Wednesday Edition: What's New

This week's new ingredient is wax beans!  Maybe wax beans aren't so new to a lot of people, but I really don't remember ever cooking them or adding them as an ingredient to a recipe.

For those who are unfamiliar with a wax bean, let me provide a great description: it is a green bean that is yellow in color!

Wax Beans uploaded to flickr.com by giffconstable

I used wax beans in a recipe I found in an old issue of Everyday Food magazine:

Three Bean Salad with Vinaigrette
Ingredients

• 8 ounces green beans, stem ends removed, halved on the diagonal
• 4 ounces yellow wax beans, stem ends removed, halved on the diagonal
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

 Directions

1. Fill a large bowl with ice water; set aside. Set a steamer basket in a large pot with a lid. Fill with enough water to come just below basket; bring to a boil.
2. Place green and wax beans in basket; reduce heat to a simmer. Cover pot, and steam until beans are crisp-tender, 6 to 8 minutes. With tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer beans to ice water. Drain, and pat dry.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together mustard, vinegar, and oil; season with salt and pepper. Add green, wax, and cannellini beans; toss to coat. If storing, cover and refrigerate up to 1 day; bring to room temperature before serving.

My modifications: I searched high and low for fresh waxed beans and could not find them.  Maybe it is too early in the season?  So then I tried to find frozen wax beans.  I knew I had seen a bag of "mixed beans" at my local Stop and Shop.  But I guess it is a popular item since it was out of stock over the weekend.  My last resort was canned.  I normally do not buy canned veggies since they are so high in sodium and do not taste "fresh" but this time I made an exception when I found a can of mixed green beans and wax beans!  So I subbed 1 can for the fresh beans called in the recipe above.

I think it came out pretty good, but it would definitely be better with fresh beans!

Do you have any recipes that call for wax beans?  Are they a "staple" at your house?