The Greener Side of Life

After a long winter of baskets full of multicolored root vegetables of every kind and shape, mushrooms from the far corners of the world, red meats marinated in wine and chickens roasted with garlic, the first sign of summer is ripe with every shade of green.
 
While these greens are not from Ireland, they certainly cover the full spectrum of its countryside colors. Depending on where you live, summer represents different things to different people; for some it's about a clambake on the eastern seaboard, for others it's about barbecuing everything, from beef and lamb to fish, and with that comes outdoor living well into the evening.
 
Summer for the vegetable lover is about the green bounty that is harvested week after week, and if you are lucky enough to live near a vegetable stand or a greengrocer, you can immerse yourself in the fresh taste of these green vegetables.

 
Green Fava Beans
This is one of those delicacies that surprises and delights. Fava beans are long, large pods with big green beans inside. When selecting them, you want the pod to be large and semi-firm. If it is too firm, the beans will be hard and crunchy; if it is semi-firm the beans will be soft, young and tender. You can simply peel the outer skin of each fava and eat them as is or with a hint of salt, or you can roast them.
 
To roast the entire pods, place them in a metal barbecue basket on a grill or stovetop. The pods need about two to three minutes to char and grill. This will lightly cook them. Peel away the pod and the skin on the bean, and serve with or without salt.
 
Green Chickpeas
Regular chickpeas or garbanzo beans are used in salads, stews and dips, such as hummus. They are usually dried and reconstituted and yellow in color, but their original green form will be loved by all; the flavor is delicious with a hint of lemony tang. They are grown in large fields then picked like flowers – each large, green bouquet contains small pods with a green bean inside.
 
Green Almonds
These appear at the first sign of spring and are eaten in their entirety. Each almond is green and tender to the bite, with a slightly watery inside. You can eat them with a pinch of salt or on their own. As June rolls around, the same almond becomes hard on the outside and now only the inside is edible. It is white and lightly sweet, and when dried it becomes the almond that we all know and love.
 
Sour Green Plums
These are a Mediterranean specialty – they are the sweet yellow plum variety picked when young and very green. Very tart and sour and quite crunchy to the bite, they are typically seasoned with sea salt.
 
Baby Green Peas
These green peas are picked all summer long and are a great snack. Inside each pod is a string of peas delicate in flavor and deliciously sweet. Toward the end of summer, the peas become larger and harder, and while not tender they are still tasty. If you blanch them in water for a minute, they become tender once again.