vegytubbles

[gilana]

desireearmfeldt is out of town, so she let me have her farm share this week. surrealestate kindly picked it up with her own and let me take just the stuff I thought I'd actually use. So far, last night I used the green beans to make Stir-Fried Sichuan Green Beans, and right now I'm using the eggplant, some of the tomatoes, and some of the cilantro in a Grilled Eggplant Salad with Cilantro-Chile Dressing. I believe this is the first time I've ever actually cooked eggplant. I've still got two lovely tomatoes and a bunch of potatoes to use; I'm thinking I might try this Salsa Verde for Potatoes.

Stir-Fried Sichuan Green Beans
4 as a side dish or 2 as a main course.

To make this dish vegetarian, substitute 4 ounces of shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and minced, for the pork. If using mushrooms, you will need to add a teaspoon of oil to the pan in step 3 before adding the mushrooms. The cooking of this dish goes very quickly, so be sure to have all of the ingredients prepped before you start. Serve this dish with steamed white rice.

2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound green beans, ends trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces
1/4 pound ground pork
3 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
3 scallions, white and light green parts sliced thin
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1. In small bowl, stir together soy sauce, sherry, sugar, cornstarch, white pepper, pepper flakes, mustard, and water until sugar dissolves; set aside.

2. Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until just smoking. Add beans and cook, stirring frequently, until crisp-tender and skins are shriveled and blackened in spots, 5 to 8 minutes (reduce heat to medium-high if beans darken too quickly). Transfer beans to large plate.

If using mushrooms, add a teaspoon of oil to the pan.

3. Reduce heat to medium-high and add pork (or mushrooms) to now-empty skillet. Cook, breaking pork into small pieces, until no pink remains, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and ginger; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 15 to 20 seconds. Stir sauce to recombine and return beans to pan with sauce. Toss and cook until sauce is thickened, 5 to 10 seconds. Remove pan from heat and stir in scallions and sesame oil. Serve immediately.

Per Serving:
Cal 200; Fat 14 g; Sat fat 3 g; Chol 20 mg; Carb 12 g; Protein 8 g; Fiber 4 g; Sodium 680 mg



Grilled Eggplant Salad with Cilantro-Chile Dressing
Dressing:
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon thai fish sauce
1 tablespoon minced seeded thai, hot red, or serrano chile
2 garlic cloves, minced

Salad:
12 cherry tomatoes, quartered
12 (1/2 -inch-thick) slices eggplant (about 2 pounds)
1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
cooking spray
6 (1/2 -inch-thick) slices red onion
1/4 cup torn mint leaves
1/4 cup torn basil leaves
To prepare dressing, combine first 6 ingredients in a bowl; stir well with a whisk.

Prepare grill or broiler.

To prepare salad, combine tomatoes and dressing, and set aside. Sprinkle eggplant with 1/8 teaspoon salt. Place eggplant on a grill rack or broiler pan coated with cooking spray; cook 5 minutes on each side or until eggplant is done. Remove eggplant from grill rack or pan; set aside. Sprinkle onion with 1/8 teaspoon salt. Place onion on grill rack or broiler pan coated with cooking spray; cook for 5 minutes on each side or until onion is tender.

Arrange eggplant and onion slices on 6 plates. Top with tomato mixture; sprinkle with mint and basil.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 2 eggplant slices, 1 onion slice, and about 1/4 cup tomato mixture).