Vegan Haricots Verts, Sauce Crème

[Creamed Green Beans II]

...I'm still trying to use up all the garden produce that we harvested just before the frost...so another green bean recipe was needed...

...Julia says that this is less rich than the pure cream treatment in Haricots Verts à la Crème...

...first you make a VEGAN SAUCE BÉCHAMEL...

...and you delicately fold that into your blanched green beans...I did not include the shallots in this recipe...Scout prefers his green beans without onion-y flavor...but that would be nice I'm sure...

...cover and simmer until beans are tender...

...correct seasonings...turn onto a hot vegetable dish and serve at once...

...these were delicious...this sauce was a little bit thicker and clung to the green beans better than the plain cream sauce...we liked it better this way...

Substitutions: Earth Balance for Butter
and the substitutions from the VEGAN SAUCE BÉCHAMEL recipe

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

pp. 445-446

Vegan Petits Pois Étuvés au Beurre

[Buttered Peas II - for large but tender fresh green peas]

I've been picking fresh peas from the garden again...

...and hoping that they meet Julia's criteria for this recipe...large and tender...

...I love her somewhat condescending comment that they are 'the kind you usually find at your market'...

...they don't appear to be too large...

...sort of medium sized really...

...but we dropped them into boiling salted water...

...and boiled uncovered for about 5 minutes...

...then we drained them and put them back into the pan with some salt...

...pepper...

...and a little bit of sugar again...about 1/2 Tbs this time...

...add a bunch of Earth Balance - Julia says 6 Tbs...

...cover and cook about 10 minutes (seems too long to me)...tossing occasionally...

...Julia suggests adding mint as an 'optional English touch', but I did not...

...they were very good...as fresh peas always are...especially coated with Earth Balance...a little over done for my taste...but still very good and we ate them all up...

...a really simple recipe...

Substitutions: Earth Balance for Butter

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

pp. 463-464

Vegan Haricots Verts à la Crème

[Creamed Green Beans]


...I've been back to the garden and picked some lovely fresh green beans...now they're all washed and stemmed and ready to go...

...blanch them first...

...in some salted water for 3-4 minutes...

...then drain them and put them back into the pan to evaporate their moisture...

...toss with salt and pepper...

...and some Earth Balance...

...and pour in the cream...I used homemade soymilk thickened with some powdered soymilk...but you can certainly use a vegan cream if it's available and not too sweet...

...Julia says to cover and boil for 5 minutes or so...until the beans are tender and the cream is reduced by half...but after 5 minutes my beans were probably tender...but I couldn't tell that the cream had reduced at all...so I boiled mine about 5 more minutes with the lid off...

...turn into a hot vegetable dish, sprinkle with parsley and serve...

...still not sure my 'cream' reduced enough...but these were very good...as most things covered in cream are...and it was a very simple recipe...

Substitutions:
Earth Balance for Butter
Soymilk mixed with soymilk powder for the cream

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

p. 445