You're wandering through the farmer's market after a so-so movie at Angelika. You see a flash of purple, and a memory of a Reed College Commons meal licks your face. It's dragon-tongue beans, and they've got your number.
A bright, savory summer pasta with dragon tongue beans, asparagus, white wine, lemon, miso, garlic, chili flakes, nutritional yeast, and a glossy finish of algae oil.
Ingredients
- Pasta
- Dragon tongue beans, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces
- Asparagus, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces
- Olive oil or butter, for cooking
- 10 cloves garlic, sliced or minced
- 2 tbsp miso
- Dry white wine
- Lemon
- Chili flakes, to taste
- Nutritional yeast, to taste
- Algae oil, for finishing
- Lots of black pepper
- Salt, to taste
Preparing the Dragon Tongue Beans
Trim off the stem ends of the beans. If you can see or feel a tough string running along either seam of the pod, pinch it at the end and pull it off before cooking. Young, small pods can usually be treated like ordinary green beans and sautéed until tender, about 6–8 minutes. Larger pods are often more mature and can stay stubbornly chewy even after a long sauté, so blanch them first in well-salted boiling water for about 6–10 minutes, tasting as you go, until they are genuinely tender. If the seeds inside are very plump and the pod itself feels thick or fibrous, the beans may be past the ideal stage for eating the whole pod.
Most importantly, get the beans as soft as you want them before adding acidic ingredients. Wine and lemon can slow the softening of the pod, so adding them too early can leave the beans firm even after extended cooking.
Method
- Bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente. Reserve some pasta water before draining.
- Prepare and cook the dragon tongue beans as described above, making sure they are tender before they meet the wine or lemon.
- In a large skillet, heat olive oil or butter and cook the asparagus until nearly tender. Add the garlic and chili flakes and cook briefly until fragrant.
- Add the cooked dragon tongue beans, then pour in a splash of dry white wine. Let the wine reduce.
- Stir the miso with a little reserved pasta water until smooth, then add it to the skillet.
- Add the pasta and toss everything together, loosening with more reserved pasta water as needed.
- Once the vegetables are fully tender, finish with lemon juice and/or zest, nutritional yeast, lots of black pepper, salt to taste, and a drizzle of algae oil.
Note
The first version had both wine and lemon in the pan while the dragon tongue beans were still cooking, and the beans stayed firmer than expected even after a long cook. Next time, get the beans tender before adding the wine and lemon; acid can slow their softening.