Beans add spice and health to salad

RECIPE
Here’s a healthy salad for anytime from Chef Richard Erskine at Southeast Culinary & Hospitality College in Bristol, Va.

Marinated Vegetable Salad
8 ounces green beans, cut into 1 to 2-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
1 head Romaine lettuce, torn
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup pitted black olives
1/2 red onion, cut into slivers
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 ounce shaved Parmesan (about 1/2 cup)

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the green beans and stir. Cook for about 2 minutes or until beans are slightly tender. Transfer the cooked green beans to a bowl of ice water and let cool for 3 minutes. Drain the green beans.
In a large bowl, combine the green beans with the lettuce, cannellini beans, olives and red onion. Toss to combine. Drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Top with shaved Parmesan and serve.

Cooking tips

Chef Richard Erskine’s column “Ask The Chef” publishes in the Bristol Courier, part of the Media-General News Service. He answers readers' questions and shares recipes and can be reached at chefrke2@aol.com. Or visit www.tricityhospitality.com.

Q: How long does it take to poach an egg? – Mary T.

A: Well, first of all, the correct way to poach a egg is to place about 3 inches of water in a saucepan. Then, put 2 teaspoons of vinegar in the water, place on stove and bring to a boil.
Take a small bowl and crack a egg in it, and then gently slide the egg into the water. Do this with as many eggs that you want to poach but do not do too many at a time.

After you put the eggs in the water, do not let it come up to a boil again. Let it simmer for about 2 minutes and remove the eggs with a slotted spoon onto your toast or whatever you are serving it with.
The vinegar helps keeps the egg white together as it is poaching.

Q: I am trying to cut down on saturated fats and eliminate trans fats in my family’s diet. Can I successfully substitute tub margarine for stick margarine or butter? If so, how much tub margarine would I use to equal one stick of margarine? Can you suggest any other methods to cut the fat content of baked goods? – Bart L.,

A: You have to be very careful when doing most substitutions like these. The packaging is sometimes very misleading. For example, the tub margarines, or even butter in tubs for that matter, sometimes say that they are so many percent less fat than the stick margarine, but the fact is that they have whipped air into the tub stuff which creates air pockets. Yes, there is less fat but also it is not ounce-for-ounce the same size portion if you put 1 tablespoon of stick versus 1 tablespoon of tub margarine up against each other.

You will notice more and more companies are identifying the trans fats that are in their products.
As you are probably already aware, canola oil is much better to use than the standard vegetable oil. There are non-trans fat shortenings that are available to the restaurant industry, and I have been to meetings where they talk about the future use of these oils in everyday cooking.
You mention cutting back the fat content in baked goods. In most baking recipes that call for oil, you can substitute the same amount of applesauce for the oil in the recipes.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Stirred by a culinary question? "Ask the Chef" by e-mail chefrke2@aol.com, visit www.tricityhospitality.com or write Chef Richard Erskine at Southeast Culinary & Hospitality College, 100 Piedmont St., Bristol, VA 24201. Include your name and hometown for publication. A phone number which will not be published should be included for clarification purposes.