I have a kindergartner, a 5-year-old so deep in the throes of nature-themed worksheets and springtime coloring pages that her pink, yellow and palest green crayons have been worn down to nubs. All she’s been able to talk about for weeks is how impatient she is for the first day of spring. So imagine her sad little face when the day arrived, and she peeped out her window to see a world full of … brown.
It’s easy, as the dregs of winter slowly evaporate, to forget what we’re conditioned to know: that spring, while eventually sure to stop us in our tracks with her showy beauty, rarely rolls in with the fancy dress on.
RECIPES The story told by my kiddo’s homework, one of sunny, sprouting, flowering promise and hope, after all of this chill and darkness, reads as a piece of nonfiction. I’m a winter baby, and I love the snow. But once it melts for good each year, all that’s left behind is a whole lot of nothing much (and that “nothing much” has a word: mud).
So we are hardly to blame for our behavior when the green things do, eventually, begin to return to the earth and to the markets. We buy by the bushel, the armload, the cart-full. We sign up for the largest CSA share we can find, and we refuse to grumble about parking as we dutifully stroll the farmers’ markets.
This time every year, we find that we’ve been starving, figuratively and literally, for something fresh and green – and once we’re blessed with it, we want to roll in it. That is, until the day when we inevitably look up from the countertops laden with produce and the crisper drawers that won’t close, and we wonder aloud: “What the hell am I going to do with all of this?”
And the answer is “a lot of things.”
There are thousands — millions — of vegetable recipes out there. The abundance of earth is yours! So instead of trying to limit the limitless, let’s instead expand our views. Let’s learn a trick or two to make any dish, with any vegetable, better. To make matters even better, the only tool you’ll need is one you already have: salt.
Salt, for many years, got a bad rap, but unless you’re following a medically prescribed low-sodium diet, you can probably stand to use more of it in your cooking. Salt does us a lot of favors in the kitchen. It can tenderize meats by denaturing proteins, it can help dry the skins of deliciously crisp turkeys and chickens, it can strengthen gluten and slow yeast activity for perfectly chewy breads.
But when it comes to simple foods like vegetables, the assumption can too easily be that this is a safe place to skimp on the sodium. Better to save it to use elsewhere, right?
Not so.
First and foremost, we salt our food because it makes it taste better, and those wholesome and obligatory veggies can use all the help they can get. Salt “works” by engaging certain flavor receptors on our tongue. When we wake those receptors up with a little bit of salt, our palate registers more flavor compounds than it would without it. Adding salt doesn’t just add a saltiness to the taste of the vegetable. It literally adds flavor, by making compounds available to our taste receptors
That’s a big reward for a little effort, if you ask me. What’s more, salt can penetrate the surface of vegetables, unlocking even more flavor compounds, all thanks to a little magic trick called osmosis.
It’s a simple enough concept.
Adding balance and flavor
Salt dissolves in water, and dense salt water wants to be in equilibrium with its surroundings. Plant cells contain water, lots of it, and a little salt. Because that salt water wants to be in balance with its environment, that means if you cook a fresh, snappy green bean in unsalted water, the salt inside the bean will want to rush out and join the water. That leaves you with a bean that has less salt, and therefore less flavor, than it did when it was fresh, and no one wants that.
Alternatively, if you cook that bean in salted water, the salt in the pot wants to rush into the bean to create that balance, so that not only do those flavor compounds stay inside the vegetable, but they’re getting seasoned by the salt that’s entering the plant cells. A double whammy of goodness. Thanks, salt!
The process of par-cooking a vegetable in a pot of heavily salted boiling water (and then stopping the cooking process as quickly as possibly by plunging the veg into an ice bath) is called blanching. It’s good to have in your arsenal for a number of reasons.
It adds flavor, as we’ve just illustrated, by encouraging salt to actually enter the vegetable, rather than just sitting on the surface. Blanching also stops many of the natural metabolic processes that occur in plants, which means you are pausing your vegetable at peak freshness. Contrary to popular belief, a vegetable doesn’t “die” once it is harvested: The cells within it continue to use the plant’s sugars for food, which is not great news for cooks, who are also hoping to use those sugars for food.
Fresh asparagus may last in the fridge for four to five days before starting to mold and slump, but the cells are converting sweet, flavorful sugars to starches the whole time. So by day five, the flavor of that asparagus is a shadow of its former self. By blanching the asparagus as soon as possible, you are stopping those metabolic processes by which the plant is eating those sugars, pausing it at peak flavor.
Blanching works for all sorts of fresh, crisp green vegetables, and doing so will allow you to keep them in the fridge for days until you’re ready to add them — colorful and crisp and seasoned — to a stir fry, salad, soup or a veggie tray.
You’ll remember, too, that while salt can penetrate the plant cells, it can also encourage those same cells to release their own flavorful watery compounds. While that’s not always great, it’s not always bad, either, if we’re able to harness those tasty juices rather than losing them to the pot of cooking water.
By applying salt directly to the surface of cut vegetables, and allowing them to rest just a little bit, we allow the salt to denature the cell walls enough that some of them burst and release their juices. This juice then mixes with the salt, and creates a salty liquid that (did you see this coming?) wants to penetrate the vegetable to create balance, meaning that the vegetable just seasoned itself, all with a little help from salt. Osmosis! So cool.
This process of salting and resting vegetables before finishing the assembly of the dish leads to more tender and more flavorful dishes. It makes notably tastier salsas and gazpacho, and it is why most slaws are tastier and more tender after a brief rest.
The three recipes here showcase this magic in action, with techniques you can apply to the preparation of any dish you like. You can salt your onions and tomatoes before finishing your tabbouleh, or your kohlrabi and cabbages for slaw. Or use that same salting trick on aromatics for any soup or stew, a chili or even the fixings for a roast.
And perfectly crisp, jewel-bright blanched vegetables can be used straight from the fridge for just about anything, a boon to those of us preparing to tackle mountains upon mountains of produce, just as soon as Mud Season ends.
Green Beans with Herbed Dressing & Garlicky Fried Hazelnuts
PG tested
All three components of this recipe take a quick 5-7 minutes to make, and can be made two to three days ahead. If you’re not a fan of tofu, feel free to swap in 1½ cups of thick, whole-milk yogurt instead.
For salad
1½ pounds of haricots verts, trimmed (this also works well with broccolini or asparagus, or a blend of all three)
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons kosher salt
For the fried hazelnut topping
½ cup of olive oil
6-8 cloves of garlic, peeled and very thinly sliced
1 large shallot, peeled and thinly sliced into rings
½ cup of hazelnuts, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon fine salt
For dressing
½ block of firm tofu (not extra-firm)
Zest and juice of 2 lemons
¼ cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon minced dried onion
2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
Several turns of cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon fine-grained salt, like pink or sea salt
Loosely packed ¼ cup of tender herbs, like chervil, dill, sorrel, mint, basil, chives
Remaining oil from the garlicky nut topping (should be scant ½ cup), cooled
Prepare vegetables: Bring 4 liters of water to a rolling boil in a large pot over high heat. Once the water is boiling, add the salt; allow the water to return to a boil (the salt will dissolve).
Add the haricots verts and use a slotted spoon or a spider strainer to ensure that they are all submerged. The water should rebound to a boil quickly.
Boil the green beans until their skins no longer look hazy and opaque, 2½- 3½ minutes. Slimmer beans will take less time, and thicker ones, more; watch closely. They are done when they are a translucent, bright jade green. (If using other vegetables like broccolini or asparagus, as long as the stalks have the same thickness, they can be blanched together; if one is thicker than the other, they’ll require different cook times, and thus should be blanched separately.)
Using the strainer or slotted spoon (or even tongs), quickly but carefully fish out all of the beans and transfer them immediately to an ice bath. Submerge and chill fully before draining and drying.
Prepare topping: Warm the oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Once hot enough to shimmer in the pan, sprinkle the garlic chips and shallot rings in an even layer on top of the oil and allow to fry, without stirring, until the edges begin to turn golden, 2-4 minutes.
Toss the aromatics and continue to fry, stirring frequently so as not to burn them, until they are uniformly crisp and golden-brown. Add the chopped nuts, stir to combine, and fry for just a minute more. Remove the fried nuts and alliums from the oil with a slotted spoon and transfer to a paper towel.
Reserve the garlicky oil and allow it to cool for the dressing. Sprinkle immediately with salt and sugar, and allow to cool. (This will keep at room temperature in an air-tight container for up to 5 days.)
Prepare dressing: Combine all of the ingredients except the reserved oil from hazelnut topping in a blender (or in a tall quart container, if using an immersion blender). Puree until silky smooth; if you need to add a tablespoon or two of water, that’s OK.
Once all of the other ingredients have been pureed together, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until just combined; the dressing should emulsify and become glossy and thick. Taste for seasoning, adjust salt and pepper as needed, and chill until ready to use.
To serve, generously drizzle a platter with the dressing before arranging the vegetables on top, finishing with the fried garlic and hazelnuts.
Serves 4-6.
Confetti Soup
PG tested
Consommé Brunoise is a simple but precise classical French dish of rich homemade stock that’s clarified using eggshells and egg whites, and served with spoonfuls of impossibly tiny diced vegetables. Here, we’re skipping the tedious clarifying steps, and bulking up the brunoised vegetables with some easier-to-cut green and yellow beans.
Don’t skip the salting step: It adds depth of flavor to this delicate, simple dish in more ways than one. You also don’t want to use boxed broth for this; if you don’t want to make your own homemade stock, check your freezer aisle for quality bone broth options.
4 carrots (a mix of colors would be lovely), peeled
4 ribs of celery, washed
1 large shallot, peeled
1 small (or half of one medium) onion, peeled
1 red or orange bell pepper, stem and seeds removed
¼ pound each yellow wax and green string beans, stems removed
2 teaspoons of fine salt, like pink or sea salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups cooked farro, wild or white rice, quinoa, pastina, or French lentils
1½ quarts of homemade chicken stock or bone broth, divided
Freshly cracked black pepper & grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Cut the carrots, celery, shallot, onions and peppers into small cubes by first julienning them into fine strips, then giving the pile of strips a quarter turn and cutting the sticks crosswise into tiny cubes. Transfer to a large cast iron pot or your favorite soup pot.
Slice the green and yellow beans crosswise into tiny, thin coins. Add these to the other vegetables.
Sprinkle the salt onto the vegetables and toss to coat. Cover and rest the vegetables for 30 minutes to 1 hour, to allow the salt to draw out water as well as to penetrate and season the interior of the vegetables.
Place the pot of vegetables on the stove over medium-high heat. Sauté the vegetables, which should now be sitting in a puddle of their own juices, until the water evaporates and a sticky brown fond begins to form in the pot.
Add the olive oil once all of the water is gone, and continue to sauté the veggies until their edges just begin to color.
Add the cooked farro or other grain, if using, to the frying vegetables and allow to crisp in the hot oil as well, another 1-2 minutes. (If using pastina, skip this step and add after the stock.)
Add 1 cup of the stock, and use your spoon to deglaze the pot, taking care to scrape up all of the sticky browned bits. Pour in the rest of the stock and allow to come to a simmer. Once the broth simmers, adjust for seasoning, and serve immediately with lots of fresh pepper and soft grated Parmesan.
Serves 2 with bread, or 3-4 as a starter.
Cucumber Salad with Snake Sauce
PG tested
I started making this cucumber salad for my husband and daughter when she was only a year old. I don’t know why we called the dressing “snake sauce,” but we did, and it stuck. I’ve recently started folding in diced green cabbage for textural contrast, and like it even more.
The salad can be eaten on its own, added to tacos or steamed buns or hot dogs, or used as a salsa over grilled meats and fish. Lately, I’ve been mixing the leftovers with tender butter lettuce and cubes of avocado to make a light but filling lunch.
6 small Persian or 2 large English/hothouse cucumbers, diced
Half of a 2- to 3-pound green cabbage, core removed, diced
2 tablespoons miso paste
¼ cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons lime juice (from 3-4 limes)
1 tablespoon Sriracha or prepared Chinese mustard (or a blend)
1 tablespoon honey
½ cup toasted sesame oil
Black sesame seeds, slivered scallions and/or soft cubes of avocado, for garnish
Toss the diced cucumber and cabbage together in a large bowl and set aside. Take care not to break up the cubes of cabbage too much.
In a blender (or using a medium-sized bowl and whisk), combine miso paste, soy sauce, lime juice, Sriracha and honey and blend until smooth. Slowly drizzle in the sesame oil while pureeing (or whisking) until just emulsified.
Pour the dressing over the raw vegetables and toss to coat. The dressing will be thick — as well as salty — so allow the salad to rest 15-30 minutes so that the salted vegetables can release some of their water. After this rest, toss again to reincorporate the thinned dressing, garnish with any optional toppings, and serve.
Serves 4-6.
Jessicarobyn Keyser is a freelance writer: icarobyn.jess@gmail.com or butter.substack.com.
First Published: March 21, 2022, 9:45 a.m.
Updated: March 22, 2022, 3:11 p.m.
