Sesame Green Bean Salad

This is one of those recipes that everyone asks for.  It came from a vegetable garden cookbook that a friend of mine gave me in the early 1980's.  My kids loved it.  We grew green beans throughout the summer as I had rotating harvests of them so I always had a dish of these in the fridge for the kids to snack on.  Emily used to love taking them in a zip loc as her healthy snack in kindergarten.  Apparently, even though the parents were advised to send healthy snacks, most of the kids brought junk food and she was the only one with vegetables.  LOL.  I tried the asparagus version, which I just came up with on my own, for a DAR luncheon as a side dish to the Chinese Chicken Salad which is also on this blog. 

Enjoy!

Sesame Green Bean Salad

(Adapted from an out of print vegetable cookbook ca. 1985)

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 lb. snap beans

2 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. sesame oil

3 Tbl. soy sauce

Cut clove of garlic

toasted sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

Keep beans whole.  Boil 5 minutes. Run under cold water.

Toss remaining ingredients with beans.  Marinate 1 hour in a

bowl that has been rubbed with garlic.  Serve slightly chilled

or at room temperature.

Notes:

Young skinny beans work best for this.  If I don’t have fresh

ones from my garden, I find that the little skinny bagged ones

at Trader Joe’s are perfect!

This recipe works well with asparagus as well.  Lightly peel

asparagus and steam until fork tender.  Run under cold water

then mix with remaining ingredients.

Top with sesame seeds before serving.

Red Pepper Relish

It's the beginning of September when the harvest is really coming in.  This is one of our family favorites.  I used to serve it over a block of cream cheese with Triscuits for a snack or as an appetizer at family gatherings.  One year, I gifted small jelly jars of this with homemade cheddar cheese crackers as teacher gifts.  Enjoy!

Red Pepper Relish

printable recipe

Ingredients:

7 cups finely chopped sweet red peppers (14 - 16 medium)

6 cups sugar

2 Tablespoons salt

1 quart vinegar

Combine peppers and salt; let stand 3 to 4 hours.  Add sugar

and vinegar; cook, stirring frequently, until thick, about

45 minutes.  Pour hot into hot half-pint jars leaving ¼ inch

head space. Adjust caps. Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.  

Yield: about 6 half-pints

Helpful tips:

Processing:  Wash jars and place in canning pot while bringing

water to a boil.  Allow jars to boil about 5 minutes to sterilize them.

Remove jars, wipe rims dry and fill with hot relish.  Place disks on

jars and tighten lids. Place in rack in canning pot and time them

once water comes back to a boil.  Remove and set on a towel when processing is finished. Let cool overnight then check seals. Loosen

the rings on the jars for storage.

Preparation: Peppers can be chopped by hand, in food processor

or in a meat grinder.   If you would like a spicy version, you can add

some crushed red peppers flakes or mince some fresh red jalapeño

in with the bell pepper.