Thomas Keller's Green Bean Salad with Figs and Walnuts from Ad Hoc Cookbook

It's no secret that I am a huge fan of Chef Thomas Keller and I absolutely love his approachable and comforting dishes from his Ad Hoc at Home Cookbook.
I once had the good fortune to dine at Ad Hoc when visiting the Napa Valley and the standout dish was most definitely the bean salad. Served room temp with frisee, nicoise olives and gigante beans it was simple yet memorable.

 

 Bean Salad at ad hoc

Pan Roasted Lamb at ad hoc

The Perfection of Napa Valley

The recipe in the cookbook is also very straightforward and every bit as delicious. Our friend Patrick slow roasted a pork shoulder on his Big Green Egg (recipe soon to follow), and we decided the Ad Hoc bean salad and some cheddar beer mashed potatoes would be a nice accompaniment. Since we were making the mashed potatoes, I took the liberty to switch up the recipe from Ad Hoc a bit by substituting the boiled potatoes with medium boiled egg (hard boiled eggs, just cooked for 8 minutes to yield a tender, bright yellow yolk versus a hard, crumbly one). And instead of serving the salad with Iberico Ham or prosciutto, I made it more BBQ friendly by crumbling our sugar cured bacon on top.

INGREDIENTS (serves 4)

1.5 pounds haricots verts (French green beans)

1 cup raw walnuts

3 medium boiled eggs

3 radishes, sliced thin

1 cup sherry vinaigrette

2 tablespoons minced chives

4 black mission figs, halved

crumbled bacon

1 tbs crumbled goat cheese (I added this bit too)

splash of lemon juice

This recipe is easy for entertaining because most of it can be prepared a day ahead and assembled shortly before serving. I think it is best served at room temp, so let it rest for 30 minutes before presenting.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a gentle boil to blanch the beans. Keep a large bowl of water and ice next to the the stove to "shock" the beans and stop them from cooking. Once the water is boiling, throw the beans in for about 3 minutes then drop them in the ice water for about a minute. Drain and dry them on a paper towel lined cooling rack set over a cookie sheet. Hold the beans in a bunch and using scissors, trim the tough stems off of them. Store in a ziploc overnight or until ready to assemble.

Then add three eggs to a pot with lightly boiling salted water  and simmer about 8-9 minutes. Place them also in a bowl of ice water to stop cooking them and make them easy to peel. Store them in a container or ziploc.

Preheat an oven to 375, and toast the walnuts on a cookie sheet with parchment paper for about 10 minutes, turning the pan around after five minutes to ensure even cooking. After 10 minutes remove the walnuts and sprinkle generously with sea salt.

Using a mandolin or very sharp knife, thinly slice the radishes and store in ice water to keep them fresh, dry with paper towels before assembling the salad.

Make the sherry vinaigrette (I switched the recipe up a bit from the book) by whisking 1/4 cup sherry vinegar, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1 tsp chopped shallots, 1 tsp dijon mustard, 1 tsp honey and slowly whisk in 1 cup good quality olive oil. Let it marinate at least an hour. Salt and pepper to taste.

When ready to prepare, toss the beans and half the chives in 1/2 of the vinaigrette (reserve the rest in the fridge for later use up to a week), then top with toasted walnuts, eggs, radishes and a few crumbles of goat cheese, bacon and remainder of chives. Sprinkle some more coarse sea salt and give it a few cracks of fresh pepper plus a splash of fresh lemon juice.

Summer Vegetable Gratin

I was food allergy tested a few years ago and found out I have a gluten sensitivity. Which is really such a shame since I love making fresh pasta and pizzas, but I've decided to go GF again for 12 weeks to detox and am thinking of fun ways to cook without gluten. While sitting out by the pool the other day I was reading my Ad Hoc cookbook by Thomas Keller (my hero) and came across a lovely recipe for summer vegetable gratin. His recipe calls for incorporating breadcrumbs with the cheese, and thyme, so I omitted the breadcrumbs, had no thyme, so used Italian parsley and rosemary and chopped prosciutto I had in the fridge. All I can say is WOW!!! That was fabulous and tasted rich and juicy and was even better the next day. Let me also note that I have NEVER been a fan of squash or zucchini, so this was an eye opener for me. The recipe in the book also calls for slender Asian eggplant, but they had none at the store, so I just used more zucchini.

INGREDIENTS

- 2 Roma Tomatoes

- 1 medium squash

-1 medium zucchini

- 1 large diced onion

- 2 cloves minced garlic

1 cup grated parmesan, fontina and asiago blend

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella for topping

1 tbs olive oil

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

chop 1 tbs each of rosemary, Italian parsley and/or thyme

2 tbs chopped prosciutto (optional, pancetta cooked with the onions would also be nice)

In a non stick pan, saute onions and garlic in olive oil and balsamic vinegar on medium heat until soft, but not browned- about 20 minutes. Season lightly with a dash of salt and fresh pepper.  Meanwhile, uniformly slice your veggies about 1/4 thick with either a knife or Mandoline (I used a mandoline- one of the best gifts from our wedding registry- I suggest everyone have one).

Mise en Place "everything in its place"

Once onions are soft, lightly coat a baking dish with olive oil. I use the 9x6 oval Le Creuset dish and it is the perfect size.

Layer the onion mixture on the bottom of the pan, then slightly overlap a row of each veggie, sprinkle with half the herb cheese blend, cover with another layer of veggies and the rest of the cheese and place in the middle rack of an oven at 350 degrees for about an hour until veggies have softened and the cheese is brown and bubbling. Let cool about 10 minutes and serve. Reheats great the next day!

We served it with grilled Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage we picked up at, you guessed it... our new Whole Foods!! So delish!!