The Best Baked Green Bean Fries

These are essentially fool-proof, and perfectly crispy!

Ingredients:
1 bunch of green beans, washed and ends removed
1/2 cup flour (I used whole wheat, I don't think it matters)
2 eggs, beaten into a bowl
1 cup breadcrumbs, plain or seasoned (if plain, spice them up anyway you like! I added 1 tbsp oregano, fresh ground pepper, and 1/4 cup grated pecorino to mine), in a large bowl



Instructions:
Preheat oven to 425 F.  After green beans have been washed and cleaned, toss them together with the flour in a bowl or ziploc bag. Carefully, leaving flour not stuck to the green beans, transfer a handful of green beans at a time to the bowl with egg, and gently stir to coat. Again, leaving behind as much of the egg as possible, transfer (hands or a fork) to the bowl of seasoned breadcrumbs. Toss to coat. Transfer to a baking sheet sprayed or wiped with cooking oil, leaving some space between the fries on the baking sheet, bake for 20 minutes or until golden and crispy. It's important that the fries are in a single layer, with some space between them, so they can get crispy- too close and they'll steam each other and get soggy!

Enjoy with some creamy dipping sauce, or plain! Ranch or a flavored mayo would be great with them :)

Crispy, Deliciousy, Turnip Fries

Ingredients

3 Large Turnips (I had two ginormous ones from my CSA on hand)

1/4 cup olive oil

Spice Blend: whatever you feel like (we used smoked paprika, cumin, cayenne, and a generous heap of salt)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 F. Wash well, and trim turnips. Slice into 1/2" X 1/2" strips. Place all ingredients in a large plastic ziploc, and shake well. Lay in a single layer on a baking sheet, spread out a little (we used two baking sheets). If they're too close, they will steam each other and become mushy instead of crispy. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden, crispy, and a taste test says they are delicious. Allow to cool slightly so you don't burn your tongue (oops). 

Enjoy!

8/06/2013 Update
Added 1/4 cup nutritional yeast and some smoked paprika to the spice blend, and left out the cumin- was delicious!

Homemade Mustard

Inspired by http://www.splendidtable.org/story/how-to-make-homemade-mustard I gave it a try and wow, awesome, amazing is all I have to say.

I placed the following into a small glass canning jar:

• 6 tablespoons of whole mustard seed (3 yellow and 3 brown)
• 1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons dry white wine
• 3/8 tsp salt
• a pinch of ground allspice
• a couple of grinds of black pepper

I closed the jar and shook it up before placing it in the refrigerator for the night.

The next day I dumped the contents into my food processor, added some water (I started with a few tablespoons)  and blended it until I was happy with the consistency.

I was going to add horseradish but now I'm thinking honey, this packed quite a punch.