One day when I was in high school, I was home sick. What did I watch when I was home sick? The soaps, right?
1 pound fingerling potatoes, quartered lengthwise (petite golden or red potatoes may be substituted)
Of course not. I watched Sesame Street. And what to my wondering eyes should appear that day, but a character I'd never seen before. His name? Captain Vegetable.
"It is I, Captain Vegetable!
With my carrot, and my celery!
Eating crunchy vegetables is good for me!"
I lay there on the couch, laughing until I cried at this crazy-looking Muppet, voiced by the incomparable Jim Henson himself.
When I later told my friends about it, they thought I was making it up. No one else had ever seen Captain Vegetable, and try as I might, I never caught the clip again. He was frustratingly elusive, this superhero. I began to question whether I'd ever even really seen it - had it been a fever-induced bad dream? (You'll need to watch the video at Sesame Workshop to fully understand that question.) My mum eventually saved the day (and my sanity), not with vegetables, but by finding a cassette of Sesame Street songs that included the Captain Vegetable song.
I preface today's recipe with this story because I, like several friends of mine, am trying to turn over a (well, another) new leaf in the ongoing diet battle. My legendary sweet tooth has been well documented here. As much as I love candy and carbs (again, go watch the video), I'm going to try to balance out the scale (all puns intended) a little bit, by including some healthier recipes.
Today we had one of those rare April days that feels more like June - it was sunny and in the 80s - so I was inspired to make a salad to go with our grilled pork chops. This will be going into the regular rotation!
Potato, Green Bean, and Tomato Salad with Pesto
1 pound fingerling potatoes, quartered lengthwise (petite golden or red potatoes may be substituted)
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 pound fresh green beans
Several handfuls grape tomatoes (about 25 tomatoes)
1/4 red onion
1/4 cup pesto (I used prepared - if you're ambitious enough to make your own, props to you!)
Preheat oven to 450F. Toss quartered potatoes, olive oil, and salt in a mixing bowl. Spread in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake 20-25 minutes, stirring once halfway through baking. Remove from oven, and set aside.
Meanwhile, trim green beans and cut in half. Bring salted water to a boil. Add green beans, and cook until crisp-tender, 3-4 minutes. Drain, and plunge into an ice-water bath to stop the cooking process. Let stand five minutes, then drain, and pat dry with paper towels.
Halve grape tomatoes.
Slice red onion into thin wedges.
Combine vegetables and pesto in mixing bowl, tossing to coat. Serve at room temperature.
Yield: six servings
1 spoons thrown:
Like all your friends, I have never seen Captain Vegetable until now. I wonder if they felt the unibrow was too scary for small children and took him off the air.
This salad sounds very good, and I think in the summer when gardens are full of herbs, you could replace the pesto with a mixture of herbs (and some extra oil if required), so you could change it to suit what you're serving it with.
We all lean towards our favored potato salad, but I like to have a variety of them, and this one is going to be added to the mix.
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