Keep summer meals light with this simple green bean and radish salad
Looking to lean up on time for fall? This green summer salad topped with an egg is your new favourite lunch meal.
I’m always impressed with other people’s ability to grow fresh produce in their own backyards. My mom has always had a garden filled with tomatoes, strawberries, and an assortment of other fruits and vegetables. It makes meals taste so much better when you go outside and pick the ingredients right out of your garden. I, on the other hand, have the blackest thumb in the world. When I moved out to university, my mom bought me a cute little cactus for my room, and told me it would be tough to kill as it doesn’t need much water or maintenance. I’m sure it was dead two weeks later. I bask in everyone else’s ability to garden and will happily go and pick all their produce to make dinner.
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I was over at a good friend’s home the other weekend, and was subjected to several first-time recipe attempts. Fortunately, they were all fantastic. I asked for the recipes as I wanted to recreate them at home. Having been offered fresh beans and peas from another family, I was all set to recreate the recipe with homegrown ingredients. I veered a little off course while making the salad, and topped it with soft-boiled egg for a little extra protein. It was delicious.
Green bean and radish salad
INGREDIENTS
5 cups green beans, trimmed
1 cup shelled fresh or frozen peas
2 tbsp sodium-reduced soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp seasoned rice vinegar
1 ½ tsp Dijon mustard
¾ tsp grated fresh ginger
5 radishes, thinly sliced
1 avocado, cubed
2 tsp sesame seeds, toasted
DIRECTIONS
1. In saucepan of boiling salted water, cook green beans until tender-crisp (about four minutes). Add peas during last two minutes of cooking. Drain green beans and peas.
2. Place in bowl of ice water and chill for 10 minutes. Drain again and pat dry.
3. In small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, mustard and ginger.
4. In serving bowl, combine green beans, peas, radishes and avocado. Drizzle with dressing, tossing to coat. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
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