another dish or two or three depending on how many gather for a meal, as a salty, delicately crunchy, colorful, and fresh component of the menu. In addition, most of them can be tossed with hot noodles and perhaps a little olive oil, sesame oil, or butter if needed to create a flavorful noodle dish to accompany grilled fish, sautéed shrimp, a cool bowl of gazpacho, or creamy cucumber soup on a summery day.
Once you’ve done your knife work, you’re minutes away from simple and wonderful stir-fried dishes like Everyday Green Beans (page 119) and Asparagus with Ginger and Sesame Oil (page 123). Corn with Tomatoes and Edamame Beans (page 125) looks and tastes wonderful, and works beautifully whether you use fresh, frozen, or canned corn. Stir together Cool and Tangy Cucumbers (page 126) whenever you want a fast, fresh note on your menu.
Once you know how to cook Broccoli with Garlic and Ginger (page 127), Napa Cabbage Stir-Fried with Ginger and Green Onion (page 122), or Bok Choy Stir-Fried with Garlic (page 120), you will be thinking about how simple and tasty it would be to apply your vegetable stir-fry skills to an abundance of other vegetables. Stroll through the farmers’ market, or saunter by the salad bar, and see what comes to mind: bell peppers, watercress, spinach, broccoli rabe, fresh fava beans, sugar snap peas, savoy cabbage, or cauliflower can come out deliciously cooked in much the same way, quickly and easily.
EVERYDAY GREEN BEANS
Chinese cooks appreciate green beans for their straitlaced, sensible quality, cooking them with simplicity and speed. The result is a lovely pile of summery-green rods, firm to the bite and full of salty-sweet flavor. Make them often, and keep a batch cold in the fridge so that you can toss them into salads, fried rice, and pasta dishes right before they are done. They also make a dandy little snack and picnic component, along with tomato sandwiches (white bread, mayo, tomatoes, salt and pepper) and deviled eggs. On busy days, look for trimmed green beans in the produce section, bagged and ready to go.
1 pound fresh green beans
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
½ teaspoon salt
1 / 3 cup water or chicken stock
SERVES 4
NOTE
If you have a lid that fits on your skillet or down inside your wok but still above the beans, put it on after adding the water to boost the heat. Check often: you may need to add a little more water if they aren’t done on this schedule, and keep tossing till they are ready. Or turn them out, sauce and all, if they are done earlier. For tiny French-style haricots verts, shorten the cooking time
.
To prepare the green beans, trim away the ends and pull off any strings. Chop the beans crosswise into 3-inch lengths.
Heat a wok or a large, deep skillet over high heat. Add the oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add the garlic and salt and toss until fragrant, about 15 seconds.
Scatter in the green beans and toss well until they are shiny and starting to brighten to a vivid green. Add the water, pouring it in around the sides of the pan, and toss well. Cook, tossing now and then, until the green beans are tender but still firm and the pan is almost dry.
Transfer to a serving plate and serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.
BOK CHOY STIR-FRIED with garlic
This simple home-style stir-fry has put bok choy on my weekly grocery list. Its bright white stalks and lush green leaves cook up into a remarkably delicious, pleasantly textured dish that tastes great with rice or noodles. Think of it as a delicious vegetable dish, a worthy companion to steak and baked potato, grilled salmon, or pasta tossed either with pesto, or with garlic and oil.
1¼ pounds bok choy
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 slices fresh ginger
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons water
SERVES 4
Trim away and discard the bottom inch or so at the base of the bok choy, along with any tired outer leaves and
Once you’ve done your knife work, you’re minutes away from simple and wonderful stir-fried dishes like Everyday Green Beans (page 119) and Asparagus with Ginger and Sesame Oil (page 123). Corn with Tomatoes and Edamame Beans (page 125) looks and tastes wonderful, and works beautifully whether you use fresh, frozen, or canned corn. Stir together Cool and Tangy Cucumbers (page 126) whenever you want a fast, fresh note on your menu.
Once you know how to cook Broccoli with Garlic and Ginger (page 127), Napa Cabbage Stir-Fried with Ginger and Green Onion (page 122), or Bok Choy Stir-Fried with Garlic (page 120), you will be thinking about how simple and tasty it would be to apply your vegetable stir-fry skills to an abundance of other vegetables. Stroll through the farmers’ market, or saunter by the salad bar, and see what comes to mind: bell peppers, watercress, spinach, broccoli rabe, fresh fava beans, sugar snap peas, savoy cabbage, or cauliflower can come out deliciously cooked in much the same way, quickly and easily.
EVERYDAY GREEN BEANS
Chinese cooks appreciate green beans for their straitlaced, sensible quality, cooking them with simplicity and speed. The result is a lovely pile of summery-green rods, firm to the bite and full of salty-sweet flavor. Make them often, and keep a batch cold in the fridge so that you can toss them into salads, fried rice, and pasta dishes right before they are done. They also make a dandy little snack and picnic component, along with tomato sandwiches (white bread, mayo, tomatoes, salt and pepper) and deviled eggs. On busy days, look for trimmed green beans in the produce section, bagged and ready to go.
1 pound fresh green beans
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
½ teaspoon salt
1 / 3 cup water or chicken stock
SERVES 4
NOTE
If you have a lid that fits on your skillet or down inside your wok but still above the beans, put it on after adding the water to boost the heat. Check often: you may need to add a little more water if they aren’t done on this schedule, and keep tossing till they are ready. Or turn them out, sauce and all, if they are done earlier. For tiny French-style haricots verts, shorten the cooking time
.
To prepare the green beans, trim away the ends and pull off any strings. Chop the beans crosswise into 3-inch lengths.
Heat a wok or a large, deep skillet over high heat. Add the oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add the garlic and salt and toss until fragrant, about 15 seconds.
Scatter in the green beans and toss well until they are shiny and starting to brighten to a vivid green. Add the water, pouring it in around the sides of the pan, and toss well. Cook, tossing now and then, until the green beans are tender but still firm and the pan is almost dry.
Transfer to a serving plate and serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.
BOK CHOY STIR-FRIED with garlic
This simple home-style stir-fry has put bok choy on my weekly grocery list. Its bright white stalks and lush green leaves cook up into a remarkably delicious, pleasantly textured dish that tastes great with rice or noodles. Think of it as a delicious vegetable dish, a worthy companion to steak and baked potato, grilled salmon, or pasta tossed either with pesto, or with garlic and oil.
1¼ pounds bok choy
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 slices fresh ginger
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons water
SERVES 4
Trim away and discard the bottom inch or so at the base of the bok choy, along with any tired outer leaves and
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