(Eat Your) Mixed Vegetables with Thyme, Balsamic Vinegar, or Dijon Mustard or Wine

STORY

Don’t tell my mother, but frozen mixed vegetables were one of the things I hated most as a child. While there were benefits (they were cheap and rather colorful), there was also one major drawback (they tasted like the plastic bag they came in). And really, is there anything quite as terrible tasting as a frozen lima bean? I can’t think of anything. (Feel free to comment or email me if you think there is something worse. If I agree, I’ll do a follow-up post.) So after many, many meals involving mixed vegetables, I devised a solution. I would hide the vegetables on a ledge under our dining room table.

It worked well.  At first, I was diligent about removing the vegetables from the ledge, but over the course of a few years, I became lazy, and I left the veggies to atrophy just like Miss Havisham’s wedding cake. Many years passed, and I was away at school when my veggie graveyard was found by my mother, who at first suspected that my brother had done it, but then realized that it had to be me (I always sat in the same seat at the table). I didn’t face her justifiable wrath until weeks later (I was a seven-day boarder at a prep school at the time), and I promised myself that I wouldn’t, under any circumstances, feed my children the frozen vegetables I grew up on. I also promised to check for any and all vegetable graveyards that might exist under the table.

Fortunately, I am a single, and do not have to worry about vegetables under my table (it also helps that my table is made of glass). But I still have to find a way to make peace with my mixed vegetable past. One of the ways is by using vegetables I love. The other is by including thyme, which mysteriously sweetens everything just so. I vary this recipe depending on whether I have balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, or white wine on hand.  Each gives this dish a distinctive taste and I encourage you to try all three. As well, you can vary the vegetables to your liking. Any variety of low starch root vegetables, or green long bean can be substituted.

RECIPE

• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 – 20 minutes
• Total Time: 20 – 25 minutes

TOOLS

• 1 small pot (fill with water and ¼ tsp of salt)
• 1 skimmer or strainer
• 1 small bowl of ice water
• 1 large skillet
• 1 wooden spoon

INGREDIENTS

1 handful of green beans (ends snapped or trimmed)
1/2 tbsp of olive oil
1 handful of baby carrots
1/2 red pepper (thinly sliced)
1/2 red onion (thinly sliced)
1/2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, or Dijon mustard, or dry white wine
1/2 tbsp of thyme leaves (stripped from branches)
1/4 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of fresh ground pepper

METHOD

1. Bring salt water to a boil.
2. Add green beans and boil for five minutes.
3. Using a strainer or a skimmer, promptly remove the green beans from the boiling water and place into the ice water bowl.
4. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
5. Add 1 handful of baby carrots, ½ thinly sliced red onion, ½ thinly sliced red pepper.
6. Sauté vegetables until onion is translucent (about 8 minutes).
7. Add balsamic vinegar, or Dijon mustard, or dry white wine, and cook for an additional three to five minutes (until carrots are tender).
8. Stir in 1 tbsp of thyme leaves.
9. Season with ¼ tsp of salt, and ¼ tsp of fresh ground pepper.
10. Serve with a nice meat course, or eat it alone, if you like.

(Photo Credit: Matthew G. Piccolo)