haricot vert Archives - Taste With The Eyes

Side Dish Time!

Mélange de Haricots

Parmesan Sage Breadcrumbs

Sauté sage leaves in butter for a couple minutes until slightly crisp. Remove them to a paper towel. Have you tasted warm whole fried sage leaves? They melt in your mouth like a savory candy…

Add panko bread crumbs to that same butter and toss until browned. Then add grated Parmesan and torn crispy sage leaves. Turn off the heat and mix well. This is my opportunity to thank the folks at Foodbuzz for the gifts: A cool green spatula and a nifty apron. Thanks guys! And a hearty congratulations on the Launch today.

Mélange de Haricots, a mix of French Green Beans and Yellow Wax Beans. Cook the beans then toss with a little butter and salt & pepper.

I have discovered these convenient little bags of fresh (baby) vegetables at the market. Snip the corner and microwave for 3 to 4 minutes, and the vegetables come out cooked perfectly. You may have seen the baby carrots I made on Rosh Hashanah? I am equally impressed with the beans and squash.

Sprinkle the warm toasted Parmesan Sage Breadcrumbs over the cooked beans. Toss gently.

Makes a great accompaniment to filet mignon! I am sending this Mélange de Haricots over to Sra of When My Soup Came Alive blog, as she is hosting Susan’s Legume Love Affair Event for October. Do you like all kinds of beans? Make sure to check out Legume Love!

Grilled Rack of Lamb with Herbed Hawaiian Red Salt

Mint Vinegar Sauce

Haricot Vert Tossed with Roasted Walnut Oil, Marcona Almonds

A special thank you to Peter of Kalofagas blog, and ultimately Bobby Flay, for the idea to crust the lamb with herbed salt. Here I took fresh mint, parsley and dill and blended in a food processor with Hawaiian Red Salt.

Hawaiian Red Salt

A small amount of harvested reddish Hawaiian clay called alaea enriches the sea salt with iron-oxide.

The traditional red salt originated on Kauai, where red volcanic clay mingled with sea salt during heavy rains. Evaporation created Hawaiian Red Alaea Sea Salt.

The herbed salt looked like little jewels, watermelon tourmaline crystals to be exact. Beautiful!

The rack was removed from the refrigerator about an hour before cooking. It is massaged with fresh ground pepper and the herbed salt. (You can also wrap each bone with strips of aluminum foil to keep them from blackening).

Place lamb rack on the hot grill with a remote thermometer inserted into the meat. Close the lid and turn the fire to medium. It is important to watch as there may be fire flare-ups. If so, douse with a sprinkle of water. Turn the rack over once. When the temperature reaches 140 degrees (for medium-pink) remove the lamb from the grill and let it rest. Once the lamb was removed from the heat the temperature went up to 155 degrees while resting, then when it came back down to 140, it was sliced. I like to use the temperature to determine when the meat is ready to be sliced.

Very little of the juices were lost when slicing by waiting for the temperature to come back down. This method gave us juicy and smokey medium-pink chops exceptionally well-seasoned with the herbed salt and pepper.

In the meantime it is a snap to make a tasty mint vinegar sauce to complement the lamb. And to whomever it was that came up with the idea to pair not just mint, but vinegar too, with lamb, thank you very much.