August 19, 2018
Using the Bounty
By Linda Dansbury

Last week I provided some suggestions on using some of the most perishable crops. The next group are beans and tomatillos.

Green beans do keep fairly well, although you may have noticed the end of some of the beans rot quickly from constantly sitting on wet soil. Just trim the ends off. Beans can be blanched, plunged into ice water, drained, laid out on a towel to drain/dry and then placed in plastic freezer containers for use later in the year. My go-to is to make green bean salad. I will cook up a good amount of beans at a time. I cook slightly longer than I do for eating as a plain side dish, but not until mushy, about 4 minutes. I plunge in ice water bath - although you don't have to because the vinaigrette will dull the bright color anyway. While the beans are cooking and cooling I prepare the rest of the salad - chop scallions, garlic, tomatoes, and anything else you want to use up - leftover grilled veggies are great in this too. Make your favorite vinaigrette - mine is simple - olive oil and red wine vinegar in about a 3:1 ratio, salt, pepper. Mix all together. I like adding chick peas to the mix for both texture and taste. Add vinaigrette and mix well. Add lots of chopped fresh herbs and top with cheese of choice, if desired. This will keep in the fridge for at least a week - if it doesn't get eaten before that!

Tomatillos - again, these keep fairly well in the fridge and I normally save up a 2-3 week supply and make the sauce for the Stewed Chicken in Tomatillo Sauce. I have also talked about several other recipes on this site. Tomatillos can be eaten raw - add to salads or salsas. They are delicious grilled - the smokiness suits this veggie really well. Salsa Verde is delicious served with chips or use as a topping for fish or chicken. I like making the sauce from the above mentioned recipe because it freezes really well and although it is meant to go into the chicken recipe it is equally good on its own as a salsa for chips.

Enjoy the bountiful harvest!