Dragon's tongue

Today is Monday, and that generally means domesticity in the Brecki household. Mike is working on his radio show, and I am working on a not-at-all-elaborate-meal-that-I-somehow-managed-to-make-complicated. Salad with greens and parsley from the garden (the first time the arugula plants have enough leaves that I feel comfortable snipping them!) with a mustard dressing (with a sampling from my 5 tubes of European mustard!), roasted potatoes from Katie and Larry's farm, homemade bread that I am still hoping will rise (fingers crossed), and a riff on feisty green beans. These beans are called Dragon's Tongue, and we got them - you guessed it - at Katie and Larry's farm. Pre-cooking, they were yellow with purple bands. Beautiful. I blanched them - mostly following the recipe, sans ew-y ew-y raisins - then cooked up garlic with a bunch of super aromatic spices.

Hell yes I use prepacked red pepper. If it comes with your delivery pizza, save it. Mostly for use when camping, but sometimes you can bust it out and make it work. I tossed the beans and spices with walnuts and tarragon in lieu of the recipe's almonds and cilantro. Work with what you got - plus I am obsessed with tarragon. Which is odd since I don't really like black licorice favor, but this is not the time for soul searching. Or maybe it is.

Did I mention I've been hitting the cooking wine?

UPDATE: The bread didn't rise, but was delicious anyway. Mike and I ate pretty much the whole loaf. I recommend the recipe, but only if you have more self control than we do.