Green Bean

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Italian classics, check out the videos.

Use this easy, vibrant homemade harissa to transform charred green beans (or any grilled veggies) into a wonderful side dish all season long.

In this unusual pairing, the string beans and baby arugula work wonders for each other. Wilting the arugula with the hot, garlicky grilled beans is a nice trick for bringing the two together. While you can use regular arugula if you must, baby arugula is far milder in flavor, so try to find it if you can.

A quick Dijon-herb mixture serves as both a marinade for the grilled pork and a tart dressing for the bean salad.

"I use miso as a unique salt. It adds depth to even simple preparations, like this compound butter."

If you grow pole beans, you know that at first glance, you have only a few beans, and then suddenly there is an onslaught. That's when bean varieties like the green Blue Lake or the yellow wax beans can be stir-grilled with a bit of olive oil for a very simple yet satisfying dish to use the surplus of beans. When you're in the mood for a more robust sauce, try this lemony pesto tossed with the grilled beans right before serving. Editor's note: If you can't find lemon verbena leaves or even fresh lemon balm leaves, substitute basil pesto.

Passover falls at the cusp of spring, and fresh asparagus on the table is one of the best ways to usher in the new season. Combined with the snap of green beans and sautéed with the silky, mild bite of green onions, it becomes a welcome pop of color and texture to the plate.

Alain Ducasse— The lobster must of course be alive, its claws firmly closed with elastic bands. After plunging it in boiling water, keep the lid on the cooking pot to avoid splashes.
Paule Neyrat— The flesh of the lobster is particularly low in fat but rich in protein. The vegetables are low in calories but full of vitamins and dressed with a yogurt sauce. This is a luxury dish but one that's really low in fat.

I grew up on green beans thoren, and while I'll never tire of its crunchy deliciousness, I think adding corn makes it even better. And even though people don't often associate stir-fries with Indian cooking, this dish is a favorite in Kerala. It's a combination of diced vegetables and coconut, but the key is moistening the coconut so it can soak up the ground spices first. This recipe is part of our menu for Sadhya, a South Indian feast.

This aromatic mixture of split peas and vegetables is a staple in the South Indian diet. It always accompanies favorite snacks such as dosas (lentil crêpes) and idlis (lentil dumplings). A traditional Sadhya feast wouldn't be complete without this flavorful source of protein. Asafetida (a garlicky resin from the sap of a fennel-like plant; it's often used in lentil dishes) and fenugreek provide its pleasantly pungent aroma. This recipe is part of our menu for Sadhya, a South Indian feast.

There are countless variations on this much-loved recipe, which has its origins in kosher cooking. By making a meatless (pareve) version of chopped liver, Jews who keep kosher get to enjoy a much-loved dish while sticking to the dietary requirements of nonmeat meals. While this is often served as a Sabbath appetizer, particularly in homes with Ashkenazic roots, and also as a seder dish, novelist Ellen Levine brings it to the annual potluck picnic that gathers together writers and illustrators of children's and young-adult books from all over new England. It's always swiftly scarfed up. As odd as it may sound to prepare a vegetarian spread whose name references an animal organ, somehow this dish lacks the turn-up-your-nose unpleasantness of many pseudo-meat dishes. Maybe this is because its origins are based in authentic foodways. But it could just as well be because it is very versatile and just plain good. as with all home-style dishes, from bouillabaisse to barbecue to gumbo, there are many versions of pareve chopped liver, and whichever one you grew up with is, to you, the one and only. I've attempted to give at least a nod to some of these variations following the main recipe, but this is my take on Ellen's. Try it as a sandwich spread or with crudités; or serve it with crisp crackers, toasted baguette slices, or, at Passover, matzoh.

Salade Niçoise meets all-American pasta salad in this all-in-one dish that’s perfect for a picnic or dinner on a hot summer night. The trick is to use the Italian canned tuna; the flavor of water-packed albacore tuna is just not comparable.

The perfect light, clean side salad to serve alongside a hearty pasta, this is my version of succotash. The different shades of yellow and green beans make it really pretty, too.

Firm, buttery-tasting edamame stand in for lima beans in this all-American side dish. If you can’t find fresh edamame, frozen work just as well.

Low in calories and saturated fat, tofu provides a healthful source of protein and makes an energizing snack. Pressing the tofu extracts some of the liquid so it will crisp in the oven.

Edamame contain as much protein per serving as eggs, milk, and meat, and are also a good source of iron, zinc, and B vitamins. Since the corn is not cooked, it’s imperative that you use the freshest you can find. Serve hot or cold as a speedy, summery pasta dish.

This vegetarian version of the classic dish omits the anchovies and replaces the tuna with cannellini beans; navy beans or chickpeas are other options.

For convenience, you can cook the corn and beans early in the day, toss them with olive oil and smashed garlic, and keep them (covered) in the refrigerator. To remove corn kernels from the cob, stand the ear upright on its flat end; with a sharp knife, cut along the length of the cob, turning as you go.

Buy the freshest vegetables available and only during their peak season. The ones here are at their best in mid-to late summer.

Vegetable stock is an essential ingredient in many vegetarian soups, but it also provides incomparable flavor to many well-loved vegetable (but not necessarily meat-free) soups such as this one. Minestrone has become so familiar in the American kitchen that it might be easy to forget its Italian origins. But the name—minestre is the word for soup, while the suffix (-one) indicates bigness—hints at its universal appeal as a simple pantry-based soup that is also hearty and substantial. The foundation of flavor, called a soffritto, is a common element in soup-making: a trio of celery, carrots, and onion is sautéed first, then stock and more vegetables are added and slowly simmered to coax out their flavors. Beans are what distinguish minestrone from other vegetable soups; the type varies by region, as does the addition (if any) of pasta or rice (this version has neither). The beans are also what give the soup such heft, making it a good option for a meatless one-pot dish (if you leave out the prosciutto) that can stand as the centerpiece of any casual dinner. The beans need to soak overnight in the refrigerator, so plan accordingly. Then they need to boil for at least a half hour, so use that time to prepare the rest of the ingredients for the soffritto and soup.