...Tastiness (CSA Style) - Summer Bean Salad

Throughout the chaos of moving, our CSA box has continued to keep eating interesting.  Roasted kohlrabi?  Yes, please.  Nevermind the fact that it makes the kitchen smell like ass when it's cooking.  H has a new obsession with beets.  So what if I had to tell him that eating a lot of beets would turn his pee a funny color to convince him to try them?  It worked!  Yesterday at the farmers' market, he begged me to buy some because there weren't any in the box this week.  Um...Of course!!!  Unfortunately I made this salad before the farmers' market on Wednesday.  I'd have preferred to use some of the incredible basil and cherry tomatoes we saw there.

This week, our box contained fresh green and wax beans.  I LOVE fresh green beans!  I remembered a salad that I had found several years ago (maybe in Rachel Ray's magazine?  I have no idea.) and attempted to recreate it from memory.  Whether I was right or not, the end result was delicious.

Boil beans for about 5 minutes.

Blanching in an ice bath

Grape Tomatoes

About this much basil - close to half of a container

The dressing

Mix it up

A strangely angled shot of dinner:
Bean salad, homemade "creamed" corn, rice and pork loin.

Summer Bean Salad

• Fresh green and wax beans (roughly 1 lb green and 1/2 lb wax, but any amount would do!)
• 1 pt. grape tomatoes, sliced in half
• Fresh basil, chopped - close to 1/2 cup depending on your taste
• 1/4 c. red wine vinegar
• 1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Clean beans by snapping off the stem end and rinse.
2. Add to boiling water.  Bring back to a boil and allow to boil for around 5 minutes - until their color brightens.  You want the beans to remain firm.
3. Blanch the beans in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.  
4. Meanwhile, slice your tomatoes and basil, and whisk the vinegar, oil, salt and pepper together to make the dressing.
5. Drain the beans, and pat dry.
6. Mix beans, tomatoes, basil and dressing.  I never end up using as much dressing as I make, as I prefer my salads not to be "soupy" with the dressing.  Use as much or as little as you like.
7. Serve cold.  This salad is even better the next day.
8. Enjoy!