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.

fennel and green bean salad with olives | pamela salzman

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.

blanching green beans

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.

cutting fennel

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.

anchovy paste

dressing

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.

pitting olives

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

fennel and green bean salad with olives | pamela salzman fennel and green bean salad with olives | pamela salzman fennel and green bean salad with olives

 

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Fennel and Green Bean Salad with Olives
Author: 
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
  1. 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.
  2. 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.)
  3. 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.)
  4. Add the green beans and fennel to the dressing and toss to combine. Remove garlic and discard. Sprinkle with olives and serve.

 

 

Provençal Goat Cheese Gratin Recipe

If you don’t follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you might have been wondering this week if I fell off the face of the internet.  Believe it or not, I went back to Europe!  Except this time, I traveled solo and it was all work.  Last Friday I left the land of sandy beaches for the gorgeous countryside of Southwest France where I met eight fabulous ladies, several of whom are my cooking class students, for a one-week culinary retreat.

I was invited to Saint Antonin Noble Val by a lovely American couple who visited the region several years ago and decided to stay for good.  During the summer, Alisa and Bruce run Raison d’Art, an art camp for teenagers.  But in the off-season, they host specialty retreats for adults at a restored 200 year-old farmhouse.  When they asked me last winter if I would consider leading a culinary week in their area, it didn’t take long for me to say “OUI!”

I did miss you all very much and had every intention of blogging, but my students were keeping me very busy this week and away from the computer.  We started out our days with invigorating hikes in the countryside followed by breakfast at the house.  But we weren’t here to relax.  Several mornings involved scouring the local open markets for ingredients to be used in our evening classes.  Alisa and Bruce also took us around to visit many neighboring villages and local artisans, including a family-run vineyard and a goat farm, where we bought the most insanely delicious goat cheese.  And everyday we adopted the French way by lingering for several hours over lunch, not that we had much of a choice – lunch is a serious time of day where ALL the shops and businesses except restaurants close from 12-2 (or longer) and no one is in a rush.

When we returned to the house at the end of each day, we all came together in the kitchen for our hands-on cooking classes.  Normally my classes back home are demonstration, but this was such fun for me to cook side by side with all the students.  I even tried a few things for the first time, such as potimaron, a delicious winter squash that I have yet to see in the states, as well as a few goat and sheep cheeses that that were so crazy good.  A lot of love went into our cooking and we enjoyed eating a delicious dinner together every night.  All the teaching wasn’t done by me, however.   After dinner, the ladies taught me how to play Canasta, an addictive card game I have yet to win.  Next time!

I wish I had been able to take more pictures while we were cooking and share some recipes along the way, but I was caught up in the energy of the kitchen and the lighting in 200 hundred year-old farmhouses isn’t all that fantastic either.  One recipe that I was able to photograph a bit of was this Provencal Goat Cheese Gratin that we ate with herbed flatbreads which we made ourselves.  Goat cheese is something I expected to see in France, but I had no idea how incredible it would be.  Nor did I expect that I’d choose to eat it twice day!

The goat cheese we bought was so fresh and made from raw goat’s milk, which is closer in composition to human milk than cow’s milk.  Raw dairy from goat, sheep or cow is also much easier for us to digest.  Several of the students commented that they can’t eat cheese in the U.S., but the goat cheese in France was no problem.  We enjoyed local goat cheese so many different ways – from super young and fresh to slightly aged.  We had it rolled in herbs or shallots, baked warm in a salad or broiled on a tartine.  By the end of the week, Bruce was making us goat cheese sampler plates to nosh on with fresh bread and local wine while we cooked.  Verrrry nice!

This baked gratin was a hit and it was super easy, too.  We simply made a bed of crumbled fresh goat cheese on the bottom of a fluted baking dish and topped it with a quick homemade fresh tomato sauce, fresh thyme, oregano and sliced oil-cured olives.  The gratin was broiled just until the goat cheese was warm.   It’s the perfect thing to make as an hors d’oeuvre since it’s easy, delicious and can be assembled ahead and broiled just when your guests arrive.  Although we baked our own flatbreads for scooping up the dip, I’ve also eaten this smeared on toast or fresh bread.  I imagine it would also be amazing with eggs.  Perhaps my next post will be titled, “How to Eat Your Way Through France Without Gaining Weight!”

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Provençal Goat Cheese Gratin
Author: 
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • Sauce:*
  • 6 medium tomatoes
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 large cloves garlic, minced
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Gratin:
  • 10 ounces soft goat cheese (rindless)
  • 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, minced
  • 2 teaspoons fresh oregano leaves, minced or a pinch of dried
  • 20 black olives (such as French Nyons), pitted and quartered
Instructions
  1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and turn off the heat. Score the bottom of the tomatoes and place in the water for 30 seconds. Remove the tomatoes with a slotted spoon. Peel the tomatoes, cut in half around the “equator,” remove the seeds and finely chop.
  2. Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté for one minute. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste and cook until slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes.
  3. Preheat the broiler.
  4. Crumble the cheese on the bottom of a 10-inch round baking dish. Sprinkle with half of the herbs. Spoon just enough tomato sauce to evenly coat the cheese. Sprinkle with the olives and the remaining herbs.
  5. Place the baking dish under the broiler about 3 inches from the heat. Broil until the cheese is melted and fragrant, and the tomato sauce is sizzling, 2-3 minutes.
  6. Serve with crackers, toast, flatbread or fresh bread.
Notes
*You can also substitute 1 ½ - 2 cups jarred tomato sauce for the fresh.

Farro with roasted vegetables and roasted tomato dressing recipe

We had such a nice Labor Day weekend.  I hope you did, too.  We were able to squeeze in some beach time, family time, yoga (for me) and our annual block party, which was great fun.  The combination of the balmy weather and refrain from “labor” made me wish that summer would last just a little longer.  Although, as I mentioned in my gazpacho post, I am riding the summer tomato train for as long as possible.  Since this may very well be my last recipe of the year with tomatoes, I am sharing a goodie.

The inspiration for this recipe came from Deb at Smitten Kitchen who adapted it from Gourmet magazine.  The original recipe called for Israeli couscous, which I couldn’t help but substitute out for a more whole (and tastier) grain like farro.  But what makes this dish special is the incredible dressing which uses slow-roasted tomatoes as it’s base.  What could be better, tomatoes and grains with a tomato dressing?  It’s the perfect recipe for a tomato-fanatic like me!

Ok, I can read your mind.  It’s not the fastest recipe on the planet.  The cherry tomatoes have to be washed, dried, halved, arranged on a baking sheet and roasted for an hour.  Although you don’t have to arrange the tomato halves like soldiers in the photo here.  I thought it would look nice that way, but now I realize it just makes me look obsessive compulsive.  Anyway, I was making this on Friday afternoon to bring to the beach for a potluck, and I tried timing the tomato prework. Excluding the roasting bit, I think it only took me about 15 minutes which I did while watching an episode of “Barefoot Contessa.”  Can I just say I wish Ina Garten would invite me over to cook, play bridge and drink cocktails with her and her friends, especially TR.  Sigh.  Speaking of Ina, do you remember her Orzo with Roasted Vegetables from 2001?  Gasp, was that really 11 years ago?  You know, the one that we all made a gajillion times for every backyard barbeque and potluck for years.  Loved it, but OD’ed on it for sure.  Ina’s salad was easy, but definitely involved some labor, and yet we all thought it was worth it.

Ok, this recipe is like that for me!  A little extra work, but worth it, worth it, worth it!  I taught this last September and again to a group this past July, all the while thinking how divine it is and how much I love it.  And then, while watching Ina on Friday afternoon, that orzo salad popped into my head and I changed this recipe on the spot by cutting the amount of farro in half and adding a bunch of roasted vegetables in its place.  The good news — it was A-MAZING, so much better than the original!  The bad news – it was A-MAZING, so much better than … the way I had taught it to A LOT of students.  Guilty face.  Well, I guess that’s what blogs are for!

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Pamela Salzman (@pamelasalzman)


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Farro with Roasted Vegetables and Roasted Tomato Dressing
Author: 
Serves: 6-8
 
Ingredients
  • 2 pints cherry tomatoes, about 1 ½ pounds
  • 6 small-medium garlic cloves, UNpeeled
  • ¼ cup unrefined cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil + additional for vegetables
  • ¼ cup warm water
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt + additional for vegetables
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper + additional for vegetables
  • 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
  • 5-6 medium zucchini
  • 1 cup farro
  • Kosher salt
  • ½ cup Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
  • ⅓ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh basil
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme (only if you’ve got it)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Halve tomatoes through stem end and arrange cut-side up in one layer on a large baking sheet. Add garlic to pan and roast about 1 hour, or until tomatoes are slightly shriveled around the edges. Cool in the pan for 30 minutes.
  2. Peel the garlic and put in a blender with oil, water, lemon juice, salt, pepper and ½ cup roasted tomatoes. Blend until very smooth.
  3. Turn the oven to 400 degrees. Arrange the asparagus on a large baking sheet and drizzle with oil plus a sprinkle of salt and pepper to taste. Chop the zucchini into 1-inch cubes. Toss with olive oil and arrange in one layer on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Roast asparagus for 12 minutes or until tender. Roast zucchini 35 minutes or until caramelized. Chop asparagus into 1-inch pieces.
  4. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a few substantial pinches of kosher salt and the farro. Cook until farro is tender, but still al dente, about 20-25 minutes. Drain very well and transfer to a serving bowl.
  5. Add olives, remaining tomatoes, asparagus, zucchini, herbs and dressing to farro. Toss to combine and taste for seasoning. Serve warm or at room temperature.