stir-fry or sauté them. She noted the flavor was earthy and slightly nutty. I used a bit of sesame oil for flavor and served them with ham fried rice. Good eating.
The hunt for new edible pod beans began. What a journey: To my disappointment, purple beans turned dark green when cooked. The taste was superb, but I wanted purple on my plate. My tastes hadn’t matured to the über-earthiness of asparagus long beans. Yellow wax beans picked the morning I bought them exceeded expectations at every level. Tender, with a more delicate flavor than green beans, the beans cooked to a beautiful yellow translucency. An elegant bean.
This season, farmer Jeremy Saurage of Deep Mud Farm near Columbia will offer Royal Burgundy, a purple bean; both red and black Asian long beans; Cherokee wax, a yellow snap bean; and Isar, a yellow filet bean. He’s also growing Tavera, a slim French bean, and Garden of Eden, a flat-podded heirloom pole bean. You’ll find him on Wednesdays at the Maplewood Farmers’ Market and on Saturdays at the Columbia market.
Saurage frets the extremely wet spring weather and 10 days of near 100-degree temperatures in June; it may affect his bean yields. Longtime farmer Allen Hagemann of Hagemann Farms in Imperial got in an early crop of yellow wax beans, but his main bean crop stopped flowering in the furnace blast of mid-June. “Beans need the heat to grow, but we had heat way too early this year,” he said. “I’m not sure how I’m going to end up on beans yet.”
When you do find interesting beans, buy them. Some favorite recipes included lightly steamed yellow and green beans cut in 2-inch pieces, combined with one can each kidney and garbanzo beans, thinly sliced celery pieces, red onion, sweet corn cut from the cob and a sweet red pepper, diced. A boiled dressing made with a little bacon grease, vinegar, sugar, celery seeds, salt and pepper made this four-bean salad sing.
The Italian pole beans and flat-podded green beans cooked in olive oil and butter with tomatoes, onions, garlic, kalamata olives, lemon juice and a bit of fresh oregano worked well. Ditto for a layered pasta salad: Cook a half pound of fettuccini or rotini al dente, drain, rinse and toss with a vinaigrette. Blanch french-cut wax beans and green beans. Layer the pasta, green beans, peeled and sliced Roma tomatoes, and chopped flat-leaf parsley. Drizzle with red wine vinaigrette. Shave Parmigiano-Reggiano over the top. All beans except the extremely thin filet beans roasted quite nicely, too. One combination I especially liked was with baby fennel, rosemary and new red potatoes.
But my perfect August bean supper is a revised niçoise salad – tuna, sliced stuffed green olives, halved Sungold cherry tomatoes, fingerling potatoes, hard-cooked farm eggs and whole yellow wax beans composed just so on a bed of baby lettuces with a simple lemon vinaigrette. The bright orange of the tomatoes, the creamy yellow flesh of the fingerlings, the deep gold of the egg yolk and the translucent yellow of the beans – it’s all the shades of sun and summer sitting on a plate.
INGREDIENTS
2 Tbsp. raw sliced almonds
4 tsp. olive oil, divided
3 Tbsp. chopped red onion
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp. fresh marjoram, sliced
1 tsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
½ lb. Chinese red beans
1 cup Swiss chard or spinach, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
PREPARATION
• Toast the almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat until they are brown and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Shake the pan occasionally to prevent burning. Remove the almonds from the skillet and set aside.
• Add 2 teaspoons of the olive oil to the skillet. Sauté the onion and garlic over medium heat until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the parsley and marjoram and stir for about 1 minute, until heated through. Remove from the heat.
• In a small bowl, combine the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil, the red wine vinegar and the Dijon mustard. Stir in the onion and herb mixture. Whisk well, then set aside.
• Slice the Chinese beans diagonally into 4-inch pieces. Bring a large pot of water fitted with a steamer basket to a boil, add the beans and steam for about 3 minutes. Add the chard and steam for 3 more minutes. (If you substitute fresh spinach, steam for 1 to 2 minutes.)
• Transfer the beans and chard to a bowl. Stir the vinegar-mustard mixture over the beans, then sprinkle with the toasted almonds. Add salt and pepper to taste.
