green beans Archives - Pamela Salzman

Bieler’s Broth: a Healing, Restorative Soup Recipe

It’s good to be home. I had the loveliest holiday break, but it’s good to be home. Even though I knew I was coming back to two weeks worth of mail to sift through, groceries to buy, meals to plan, piles of laundry to wash, it’s all good.

As I’ve mentioned several times, I am not much on detox diets or cleanses after the holidays even though they are all the rage. I notice a lot of people overdo it even more between Thanksgiving and New Years knowing they will “cleanse” it all off starting January 1. Eh. If you just try eliminating sugar and flour for a few weeks, your health will improve drastically. You don’t need to give up real food and sip juice for a week. But that’s just my opinion.

However I do want to share an amazing, healing and very digestible soup recipe called Bieler’s Broth. This soup is nothing new. In fact, it has been around for decades, invented by a doctor named Bieler. The soup is vegan and all vegetable-based. It is not a culinary soup in the sense that it is so delicious that you would want to serve it to your friends at your next dinner party, but more of a medicinal soup. It tastes absolutely fine though, just a little bland.

According to Sally Fallon in her book Nourishing Traditions, Dr. Bieler felt that this combination of vegetables was ideal for restoring acid-alkaline and sodium-potassium balance to organs and glands, especially the sodium-loving adrenal glands which suffer under stress. The broth is also supportive for liver function — recall that the liver is our detoxifying organ. Bieler’s broth is highly recommended for those under stress or suffering from stress-related conditions. Know anyone stressed out? Yep, I thought so.

When I have had a lot of travel combined with a chaotic schedule and less than desirable eating, I’ll make a big batch of Bieler’s broth every few days and drink a mugful either as a snack during the day or with my breakfast or dinner. I don’t function well without protein and fats, so I can’t use this as a meal replacement.

I always notice a big improvement in my overall wellbeing after supplementing daily for 2 weeks with Bieler’s broth. I made a batch yesterday which should last 3 days and I’ll make another batch on Thursday to get me through the weekend.

I know that the vegetables in Bieler’s broth are not in season in the winter. I am normally opposed to that, but in this case it’s just temporary. Be sure to buy only organic vegetables since this is supposed to be a healing soup and pesticides will just add more toxins to the body. Also, zucchini is now a common GMO crop, so buying organic ensures you will be buying non-GMO.

Here’s hoping 2016 is off to a healthy start for you. If you’ve gotten off on the wrong foot, it’s never to late to start fresh. Do check out the dinner planner I started posting on Sundays! It will change your life to plan out your meals. Promise!

5.0 from 21 reviews

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Bieler's Broth: a Healing, Restorative Soup Recipe

Author: Pamela

Serves: 2 quarts

Ingredients

4 medium zucchini, ends discarded and zucchini sliced into rounds
1 pound string beans, ends trimmed
2 stalks celery, chopped
1-2 bunches parsley (flat-leaf or curly), tough stems removed (you can freeze the stems for stock making)
4 cups water

Instructions

Place all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Skim any foam on the surface, lower the heat and simmer, covered until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
Puree soup in the pot with a handheld blender or in a blender in batches.
Eat warm.

Notes

I usually make this twice in a week and that will make enough for me to have a bowl every day.

Healthy Green Bean Casserole Recipe

I was talking to a few ladies in my class this week about the Thanksgiving meals we remember from our childhoods and how they have evolved, if at all. We celebrated with my mother’s family some years and with my father’s family other years. Even though my mother’s family is Italian-American, their Thanksgiving dinners were pretty straightforward, even including sweet potatoes with marshmallows. My father grew up in Italy and therefore Thanksgiving was truly a foreign concept. Suffice it to say, that side of the family served ravioli as a first course. No, not pumpkin ravioli with brown butter and sage. Cheese ravioli with marinara sauce! Cracks me up to think about that now.

Then the discussion transitioned to new recipes which have made it onto our Thanksgiving menus in the last few years. That’s a tough one, no? I’ll tell you right now, I teach 5 new recipes every November and very few make it to my personal Thanksgiving table. Not because they aren’t fantastic, but because how many recipes can you really have on one menu? At some point, enough is enough and my menu has been at capacity for a few years now.

But, allow me to introduce a favorite newcomer to my Thanksgiving spread…..green bean casserole! But not just any green bean casserole. I am not talking about canned green beans, coated with cream of mushroom soup and canned fried onions. Thanksgiving deserves more respect than cans, people. Sure, we can use heavy cream and loads of butter instead, but we don’t have to.

This green bean casserole is fresher, lighter and even tastier than all of those. I use mushroom stock with a little (and I mean little) flour and butter to thicken it up. Super good flavor and super easy to make. Plus homemade crispy onions that everyone will be sneaking bites of during the day. Trust me — 100 times better than canned. Voila! The best green bean casserole ever. I have served this the last two years and I have never had a single green bean left. If you like getting stuff done ahead, here’s your plan:

Blanche the green beans the day before
wipe mushrooms clean and slice the day before
make the onions the morning of
make mushroom mixture and assemble casserole up to 2 hours ahead
bake when the turkey is resting out of the oven.

See you back here next week with some more fabulous Thanksgiving recipes and tips!

5.0 from 2 reviews

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Healthy Green Bean Casserole Recipe

Ingredients

Crispy Onion Topping:
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced and pieces separated
¼ cup all-purpose flour or rice flour
2 Tablespoons panko breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon sea salt, plus additional for sprinkling
Unsalted butter
Unrefined, cold-pressed olive oil
Casserole:
1 pound of green beans, trimmed
2 Tablespoons kosher salt
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
6 ounces cremini mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour, or flour of your choice
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 ½ cups mushroom stock (or chicken stock) + possibly a little more in case the gravy needs thinning
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Make the onion topping: Combine the onions, flour, panko and salt in a large mixing bowl or paper bag and toss to combine.
Warm 1 ½ Tablespoons of butter and 1 ½ Tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Drop one piece of onion in the pan to make sure it sizzles. Add as many onion pieces as can fit in the pan in one layer. You may need to do this in batches.
Turn the onions when they become golden on the bottom. Cook until crispy and golden on the other side. Transfer onions to a plate lined with a paper towel. If you have to cook a second batch, you may need to wipe out the pan and start with fresh butter and oil.
Prepare the green beans and casserole:
Blanche green beans: prepare a bowl of ice water for the green beans. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the kosher salt. Add the beans and set a timer for 3 minutes. Drain and immediately submerge in the ice water bath. Drain after 5 minutes or so, pat dry, and place green beans in a 9” square or round baking dish.
Melt the butter in a medium skillet, add mushrooms, season with salt and pepper to taste, and sauté over medium until mushrooms have lost their shape and released most of their liquid (about 5 minutes).
Stir the flour and thyme into the mixture and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
Add the mushroom stock, Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until the sauce has thickened, stirring occasionally, about 6-8 minutes. Taste for seasoning.
Pour evenly over green beans, top with the crispy onions and bake at 350 degrees until bubbling on the sides and the beans are warmed through, about 15-20 minutes. Serve immediately.

green beans mushrooms onions

California Nicoise Salad Recipe

I just arrived in New York for my annual summer vacay with my parents, my sisters and their families. We’ve descended upon my parents’ house in Long Island for a week of old fashioned backyard fun with a few trips to the beach and the ice cream parlor. It also involves some serious menu planning for 12-16 people at any given meal. If such persons were all adults, this task would be less challenging than if half of them were children ages 1-19. But I love a challenge!

Sometimes for lunch we’ll make a giant composed salad where each component has its own space and I serve the dressing in a small pitcher on the side. I notice the kids (and picky adults, in general) eat much more of a composed salad than a tossed one. My son, Mr. Picky, can always find something to choose from a composed salad versus one that is tossed, especially if there’s one ingredient that’s offensive and touching everything else. Touching ingredients is a deal breaker!! This version of a classic Nicoise salad is always a winner, plus it’s one of my favorite salads of all time.

The classic typically contains oil-packed tuna, hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, green beans (usually the small haricot verts), Nicoise olives, and boiled potatoes. It’s a perfect salad for summer because it can all be prepped ahead and served cold or at room temp. And it’s a meal unto itself.

But I have made so many versions of this salad subbing chicken or slow-roasted salmon for the tuna or even white beans for the tuna for a vegetarian version. Regular string beans for the haricot verts. Even cucumbers have worked nicely. But in this version, which I call a “California Nicoise,” I sub in the very Cali avocado for the potato, because everyone seems to be watching his or her carbs lately! Because of the versatility of this salad, it was a hugely popular in my classes last summer with everyone — Paleo-types, vegetarians, vegans, gluten-free peeps and so on.

Visually, I think this salad is so beautiful and quite healthful, too. It is well balanced with high quality protein, fat and lots of veggies. I love using the very best tuna for this salad. I featured this Tonnino oil packed wild tuna in a recent Five Friday Favorites and it is perfect here. If you want to use standard canned tuna, just drizzle a little olive oil on top for added flavor.

Green beans can be blanched, radishes sliced and eggs boiled the day before and refrigerated. But again, feel free to sub other ingredients if that would make you happy. And if you notice more takers than usual for this salad, perhaps employ the composed method for other salads too!

5.0 from 1 reviews

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California Nicoise Salad

Author: Pamela

Ingredients

For the dressing:
½ teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
½ Tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons champagne or white wine vinegar
⅓ cup unrefined, cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces haricot verts (thin French green beans) or string beans, trimmed
2 Tablespoons kosher salt
4-6 hard-boiled large eggs,**peeled and halved lengthwise
1-2 cans high-quality tuna, preferably packed in olive oil, drained and broken into pieces
1 large avocado, cubed***
½ cup olives, preferably Niçoise
¾ pound cherry tomatoes, halved
4 radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced
Bibb lettuce leaves to line platter, if desired, or shredded as a bed for the lettuce

Instructions

Whisk all the dressing ingredients together in a medium bowl or shake in a screw-top jar.
Prepare a bowl of ice water for the green beans. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add kosher salt. Add the beans and set a timer for 3 minutes. After beans have cooked for 3 minutes, test for tenderness. They should be crisp-tender, but not taste raw. Drain and immediately submerge in the ice water bath. Drain after 5 minutes or so and pat dry. Can be done the day before and refrigerated.
Assemble the salad by arranging ingredients in separate groups. I like to line the platter with lettuce either just under the tuna or the entire platter. Drizzle everything with dressing or leave on the side for each person to dress his/her own salad.

Notes

*Ingredient amounts can vary based on preferences.
**Place uncooked eggs in a saucepan and cover with water. Place over high heat and bring to a boil. Cover, turn off heat and time for 10 minutes. Rinse with cold water or transfer to a bowl of cold water. Can be done a day ahead and peeled before serving.
***the avocado is in place of the traditional boiled, small new potatoes. But use 1 pound of potatoes if you prefer.

avocado eggs green beans olives radishes tomatoes tuna

Fennel and green bean salad with olives recipe

I cannot get out of summer mode, people. And when it’s 80 degrees and sunny here at the beach, it’s hard not to be this way. I really wanted to post a new recipe here over the weekend, buuuuutttttt I procrastinated. A lot. The weather was so perfect and we weren’t totally overscheduled like we usually are so I helped Mr. Picky and his pal set up a lemonade stand. And then I was so exhausted from their 10-year-old exuberance that I took a nap. For the first time since 1998. And then the beach was pleading to me to come for one last summer visit. So I did. And I then I had to make a blueberry crumb cake and some salads to bring to a friend’s house. And then I just rationalized that all you people were doing the same thing I was so you wouldn’t be online waiting for a new recipe from me.

How was it waking up today? I thought it was brutal! I keep seeing hashtags like #readyforseptember #septemberhereicome #excitedforfall. You know what my last hashtag was? #fallisoverrated I actually have a lot to look forward to this fall, but I think I just feel gipped. Summer is supposed to be three months like every other season in nature. But it’s not really. My son’s school has 9 1/2 weeks off for summer. Uh… #tooshort.

I did do a fair amount of cooking this summer when I was home and at my parents’ house. But I had so many projects and recipes I wanted to test and I got around to NADA. I think that’s another reason I am not really ready for fall. Because I’m not ready! Not to worry if you’re taking any of my classes this fall– I will get my lazy rear into gear pronto.

This summer I made a lot of salads like this Fennel and Green Bean Salad with Olives. It’s everything I love when the weather’s warm and I only have an appetite for veggies, fruit and acai bowls. I happen to love fennel which I’m sure you know by know if you’ve hung around here long enough. It has such a unique flavor and great crunch and it’s actually fabulous for digestion. Green beans are loaded with Vitamin K, beta-carotene and Vitamin C. It’s a very hydrating salad too.

The dressing has a nice salty bite from a little bit of anchovy paste. But if you’re vegan or don’t want to use the anchovies, just drop it. I am a bit of a salty gal myself, so I love the dressing and the olives in the salad. This is the perfect salad to serve with seafood or a frittata or grilled chicken.

Even though summer has come and gone in the blink of an eye, I’m still looking for recipes like this one for the sultry days ahead. And for those days when I am not motivated enough to do more than slice some fennel. #indenial

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Fennel and Green Bean Salad with Olives

Author: Pamela, Adapted from "cucina rustica," by Evan Kleiman and Viana La Place

Serves: 6

Ingredients

1 pound green beans, trimmed and halved
Kosher salt for blanching beans
1 large fennel bulb (about 1 pound)
¼ cup unrefined, cold-pressed, extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon anchovy paste or 1 anchovy fillet, minced
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
¼ cup oil-cured black olives, pitted and quartered

Instructions

Prepare a large bowl with ice water and set aside. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a heaping tablespoon of sea salt. Submerge the green beans in the boiling water and cook 3-4 minutes or until they are crisp tender. Drain and immediately plunge into the ice water bath. After a few minutes, drain and set aside to dry a bit.
Trim the stalks off the fennel bulb and cut away any bruised spots. Cut the fennel bulb in half lengthwise. Cut out the core at the base and slice the fennel thinly into strips. (I would slice them more thinly than I did in the pictures here.)
In a large serving bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, anchovy, garlic, salt and pepper. (You can also do this in a glass jar with a screw-top lid.)
Add the green beans and fennel to the dressing and toss to combine. Remove garlic and discard. Sprinkle with olives and serve.

fennel green beans olives

Spicy honey-lemon green beans recipe

If you follow me on either Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, you’ve probably figured out that I am back on Long Island at my parents’ house. We picked up Daughter #1 on Saturday from her summer program in upstate NY. I was so beyond excited to see her after 6 weeks, I was afraid I was going to suffocate her when I saw her. It was great for the five of us to be together again and I couldn’t resist another visit to Stony Brook. Love that place in the summer.

We’ve had an amazing few days here — peaceful, not in a rush to do anything, no stress, beautiful. My father’s garden is bursting. I lost count of how many basil plants he has this year, perhaps around 40. I have made pesto every day so far! But the big fun has come from the new outdoor pizza oven my father had built. It was a major project when I was here in June, with each of my parents saying to me without the other hearing, “I don’t know what we were thinking.” But once the dust settled, literally, we have enjoyed the most fantastic pizzas — you know the thin kind with a little char on the crust? So darn good. Not fitting in my skinny jeans today, but so. darn. good.

Sorry this isn’t a post about making your own pizza in a wood-burning oven, but I personally don’t have one nor will I in my current house since my “yard” is a patio! Figuring most of my readers don’t own one either. Instead I wanted to share my favorite new green bean recipe. No yawning! These are great! But I know where you’re coming from. Green beans come into season in the summer and I try really hard to get excited about them, but they have to compete with tomatoes and corn. Kind of hard to do. I honestly don’t have too many exciting green bean recipes that I think to myself, “I am soooo craving those such-and-such green beans.” Until now.

I taught these honey-lemon green beans last month and I couldn’t wait to eat them after each class and any leftovers for dinner the same night! The dressing has a bit of mustard too, and a little kick from the cayenne which is always something I love paired with sweet (honey.) They are seriously addictive. One of the only cooked vegetables Mr. Picky likes is green beans, but he doesn’t care for vinaigrettes yet. Except he did love these! He’s starting to develop a taste for spicy food. Very exciting!

The recipe for the green beans and the dressing is completely straightforward and quick to make. If you are in a time crunch, just make that and forget about the shallots. Blanching and quick-pickling the shallots is definitely another step that won’t make or break the recipe, although they are scrumptious. You can certainly take care of that while the beans are cooking and while you’re setting the table or grilling some fish. But sometimes when I try and multitask too much, that’s when I forget things -like shallots pickling in apple cider vinegar that I remember when I start washing dishes.

5.0 from 1 reviews

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Spicy Honey-Lemon Green Beans

Author: Pamela, adapted from "The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen" by Peter Berley

Serves: 6

Ingredients

For the Green Beans and Shallots:
3 Tablespoons kosher salt
2 large shallots, thinly sliced
1 ½ pounds string beans, trimmed
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar, preferably raw
½ teaspoon sea salt
pinch freshly ground black pepper
For The Vinaigrette:
2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 small glove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon mild honey, preferably raw
½ teaspoon sea salt
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 Tablespoons unrefined, cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Spread a clean kitchen towel on a baking sheet and set aside.
In a large pot, bring 3 quarts water to a boil. Add kosher salt.
Place the sliced shallots in a bowl and cover with 2 cups of the boiling water. Cover the bowl with a plate and set aside for 10-15 minutes.
Drop the beans in to the remaining boiling water and cook, uncovered, for 4 to 6 minutes, until crisp tender. Drain the beans and spread them on the cloth-lined pan.
Drain the shallots and toss them with the vinegar, the remaining ½ teaspoon salt, and pepper. Set aside.
To make the vinaigrette, combine the lemon juice, mustard, garlic, honey, salt and cayenne in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until smooth. Slowly whisk in the oil until creamy.
Drain the shallots once again and squeeze dry. Add the shallots and the string beans to the vinaigrette and toss well. Sprinkle with another pinch of sea salt or to taste.
If you have time, let it marinate for 15 minutes at room temperature before serving just to allow the flavors to permeate the beans. If you don't have time, they'll still be great.

Notes

These really aren't that spicy, perhaps a 3 on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the hottest. But you can certainly adjust the level of heat to your liking by increasing or decreasing the cayenne.

cayenne Dijon mustard green beans honey lemon juice olive oil shallots

Harvest chopped salad

Halloween is tomorrow, but to tell you the truth, I don’t make much of an effort to show my “spirit” with cupcakes that look like spiders or swamp slime green Jell-o. Do my kids really need marshmallow ghosts on top of the candy I have not forbidden them to inhale as they trick-or-treat? Silly question! Actually, my only food strategy on Halloween is to make a very hearty , filling dinner, like vegetable chili with brown rice, so the kids aren’t starving while they carry around a sack o’chocolate. Works for me!

If you checked out my post last Thursday, you probably guessed I have bypassed Halloween and gone straight into Thanksgiving mode. Not only have I already taught two Thanksgiving classes, but I am starting to check tasks off my list. Invites — out. Menu — planned. Turkeys — ordered. So if you’re like me and you’re daydreaming about maple-glazed root vegetables instead of witch cakes, let’s get down to business!

The vegetables are really the only part of the menu that I get to have any fun at all. My family and guests would have a rebellion if I didn’t make roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and sweet potato casserole. So every year I try some new salads and vegetables just to mix it up a bit. This salad is one of my absolute favorites and not just for Thanksgiving. I have made this for other holiday dinners and for friends, and I always save a little extra for me for the next day’s lunch. This salad is the perfect complement to a Thanksgiving meal consisting of lots of cooked food, much of it soft and beige. Not only will all of these colors brighten up your holiday buffet table like little jewels, but you’ll be happy to have something juicy, crunchy and (is this a crime?) healthful to eat. Even though there are apples, pomegranates and dates in the salad, it doesn’t feel too sweet. It’s more like a tart-sweet, a perfect complement to roast turkey.

This salad is also ideal for Thanksgiving since you can prep almost all of it the day before. Oh yeah! No need to squeeze anything into your already monopolized oven or dirty any measuring spoons the day of. You can blanche the beans the day before, roast the beets two days before, chop fennel the day before and cover with a damp paper towel, seed the pomegranate several days before, chop walnuts whenever you want, and make the salad dressing several days in advance. The only last minute item is the apples which you can dice a few hours in advance and keep in ice water in the refrigerator. Just drain and pat dry before adding to the salad. How’s that for a plan!

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Harvest Chopped Salad

Author: Pamela

Serves: 6

Ingredients

6 ounces green beans, trimmed
3 stalks celery or 1 bulb fennel, diced (I prefer fennel.)
1 cup pomegranate seeds (about 1 medium pomegranate)
1 large crisp apple (e.g. Fuji or Granny Smith), diced (peeled or unpeeled)
1 cup walnuts, chopped
3 dates, pitted and diced (easier to cut when they’re cold)
1 cup diced roasted golden beets (can be done the day before)*
Vinaigrette: (can be prepared several days in advance)
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 Tablespoons fresh orange juice
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
a few grinds of black pepper
2 teaspoons minced shallot
2 teaspoons 100% pure maple syrup
3 Tablespoons unrefined, cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons walnut oil (or use all olive oil)

Instructions

Prepare a large bowl with ice water. Blanche green beans for 2 minutes in boiling, salted water. Drain and submerge into ice water. Drain, pat dry and slice on the diagonal into bite sized pieces. (Can be done the day before.)
In a large bowl combine beans, chopped celery, pomegranate, apple, walnuts, dates and beets.
Prepare the vinaigrette: whisk all the ingredients in a small bowl. Pour enough vinaigrette over vegetables to coat lightly. Taste for salt and pepper.

Notes

*To roast 1-2 beets, wrap each one in parchment and then foil. Or follow the photos above to roast a pan of several beets. Roast in a 400 degree oven until tender when pierced with the tip of a knife. Large ones can take about 60 minutes. Allow to cool and then peel off the skins.

apples beets dates fennel green beans lemon juice orange juice pomegranates walnut oil walnuts