tangy peanut green beans

I know a few people who will be excited to read that with this post, I am officially back in the kitchen and cooking after a bit of a hiatus. My inspiration was the farmers' market. I finally went to the one here in Poulsbo this past Saturday (I've been planning on doing so since arriving here at the beginning of July...better late than never, right?).

After being warned by my mom earlier in the summer not to get too excited, that it was a lot of arts and crafts, I was happily surprised by both the overall size of the market and variety of local fruits and veggies for sale. There were some fun things in the non-produce-but-still-food variety as well: locally made goat cheese and handmade pasta (my brother says he's going back next week to volunteer to be the Italian purveyor's apprentice). In the non-food category, my personal highlights were birdhouses and feathers for one's hair (which I thought Mickey needed, but he disagreed).

Ok, back to the food. My bounty from the market included: swiss chard (funny that a typically winter veggie in California grows in the summer in Washington), elephant garlic (the size of a tennis ball!), cherry tomatoes (which I would have ripe in the garden currently if I hadn't mistakenly bought some gigantic tomato variety that is probably never going to ripen instead of sweet 100s as planned), carrots, red potatoes, peaches, blueberries, cracked pepper goat cheese, and the star of tonight's dish: green beans.

The following could work as a side or as a meal for 2 served over rice or rice noodles (if the latter, be sure to mix them in when you add the sauce so they can soak up some of the tangy peanuty goodness; you could also think about adding some protein in the green bean cooking step in the form of mushrooms or tofu). Or you can be silly like me and eat [all of] the green beans on their own as a meal. Tangy, tasty green beans. Yum. Here's what I did:

Tangy Peanut Green Beans
Serves 2 as side or as meal over rice/rice noodles

the juice of 1 juicy lime (about 1/4 cup)
2 Tbsp. shoyu (may substitute tamari or soy sauce)
1 Tbsp. all natural peanut butter (it's all natural if the only ingredient is peanuts)
1 Tbsp. agave nectar
2 tsp. rice vinegar
1/2 tsp. red chili paste
1 large garlic clove, sliced
1" piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
1 Tbsp. refined coconut oil
3 handfuls green beans, trimmed
2 green onions, sliced (including green part)
a handful of unsalted dry roasted peanuts

Combine the lime juice, shoyu, peanut butter, agave, vinegar, garlic, and ginger in a food processor and process until well combined (garlic and ginger should be in small pieces).

Melt coconut oil in a wok or skillet over medium high heat. After pan is hot, add green beans. Cook, stirring every once in a while: goal is some blackening on the outside while not cooking too far past crisp-tender. For me, this took about 5 minutes.

Remove pan from heat. Carefully pour peanut sauce over and stir until well combined.

Serve topped with green onions and peanuts.

One year ago: curried carrots
Two years ago: homemade granola