Aug 12 CSA: French Beans & Jackson's Potato Chips

“Green meant water, green patches meant farmers and farmers meant agriculture. Agriculture meant food to eat and food to sell, which meant towns and transport. They had reached civilization.”
― T.K. Naliaka

The bustling of summer gives way to the beckoning of fall.  The summer's music festivals have past, the morning air is damp and cool, and school has started for most aspiring students.  The cycle of the seasons continues as we get into the fall harvest.

The story on the Jackson's Honest Chips: they buy White Mountain Farm's world class potatoes grown in or around our home base of Mosca, CO.  The family is from Crested Butte, the chips are made in Denver.  Here's the beginning of their story:

"My husband and I are often asked how it is that we came to be in the snack food business. It is, after all, an odd business for a mom and pop start-up given that it’s dominated by major global brands. It’s not out of any misplaced confidence that we felt we could possibly compete with the big snack food manufacturers; rather, it is a very personal reason with a complex backstory........."  Read more:    https://www.jacksonshonest.com/pages/history


Here's the box:

Carrots, Orange Bunch, COG, White Mountain Farm     1  bunch
Peaches, COG, Roger's Mesa, Hotchkiss, CO               4  pounds
Tomatoes, Beefsteak, Allen and Irene Graber                1  pound
Beans, French, COG, White Mtn Farm                     1.75 pounds
Power Greens Mix, COG, Ring a Ding, Howard, CO  1  clamshell
Jackson's Chips, COG, Crested Butte, CO                 5 oz

A recipe idea from CSA shareholder Kelly Bailey:

Grilled Chicken with Pickled Peaches
Get your Antibiotic-free Boulder Natural Chicken from the CSA Market!

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/grilled-chicken-thighs-pickled-peaches?xid=NL_DAILY081216GrilledChickenThighs

From Megumi's Kitchen:

Green Beans
Steamed and boiled green beans freeze well. Also green bean pickles are very popular way to enjoy them into winter.  Various recipes for the pickled green beans can be found online.  Here are some I’ve leaned and enjoyed over the years.

—— Roasted Green Beans with Garlic
I learned this recipe from my former housemate in Seattle. She cooked this dish stove top. This is an over roasted version.

• Prep the green beans by snapping off the ends, washing, and drying them.
• Mince pretty of garlic.
• On a cookie sheet (or in a baking pan) place beans and sprinkle olive oil. Mix in the oil by hand to make sure the beans are well coated by (but not soaked in) oil.
• Spread beans to avoid layering as much as possible
• Sprinkle garlic evenly. Salt to taste

Roast the beans on 400-ish for about 40 minutes.  Occasionally stir and turn over to make sure beans are cooked more or less evenly.  Roast until the beans are thoroughly cooked but not burnt.  The beans may get darker than you might think. This long roasting process brings out sweetness of the beans.

—— Chinese-inspired Green Beans with Black Bean Sauce

One of my favorite things to order at a Chinese restaurant is green beans with black bean sauce. So, I was very excited when I found fermented black beans at a grocery store.  However, for a long time, I could not cook it right. The black beans were too intensely salty, yet the green beans were not absorbing the flavor or the black beans well.  Below is my adaptation so that the sauce is milder and blends nicely with the green beans.

• approx 2 tablespoons Fermented black beans
• green beans (about a half of what came in the CSA box)
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced  
• 1/4 medium onion, finely chopped
• salt to tast
• cooking oil
  
• Soak the black beans in enough water to cover the beans
  
• Prep the green beans by snapping off the ends, cutting into desired length, and washing them
  

• Heat a large frying pan or a wok, pour about 2 tablespoons of cooking oil. When oil is hot, add about a half amount of the minced garlic.
  
• When the garlic starts to emit nice aroma, add the green beans. Cook on high while staring. Lightly salt to taste.
  
• Have a lid ready and pour in about 1/4 cup of water. Close the lid immediately and steam cook.
  

While the green beans are steaming, mash the black beans in its own juice. add a few teaspoons of sake or white wine if available. Set aside.

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• When the green beans are at desirable softness and all the liquid is evaporated, take it off the pan and set aside.
  
• Heat the same pan on high heat, add oil.  Add the garlic and then onions. Sauté them on low heat till the onion is transparent.
  
• Take the pan off the heat and pour in the black bean paste. Mix well and turn up the heat to throughly cook the source.
• Add the green beans and mix well.