Alex is in the kitchen this month:
Turns out, I’m not a natural gardener. Moving to New Hampshire and embracing a plant-based lifestyle has meant, for me, contributing to my aunt and uncle’s substantial vegetable garden. While I don’t have my mother’s famous ‘black’ thumb, it turns out I did not take to this hobby of growing things as of yet.
Don’t get me wrong, I signed up for this. I was eager to help till the soil, and I will brag and say that I scuffle-hoed most of the garden when we were laying down the beds. A warning for anyone who’s thinking of starting a garden: start small and grow over time. Over the past few months, my mornings before work have been taken up with weeding — if I remembered or woke up on time. Believe me, you don’t want to weed in the height of the day, because you’ll sweat through your sunhat.
However, even as a reluctant gardener, I cannot deny that the results are gratifying. This past month or so the garden has yielded an almost alarming amount of vegetables for a new convert. According to my aunt, this is a bad year because of the unusually wet start to the growing season. But if this is little, I’m scared to know what a boom year for the garden crops are. I’ve seen zucchinis so large I’m tempted to enter them into a county fair. Nothing tastes better than the green and yellow beans that we’ve harvested and eaten this summer. And the sheer amount of onions and garlic—oh, the garlic. So much garlic. Enough garlic that even I, a cook of Italian descent and anti-vampire sentiment, finally have the right supply for my cooking needs.
While I may not be an expert in growing plants, thankfully I make up for it in cooking them. I developed this recipe to use our garden’s bounty in new ways, and it’s been interesting to test out different approaches of prepping and mixing plants. For instance, the zucchini part of the dish solves the age-old question I keep asking about vegetables: will it schnitzel? Yes, yes it will, if you make a slurry of flour, spices and water in the place of eggs. The result is a crunchy-crisp, vegan schnitzel.
The bean part answers another question I’ve been seeing on the vegan-side of Instagram: will it mash? Turns out, butter beans make a protein-packed mash, and if you have any leftovers, it serves as a great sandwich spread. If I lost you at butter bean, come back. You may have heard that butter beans are lima beans, and technically it’s true, they are the same species. But the butter bean is the paler, sophisticated cousin, so don’t listen to your television program’s propaganda that people don’t like lima beans and try the butter bean. Add some string beans on top, and baby, you’ve got yourself a full meal. Each part can be eaten separately, but all together it makes a killer combo.
Zucchini Schnitzel, Charred Scallion Butter Bean Mash, Crunchy String Beans
Ingredients
Zucchini Schnitzel
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large zucchini
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups flour, separated
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 2 cups panko breadcrumbs
Charred Scallion Butter Bean Mash
- 5 scallions, trimmed
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 28-oz can butter beans, undrained
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon almond milk
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Salt and pepper to taste
Crunchy String Beans
- 2 cups string beans, topped and tailed
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lemon, zested
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Char the scallions for the mash by placing them on a sheet pan; broil in oven for five minutes until a bit charred. Set aside.
- Prepare three plates to bread the zucchini schnitzel: one plate with one cup flour, second with flour slurry (one cup flour, water, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper and oregano), third with the panko breadcrumbs.
- Peel the zucchini and cut into long, three-quarter inch slabs. Dip each into flour, flour slurry, and panko breadcrumbs, in that order.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat a large pan to medium heat on the stove and add two tablespoons olive oil. When oil is hot, add the zucchini schnitzels and cook for two to three minutes per side. Add the browned zucchini schnitzel to a sheet pan and bake in oven for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, toss string beans, lemon zest, salt and pepper, and two tablespoons olive oil in a bowl. Spread onto a sheet pan and pop in the oven for 10 minutes.
- To make the mash, heat two tablespoons olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Add chopped onion and garlic, and sauté until the onions are soft, about five minutes.
- Drain half of the liquid from the can of butter beans; add the remaining liquid and beans to the pan, along with the paprika. Braise for 10 minutes until the mixture has thickened.
- Add the charred scallions, hot butter bean mixture, and lemon juice, almond milk, vegan butter, Dijon mustard and salt and pepper to a food processor. Pulse until creamy.
- Add mash to a platter or individual plates, and top with zucchini schnitzel and then string beans.
For more information on how your food choices affect the planet and your health, go to: harriscenter.org/rhp.
