CSA Cookoff: Glazed Honey-Chile Long Beans with Shrimp

CSA COOKOFF: WHAT CAME IN LAST WEEK’S FARM SHARE & HOW WE USED IT
Hearty thanks to World Peas, the food hub that feeds me and hundreds of other New Englanders weekly. Keep on growing!

1. Arugula: In a salad, on BATs, and as a topping for a new variation on these shrimpburgers.

2. Sweet corn: Grilled and eaten alongside the burgers above.

3. Slicing tomatoes: Topping for shrimpburgers and for margherita pizza.

4. Cherry tomatoes: BATs and pico de gallo.

5. Garlic chives: Food processed with shrimp and a hot pepper (number 7) for deliciously green and herbal shrimpburgers. (OK, OK, enough with the shrimpburgers. But they were good.) Some also went in this week’s featured recipe.

6. Chinese long beans: See this week’s recipe, below.

7. Hot peppers: See number 5 and this week’s recipe.

8. Bell peppers: These got roasted and went into hummus.

THIS WEEK’S RECIPE: GLAZED HONEY-CHILE LONG BEANS WITH SHRIMP
Full disclosure: This CSA Cookoff features ingredients from the week before last’s share. Last week was Farm Aid 2014, and while my partner-in-cooking picked up the share and took a photo—that’s it, at right—what happened after that is a blur: a food-and-farm-and-fish-and-flower-crowns-and-friendship-bracelets-and-Gary-Clark-Jr. kind of blur. (See photos of HOMEGROWN in action at Farm Aid!)

But this dish was so good, and so full of good ingredients, it fueled me up for the busy concert week ahead. This was my first time cooking with long beans, and I was reminded once again how much I love the novelty of receiving new-to-me produce in our share—especially foot-long beans. (My inner child was thrilled, so I can only imagine how delighted actual kids would be.) We took some generous liberties with a Food Network recipe that came in our CSA newsletter and ended up making this dish our own.

Serves 4
» ½ lb Chinese long beans
» 2 Tbsp butter
» 1 scallion or small red onion, thinly sliced
» 4 Tbsp chopped garlic chives
» 1 Tbsp minced ginger
» 2 small hot pepper, seeded and minced
» pinch of red pepper flakes
» ½ cup white wine
» 1 Tbsp honey
» 1 Tbsp sesame oil
» ½ lb raw shrimp, shelled (and thawed if frozen)
» salt and pepper to taste

To prep the beans, break off the ends, rinse the beans, and shake them dry before chopping them into 2-inch lengths. Blanch them in a large pot of boiling water for 2 minutes then remove them and allow them to cool. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat then add the scallion, ginger, garlic chives, and hot and bell peppers. Cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes. Add the red pepper flakes, long beans, and shrimp and cook 2 to 3 minutes more, until the shrimp turn pink. Stir in the wine, honey, and sesame oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over rice. Happy farm sharing!

STILL HUNGRY?
CSA Cookoff is an ongoing series devoted to putting farm share bounty to good use. What did you get this week? And what did you make with it? Post a comment or photo and share the farm share love!