Yotam Ottolenghi – serves 8

When I was young, holiday meals were always the same: green bean casserole, candied yams with marshmallows, and an ambrosia jello salad. These side dishes were served with a turkey that had been stuffed with cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, and gravy. 

I am eternally grateful to Lorelei and Sherry, my sisters, who embraced their sense of creativity and adventure when they suggested the idea of introducing side dishes that transcend the 1950s version of a holiday meal.  We each began to contribute unique dishes to a menu that created not only delicious food but a vehicle to express our own artistic creativity. 

When I think about creativity and the arts; music, dance, or painting comes to mind.  As a matter of fact I had a hard time visualizing how I could translate my idea of narrating a cookbook when I joined Project 52. All of the visual artists were either photographers, painters and sculptors. When I signed up to join Sue Mitchell’s Art Museum program, I had serious doubts about my creative abilities, writing skills, and even if anyone else would consider cooking to be a form of art. 

Like visual arts, cooking relies on several of our senses; seeing, feeling and touch. We eat with our eyes and many meals provide the feeling of comfort. The most legitimate reason to acknowledge cooking as a type of artistic expression is that new recipes provide new experiences, can take us on cultural explorations and are a mechanism for creative expression.  
This Green Bean Salad with Mustard Seeds and Tarragon recipe breaks the mold on the traditional Green Bean Casserole, encourages imagination, and definitely will elevate your holiday meal to a whole new level.

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ C Green Beans trimmed
• 2 ¼ C Snow Peas trimmed
• 1 ¾ C Frozen Green Peas
• 2 t Coriander Seeds (roughly crushed with a motor and pestle)
• 1 t Mustard Seeds
• 3 T Olive Oil
• 1 t Nigella Seeds (optional)
• 1/2 Onion Chopped (Optional)
• 1 Mild Red Chili (seeded and finely diced
• 1 Garlic Clove minced
• 2 T Chopped Tarragon
• 1 C Green lettuce (Arugula) 
• 1 Lemon Zest from lemon 
• Salt

Directions

• Fill a medium saucepan with cold water, add salt, and bring to a boil. Blanch the green beans for 4 minutes, then lift them out of the pan (dumping the old water) and into ice water to refresh. Drain and dry. 
• Fill the pan with fresh water, add salt, and bring the water to a boil.  Blanch the snow peas for 1 minute only. Refresh in an ice bath and dry. 
• Combine the green beans, snow peas, and frozen peas in a large mixing bowl. 
• Place the coriander seeds, mustard seed, and oil in a small saucepan and heat up. When the seeds begin to heat up, pour over the contents of the bowl and mix. Remove from the heat and add minced garlic and red chili. 
• Add nigella seeds, red onion, lemon zest, and tarragon to the vegetable mixture. Toss together with olive oil mixture. Just before serving, gently fold in the greens with the beans and peas.