Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Basque Green Bean Salad (p.20)

This recipe is brought to us by none other than Roast Beef Kazenzakis. Roast Beef is a cat with some serious anxiety issues. He's had a tough life. As the comic so often points out, "the dude is from circumstances." Still, Beef is probably the character I identify with most- a nerd who over worries everyday activities and probably doesn't give himself enough credit for being awesome. I expected big things from this recipe.

The start of this recipe involves having a hard-boiled egg, sliced into coins. My first thought was, "I'll grab some from the salad bar at Ralph's and be done with it." But no. That's not what this project is about. The recipe pointed me to a different recipe of Roast Beef's- his deviled eggs. I followed his instructions (loving the part where he asks the editor whether it's ok to tell people they need to have tap water or if that's so basic it would be insulting).
They say a chef can do 100 things with an egg (hence the 100 pleats on the chef's toque, traditionally) and that any chef who can't prepare an egg properly is no chef at all. Still, I'd never hard boiled one that I can remember (I may have done it as a child, but I didn't acquire the taste for them until later in life). It was an easy process, and it came out perfectly. I'll go into more detail when I make the deviled eggs.
The sauce was a simple matter of combining a few simple things and stirring them with "a whisk or whatever" (you can see my whisk or whatever in the picture above). Add in a strained can of green beans and chill. That's it. I was making this as a side for two, so I halved the recipe, and it made the perfect amount.
Melissa was very forthcoming in telling me that she did not expect to like this dish. She's not a big green bean person and mustard and mayo didn't make sense as a sauce. She was pleasantly surprised. The tangy sauce really made the salad stand out and it made a nice side for the stuffed salmon we were having (non-Achewood recipe). It kind of brought to mind deviled egg filling with vegetables in it. I might try it in the future with fresh green beans, but I don't know that it would make me that much of a difference. This dish was more about the sauce than the vegetable for me. It was just another reminder that you can do wonderful things with a few simple, basic ingredients.

Cheers,
Eli

1 comment:

  1. Ooohhh, I'll bet that sauce on asparagus would bring to mind Grandma's Easter asparagus casserole!

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