Green Beans ala Carter

You be aware that President Jimmy Carter, he of the peanut farming and Iran hostage crisis, and a heck of a lot of good deeds done around the world (there's that small honor of a Nobel Peace prize or something), announced just a few days ago that he has cancer.  

Source: ushistory.org

I'm saddened to hear that and hope he has good people around him and that recovery is in the cards so he can keep doing said good deed around the world. Who can't get behind a guy who belongs to a gang of geriatrics called the Elders? Those punks push world peace, you guys!  

I made this green bean dish a few weeks ago for my Presidential themed potluck, where I also made Michelle Obama's Minty Spring Pea Salad. Green beans, it turns out, were noted in a few places as one of Carter's favorite foods. Factoring in the peanut farming was easy enough, and voila! Green beans ala Carter.

Green Beans ala Carter

Minty Spring Pea Salad

Friends, countrymen, Russian spambots, at New Years some lovely friends and I made a resolution to do a potluck once a month.  We've only left off June, and that's because it proved to be just too crazy, schedule-wise, but universe, note that we did talk about it!  I hosted the July potluck on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year, a polar opposite from way back in the never-ending winter that wasn't exactly polar at 90 degrees with 90% humidity.  After a thoroughly scientific poll of potluck resolution members, I settled on a Presidential theme for this potluck - ie. bring a dish that was a favorite of a president or inspired by a president.  

Presidential potluck: Green Beans ala Jimmy Carter, Washington's Cherry Pie,
Michelle Obama's Minty Spring Pea Salad, best American beer for the chef

Naturally, I chose Michelle Obama, the president of my heart.  I also chose Carter (green beans, peanuts) and Washington (cherry pie) but Ima share those later, hokay?  There was a plethora of pie, beer, and food, and we had a capitol time sweating together in my backyard and tiny living room (mwaha) and discussing our sources for US Presidential information (Drunk History is totally valid source).  Pro-tip: strong chance that while researching presidential food choices you will go down many rabbit holes and come to an hour to three later.  There are so many articles, books, posts, recipes, etc.  In short, it was highly tasty and fun. I'm only disappointed that nobody brought squirrel stew.  

Minty Pea Salad

Adapted from Michelle Obama’s Minty Spring Pea Salad

Serves 6-8

Minted Spring Pea 

Ingredients

4 cups fresh or frozen peas, defrosted

1 large shallot, sliced thin (some diced finely)

zest and juice of a lemon plus 1-2 tablespoons more

¼ c olive oil

¾ cup finely chopped mint

salt and pepper

Directions

1. Cook peas until just done, and put in an ice bath; leave to cool.
2. Puree ½ c peas with lemon juice and zest of one lemon and olive oil until smooth.
3. Toss peas, mint, shallot, onion, and leek in a bowl and pour puree over.
4. Season to taste with extra lemon juice and salt and pepper.  

Notes:

• The original recipe calls for a small leek and a small shallot.  I only had a large shallot, and I thought it turned out okay!  I suspect using a small white onion may yield similar results if you’re in a pinch.
• The original recipe also calls for only 2 ½ cups of peas. I had a crowd to feed, and that seemed a little bit like not enough to feed the predicted 6-8, so I initially upped the peas to 4 cups, and eventually added 1.5 cups more when it still didn’t look like a lot, which is not reflected in the recipe above.  I just upped the additional lemon at the end, and it was fine!  

Coconut Lime Brown Rice and Things

 For a while a few weeks ago, I was inexplicably craving brown rice - inexplicable because I’ve never really been a fan of rice, except when it is lovingly embracing or being embraced by pieces of raw fish, which I recognize me makes me a diagnosable weirdo, but also is a vote for sushi, so we're calling it a draw.  This lead to an impulse purchase of a big box of rice, which then led me to be like: “Riiiight.  Now I have a giant box of rice...what now.”  It was also hot, which leads me to want things like fruit and fresh veggies and cold salads.  I had also been attempting to get rid of a bag of dried unsweeted coconut for what felt like the entire gestation period of an elephant, and didn’t want to walk to the grocery store to get other stuff.  What resulted was a grab bag of “what’s in the house that I can use?”  Hence, I messed around, and came up with this delicious mess.  It’s a great quick meal and should keep for about 3 days in the fridge!  You could probably easily also eat it hot...but it’s summer.  Make this, put some super super dry rose in the freezer until it gets a little slush-y, and voila: summer dinner.

Coconut Lime Brown Rice & Things

Makes roughly 3-4 servings

Coconut Lime Brown Rice and Things