For my dinner party this past Saturday, I served a green beans and squash side. I had originally was going to wimp out and serve a simple salad but decided to go all out. I cook vegetables pretty much the same way every time– stir-fry.

What you’ll need:

  • green beans
  • squash (I used the crooked neck yellow kind)
  • grape tomatoes
  • garlic
  • shallots
  • onions
  • soy sauce

Heat the pan with a little canola oil and add your minced garlic (about 2-3 cloves), shallots (1 shallot), onions (1 medium). When this has cooked down a bit, add green beans (I used a bag from Trader Joe’s but go for a pound if buying loose) and soy sauce (1 teaspoon). If you really want to make it flavorful, you can add some chicken broth but I chose to add a tiny bit of water to cover the bottom of the pan. Remove from pan after about 7 minutes.

Now add in the squash. At the last minute, I threw two handfuls of grape tomatoes because I had a ton of them.  I wasn’t really watching the pan at this point and I felt I overcooked these a bit. I should have taken them out after about 5 minutes but I think I went to closer to 8 minutes. I was too busy chopping and cooking other things. I may have added too much soy sauce to this batch. You should only use about a teaspoon. Add the beans back in to toss together before serving.

I am going to steal Emeril’s phrase. To kick it up a notch, add some ginger or sesame oil. I suppose you can add both but that would be an umami explosion. If you do add pepper, try white pepper. This vegetarian dish could easily be transformed by adding in a protein.

After looking at the final result of this dish, I would have:

- chopped the beans into more manageable pieces

- chopped the squash more thickly (to prevent the overcooking)

- or watched the pan while it was cooking!