Roasted Green Beans with Red Onions and Walnuts

Michelle loves to roast vegetables like cauliflower, kale, green bean, etc as the high heat and short cooking time brings out the caramelization and yet retain the nutrition.

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Michelle shared the above Roasted Green Beans with Red Onion and Walnuts in the South Arm Older Adults Kitchen.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound green beans, stem ends snapped off, rinse and pat dry
  • 1/2 medium red onion, cut into 1/2″ thick wedges
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
  • 2 medium thin-sliced garlic cloves
  • 1/3 cup toasted and chopped walnuts

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Source: Cook’s Illustrated

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Green Bean Salad with Basil Vinaigrette

Minoo also used the green beans to make a salad with a basil vinaigrette.

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Minoo made a basil oil as the base for the vinaigrette. This recipe comes handy if you have surplus of basil. You can store the basil oil in the refrigerator and used it to make vinaigrette or toss with pasta for a quick meal.

Ingredients

  • 10 cups green beans, trimmed
  • 1 red onion, chopped into small pieces
  • 2 large tomatoes, cube
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • olive oil
  • a bunch of basil leaves
  • salt and pepper to taste

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P/S: the parsley should not be in the photo of the ingredients.

Source: via Minoo

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Zucchini Green Bean Soup

The Richmond Community Kitchens resumed in September. We are looking forward for the learning, eating and fellowship.

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Minoo came up with recipes with ingredients that she collected in her Community Supported Agriculture Box Program (CSA) for this summer. The Zucchini Green Bean Soup turns out to like ratatouille.

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One of the ingredient in her CSA box is the above giant zucchini. The Sharing farm also gave her some green beans to be used in the community kitchens. In fact the bean is not just green but came in shades of purple. The zebra like purple bean is called Heirloom Bean.

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Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
  • 1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch section
  • 1/4 teaspoons cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 pound zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
  • 1/2 pound potato, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 3/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
  • 1 x 28 ounces can crushed tomatoes, undrained
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • water

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P/S: Italian parsley is missing from the photo of ingredients.

Source: this recipe is adapted from food.com

Serves 6 to 8

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Sesame Green Beans

Minoo prepared a second side dish to go with the pasta. This week’s recipes were mostly vegetables which is a good thing.

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The Sesame Green Beans are aromatic with sesame oil and the sesame seeds add nuttiness and texture to this simple stir fry vegetable dish.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds green beans, washed and trimmed
  • olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 2 tablespoons or more sesame seeds (a handful)
  • soy sauce to taste

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Source: via Minoo

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Ian Lai’s Healthy Asian Cooking: Garlic Green Bean

In the Healthy Asian Cooking, Ian Lai described the Chinese cooking as lots of greens and a little meat. Chinese likes to cook with quick stir fry which is quite oily in the sense of splattering and strong odour. That the reason why in many Chinese homes, they have two kitchens where one of the kitchen is located outside the house for stir frying.

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Chinese likes to use lots of green vegetables like mustard green, sweet peas, snow peas, green beans, broccoli, water crest, green onions, cilantro, etc.

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Here is the recipe for the Garlic Green Bean:

Ingredients

  • 1 pound green beans
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 2 slices of ginger
  • 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
  • 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon pf togarashi (a Japanese Spice Mix)

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The above is the bottle of the Togarashi. You can click on image to view it larger.

Togarashi is typically made of coarsely ground red chili pepper, ground sichuan pepper, roasted orange peel, black and white sesame seeds, hemp seed, ground ginger and seaweed.

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Indian Cuisine: Stir Fried Green Beans with Coconut

The South Arm Cooking Club for seniors celebrated Vaisakhi with an east Indian theme recipes. Charlene prepared 4 Indo-Canadian inspired recipes for this meeting.

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The first recipe is a simple Stir-Fried Green Beans with Coconut. It takes a few minutes longer to cook than a Chinese style stir-fry. The green beans are tender and aromatic instead of crisp and light.

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
  • 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 pound green beans, sliced into 1-inch pieces
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
  • 3/4 cup roasted peanuts (optional)

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Source: this recipe is adapted from Suvir Saran

Prep time: 20 minutes;  Cook time 25 minutes;  Serves 4 to 6

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Green Beans and Potatoes in Chunky Tomato Sauce

For the side dish, Paul and Frances made Green Beans and Potatoes in Chunky Tomato Sauce. For this recipe, we used canned whole tomatoes. If you prefer fresh tomatoes, this is how to peel the skin easily. Make a small X on the bottom side of the tomato with a sharp knife. Place tomato in boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove tomato using a slotted spoon; immediately submerge in a bowl of icy cold water. Let stand for one minute. Skin should pull off easily with a sharp knife.

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The green beans are cooked perfectly and they are tender and yet still crisp.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 1/2 cups diced red potato
  • 1/2 cup chopped celery
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 pounds green beans, trimmed
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro or 1/4 cup chopped basil
  • 3/4 pound plum tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped (or drain and chop 1 1/2 cups canned whole tomatoes)
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

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This Green Beans and Potatoes in Chunky Tomato Sauce is adapted from Cooking Light, and it serves 8.

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Salade Nicoise

The South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors resumed for the fall season.  We are glad to see Paul and Frank back in the kitchen after they recovered from some health issues.  We also like to welcome Keiko and Chris who are new to the kitchen.

As usual, Charlene and Stella prepared a few delicious and healthy recipes for the seniors to participate in making and enjoying them for lunch.  The first recipe is called Salade Nicoise from Charlene.  This recipe serves 2 but we trippled it in the seniors’ kitchen.

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The Salade Nicoise is a wonderfully balanced meal, offering vegetables, starches, and proteins all on one plate.  This salad gets its name from a French seaside city of Nice where tuna is traditionally features in this salad.

Sydney and Frank made this Salade Nicoise.

Ingredients

  • 2 red potatoes
  • 6 oz. green beans (about two small fistfuls)
  • 2 eggs
  • 12 cherry tomatoes, slice into half
  • 6 black or green olives, slice into half
  • 7-oz. can top quality tuna

Dressing:

  • 4 anchovies (optional)
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

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P/S: missing ingredients in the photo include eggs, and dressing ingredients.

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Dilled Beans Pickles

I was invited by Arzeena to attend another workshop at the Garrat Wellness Center again. This time, it’s Savouring Spring longer workshop. The workshop is conducted by Karen Dar Woon who cooks for the community meal at Gilmore Park Church. Karen demonstrated to us how to do home canning using the heat processing method and make a no-cook freezer jam.

The first demonstration is making Dilled Beans Pickles using the heat processing method. The green beans and carrots are steeped in a zesty dill brine. These pickles can be used in salad, relish trays or as garnishes. You can mix the brine with a bit of salad oil to make a flavorful vinaigrette dressing.

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These pickles can be kept for 1 year if you follow the proper home canning method. The heat processing canning method kills the enzymes in food which cause the food to rot or spoil. Since we are preserving the food in a high acidity environment in our case, harmful bacteria will not survive in it. To learn more about home caning, you may visit this page.

Ingredients

  • 2.2 lbs (1kg) green beans
  • 2.2 lbs carrots
  • 3 small red or green peppers
  • 3 cups (750ml) white vinegar
  • 3 cups water
  • 3 tablespoons (45ml) pickling or Kosher salt
  • 18 peppercorns
  • 3 teaspoons (15ml) dill seed or 6 sprigs fresh dill
  • 6 cloves garlic

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Click on the link below for the instructions.

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