Green Beans with Pesto Vinaigrette

The humble green bean doesn't get enough love, I've decided. We're all so focused on bursting tomatoes and perfect peaches, sweet sweet corn and favas that take five times as long to peel as to eat (and are still totally worth it) and we totally ignore green beans. Unlike peaches, they don't get super juicy. Unlike tomatoes, they don't look any prettier at the farmers' market than they do at Safeway. And I don't know about you, but I'm so used to seeing grocery-store green beans all year round that somehow, the site of them at the market doesn't trigger that must-have-now feeling that, say, perfect baby okras inspire. (Incidentally, I got those okras. Thrice. I started this thread on Foodpickle, the only place on the web where you can ask a question and get a bunch of really smart answers, really quickly. Then I went and made this recipe. And this one. I also floured and fried a handful as an appetizer one evening. And then, with my last batch, I tried to follow my colleague's instructions for Bindi Masala but, let's face it, ended up with some strange not-quite-Indian okra curry. Still pretty good. I love okra.)

Back to the green beans, which may not have had me up at 8am as I do for tomatoes -- freaked out they'll disappear before I get some -- but did spark my attention enough that last week, I bagged a couple pounds from one of the farmers at the Dupont market. I wasn't quite sure how I'd use them, but I can tell you this: once those beans were tucked under my arm, I had no trouble at all getting excited brainstorming ways to use them.

And that's how we wound up here, with these beans. This is a simple preparation for a beautiful and underrated summer vegetable, one that'll perk up humble-looking beans and brighten any summer meal. Among the upsides of this dish: it's great served cold; it's very, very simple to make; and you can make the components a few days in advance, then combine and serve when you and your people are hungry. It's a good situation.

Most important of all, we're elevating the lowly green bean to its rightful place, situated among the finest vegetables summer has to offer.

Green Beans with Pesto Vinaigrette

1.5 lbs. green beans, ends trimmed, rinsed 1/4 cup pesto (homemade is always best, but store-bought is totally fine) juice and zest of 1 lemon 3 Tablespoons good olive oil salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the Green Beans: Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Fill a large bowl with ice cubes, then with water. Set aside.

Blanch the green beans in 2 batches for about 2 minutes per batch, until beans are bright, vivid green. Use tongs to transfer beans from boiling water directly to ice bath. When beans are cooked and fully chilled, transfer from ice bath to a large bowl.

Prepare the Vinaigrette: Combine pesto and lemon juice in a medium bowl and whisk until combined. Drizzle olive oil in a slow stream, whisking constantly, until combined. Taste, and add salt and pepper as necessary.

Finish the Dish: Toss beans with pesto vinaigrette. Serve chilled, or set it out on the counter and let it come to room temperature.

Zucchini and Snap Peas with Sesame Oil

In some sense, it's hard to come up with anything insightful to say about a dish containing four ingredients, one of which is salt and the other three of which are in this post's title. On the other hand, one taste had me going on and on about how simple, how delicious, it all was. It's a dish of contradictions: complex flavor from very few ingredients, a celebration of the bounty of summer with none of the fuss involved in, say, sour cherry pie.

We're talking about zucchini and snap peas, two of summer's greatest-hit vegetables. If you've seen those very small zucchini at the market and wondered what to do with them, this is the perfect recipe for showing off their shape. (If you can't find baby zucchini, regular zucchini sliced into thick coins will work just fine.) I've spent many summers sauteing zucchini coins in butter; never once did I consider ditching the butter in favor of water. (Ditching butter? Would I ever? No.) But this is an exception: when you're dealing with summer's freshest vegetables, at the peak of the season, a little salted water is all you need.

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I first had simple blanched baby zucchini at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Theirs were blanched very briefly, kept still somewhat crunchy, then coated in sesame seeds and served just so, as a first course. Zucchini and sesame are a great match, and I echoed that pair here, but using sesame oil instead of the seeds. The blanched vegetables need little else: just some flaky salt to make the flavors really pop.

It's important to really drain the blanched vegetables well. By the time you're dressing them, you really want them completely dry, or else the oil will mix with the water and make a very diluted dressing at the bottom of the bowl. Usually I love that sort of delicious runoff, but here it's not welcome. You're looking for bone-dry vegetables, lightly coated in sesame oil and speckled with good, flaky salt. That is all. You will eat these on the porch, on a long summer evening. Or in the hot kitchen, off the platter, with your fingers. And then (I hope!) you will thank me.

Zucchini and Snap Peas with Sesame Oil

As I said in the post, you really want the vegetables to be completely dry before you dress them. Let them strain well for several minutes, and you'll be all set.

Also, two different ways to serve this dish. The first is to drizzle the sesame oil and sprinkle the salt over the vegetables. The second is to serve the vegetables unadorned on a platter, and give each of your guests a small bowl with a tablespoon or so of sesame oil and a sprinkling of salt. That way, they can grab a warm zucchini, dip it in the salted oil, and eat with their fingers. I think I actually prefer the second method, but both are great.

Serves 4 as a side dish

1 pound zucchini (if using baby zucchini, leave whole; if using large zucchini, slice into 1/2-inch coins) 1 pound snap peas 3-4 T sesame oil flaky salt

Put a pot of salted water over high heat and bring to a boil. Add zucchini to the pot and cook 1 minute. Add snap peas, cook 1 minute more, and drain. You're serving these vegetables warm, so no need to use an ice bath; instead, you just slightly undercook them, and they cook the rest of the way while cooling.

If using coins of large zucchini instead of whole baby zucchini, add them at the same time as the snowpeas, and cook just about 1 minute, maybe 10 seconds more.

Drain vegetables well, wiping with a towel if necessary. Transfer to a serving platter. Drizzle with sesame oil, enough so that when you give the platter a few shakes, all the vegetables look thinly coated. Then sprinkle some flaky salt over the whole dish. Taste one. Does it need more oil? More salt? Adjust seasoning accordingly. Serve now, or later. They're great at room temperature, too.

As I mentioned above, if you'd prefer, you can serve the vegetables plain on a platter, and put out the salted sesame oil in a bowl for dipping. I think I prefer the dish this way, but both work just great.

In the Small Kitchen: Noodles with Peanut Sauce

When a package arrived at my office earlier this week, I could hardly wait to tear it open. Inside was this gem:

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Cara Eisenpress and Phoebe Lapine, the lovely ladies behind Big Girls, Small Kitchen, recently came out with a cookbook, and people? It is beautiful. The book charts Phoebe and Cara's first year of cooking "in the real world," offering recipes, tips, hosting ideas, and more for the just-out-of-college crowd. I can't think of a better gift for new grads.

Naturally, the night it arrived, I read In the Small Kitchen cover to cover. The book is organized by occasion, rather than by type of recipe, which is surprisingly utilitarian: finger-food and drinks are grouped together in the cocktail parties section, while grainy salads and sandwiches can be found in the very comprehensive section on potlucking. Thinking back to my years as a recent college grad, I'm pretty sure the ladies cover basically everything I wanted to know at that time: how to host a good party, get drunk, and eat enough good food to keep down the liquor.

But this book isn't just for the post-college crowd. Over the past couple years, I've cooked many of Phoebe and Cara's recipes -- mostly from Food52, where we met, but also several from their blog. From secret ingredient beef stew tochicken tagine and more, these ladies know how to cook. They write thoughtful, funny recipes, and their book puts that talent on display.

Eager to cook from the BGSK book, I thumbed through, looking for something I could make with ingredients I had on hand. Noodles with BGSK Peanut Sauce jumped out at me: I had nearly everything in my larder, and what I didn't have, I could improvise. That's another thing about this book: if you follow the recipes to the letter, you'll make great food -- but you certainly don't have to.

I had just used all my scallions (two bunches!) to make scallion oil the night before, so I didn't have any left to slice fresh for the noodles. I also didn't have any cucumber (which, by the way, I recommend not skipping: it keeps the noodles light). I did, however, have loads of asparagus and a nice bag of pea shoots, so I used those instead.

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Lacking fresh scallions, I added some of the scallion oil to the sauce, which perfumed the noodles with that green, onion-y flavor. I started with about 3/4 of the sauce, which was plenty for me, and now I've got the leftovers in a jar for another day. Lots of the recipes in this book will make enough for leftovers, and when was that a bad thing?

College students everywhere are graduating. For those on the precipice of their first apartment, their first full-time job, and their first kitchen, I can't think of a better gift than In the Small Kitchen. Buy it, people!

...Ok. One of you won't have to buy it. We've teamed up with the awesome folks at HarperCollins to offer one lucky reader a copy of this book! Just leave a comment below describing your favorite post-college meal, and we'll select a commenter at random this Friday, June 3rd. Good luck!

Update: Julia E., you've won In the Small Kitchen. Congratulations! Hope you enjoy the book as much as I have.

Noodles with BGSK Peanut Sauceadapted from In the Small Kitchen

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1/4 cup sugar 2 teaspoons chile paste/sauce (I used a mix of sriracha and sambal oelek; if you have neither, use 1 teaspoon chili flakes) 1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter 1/4 cup soy sauce 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar 2-3 tablespoons sesame oil (start with less and add to taste) roughly 1/4 cup water

1/2 bunch asparagus, trimmed and sliced into 1-inch coins about 3/4 pound spaghetti, udon, or other noodles (soba would work well here too) 1 bunch scallions, chopped or 1/4 of a red onion, sliced into thin quarter-rings 1 large cucumber, julienned (I didn't have this but recommend including it) 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pea shoots (optional) 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

In a food processor or blender, pulse together the ginger, garlic, and sugar. Add the chile paste, peanut butter, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and water and process again until smooth.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil (no need to salt the water - the sauce is plenty salty). First, blanch asparagus: add to water, cook about 2 1/2 minutes, and use a slotted spoon to transfer to a small bowl. They'll cook a bit more out of the water, but still retain some of their crunch.

Next, cook noodles according to package directions. When noodles are al dente, strain, transfer to a large bowl, and add about 3/4 of the sauce to the noodles. Stir to combine, and taste. Adjust sauce quantity as desired.

Add asparagus, onions, cucumber, and pea shoots, and toss to combine. Portion noodles into serving bowls, and top with sesame seeds. Serve with additional chili paste on the side.

Bulgur with Asparagus and Preserved Lemon Dressing

This is the latest my Weekday Lunch series, where I share recipes suited to home or office.

[Sheepishly:] Remember me?

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted something fresh. I've been too busy at work to cook, and unless y'all wanted to read about the take-out pad thai I ate for dinner all of last week, I didn't have much to share.

But now work has calmed down, and my new-found freedom coincides nicely with some of the most awesomely beautiful days DC's had in a while. Sun-plus-breeze is something DC gets only about 4 days a year, and I'm determined to be outside for all of them.

Last Sunday got me to my first farmers' market in a long while. I picked up some beautiful asparagus - bunches and bunches; people, I can't control myself - as well as some ramps, green garlic, and heavy cream, which my favorite dairy stand just started carrying. It'd be a great food week even if you didn't compare to the last couple, but in light of those dim days full of takeout, I'm high on fresh produce.

My love of asparagus being no secret, I'm sharing yet another recipe for those beautiful 'gus. The ones we're getting right now aren't the least bit woody - in fact, they're nice and slender. If yours feel too rough, simply peel the bottoms of the bigger ones; their interiors should be plenty soft.

The recipe I'm sharing today is a slight riff on one from Amanda Hesser's New York Times Essential Cookbook which, to my delight, just won a James Beard award. Three cheers for Amanda! This recipe, like so many others in that book, is just beautiful. For those of you with ambivalent feelings about bulgur, this will change your mind. Also, as Amanda points out, it'll make you wish you had preserved lemons in your fridge at all times. I do, and I've never been happier at being able to just grab one from the jar and whiz it into this bright, tangy, complex dressing.

Friends, it's nice to be back in this space. I'm looking forward to trying and sharing many more Spring recipes with all of you.

Bulgur with Asparagus and Preserved Lemon Dressingadapted from The New York Times Essential Cookbook, by Amanda Hesser

I changed a few things about this recipe to make it a convenient workday lunch. First, it originally was a prepared salad, but I just chopped up the asparagus and folded them into the bulgur. Second, I subbed out pine nuts (mine had spoiled) for toasted walnuts, and I liked the combination of the somewhat bitter nuts with the bright asparagus and the saltiness of the dressing. Third, I like my bulgur a bit wet, so I used some extra water in cooking it to give a more porridge-y texture. Since no one else seems to like it this way, I included her original instructions here.

For the dressing: 1 preserved lemon 7 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin (freshly ground if possible) 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated black pepper

For the asparagus and bulgur: 1 pound asparagus, cut into 2-inch lengths 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 red onion, chopped 1 cup bulgur 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts (I toasted mine for 10 minutes in a 350-degree oven, but listen to your nose; when they smell fragrant, they're done)

To make the dressing, cut the preserved lemon in half. Chop one half and place all of it in a blender. Use a spoon to remove the pulp from the remaining half and add only the pulp to the blender. Save the rind for another use. Add the remaining dressing ingredients to the blender and process until smooth. Set aside.

To make the asparagus and bulgur, bring a large pot 2/3 full of salted water to a boil and add the asparagus. Cook just until tender, about 4 minutes. Drain and immediately plunge the asparagus into cold water. If not shocking asparagus, cook just 3 minutes, since they will continue to cook off the heat. Cool, drain, and set aside.

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onion and cook for 1 minute. Add the bulgur and cook, stirring, until lightly toasted, 4 to 5 minutes. Add 2 cups of water and the salt and bring to a boil. Cover the skillet, reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the water has evaporated and the bulgur is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork, and bring to room temperature.

Place the cooled bulgur in a large serving bowl. Toss with asparagus and walnuts, and drizzle dressing overtop. Fold to coat salad with dressing. Serve at room temperature.

Salad will keep in the refrigerator for several days.