Green Bean Mushroom Sauté with Spiced Plum Sauce –
Asian-Inspired Sweet and Spicy Side Dish Recipe
I think this may be the longest I’ve ever gone without blogging. Wanna know why I took a break?
Because I’ve got issues. Organizational issues.
Every year around this time, I clean out my file cabinet, relabel, organize and store things from the previous year. The clean-up is usually limited to my files and only takes a day or two, but this year I felt the need to do more. Much more. What started as “I’m going to organize my spice drawer for 2015” turned into “My closet really needs a cleaning. Oh, and my desk drawers. And while I’m at it, why not get rid of those extra kitchen things I never use? Oh and… and… and…”
Fast forward two weeks later. I haven’t blogged at all. Instead I’ve been deep inside the clutter of our home, shedding the old to make room for the new year. I’ve tossed and shredded and recycled to my heart’s content. I’m pretty much done, although I haven’t tackled the pantry yet. Add that to the list.
Anybody else out there as crazy as me? Seriously. I feel alone in this. My husband wonders if I’m ever coming up for air. I told him no, not until the entire house is done, top to bottom. I’m starting the new year by turning over a new leaf… a super organized, meticulous leaf.
Here’s a recipe to tide you over while I indulge my inner madness. It’s a quick, easy and delicious side dish– Green Bean Mushroom Sauté with Spiced Plum Sauce. I first tested it on Thanksgiving and it was a big hit with the family. I’ve tested it a few more times and I feel like it’s pretty perfect now. Best part? It takes all of 15 minutes to prepare… which frees up more time to label, store and stack. Hallelujah!
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Green Bean Sauté with Spiced Plum Date Sauce
Ingredients
- 6 dried plums (prunes) pitted
- 2 dates pitted
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 1 lb green beans trimmed
- 8 oz mushrooms sliced
- 2 tsp soy sauce for gluten free use a certified GF tamari sauce
- 1/8 tsp Chinese 5 spice
- Pinch cayenne or more to taste
- 2 tbsp Grapeseed oil or oil with a high smoke point for frying
NOTES
Instructions
- Cover the dried plums and dates with hot water and let them soak for 5-10 minutes. You can use this time to clean and trim/slice the green beans and mushrooms.
- Pour dried plums and dates with soaking water into a blender or food processor along with the soy sauce, Chinese 5 spice and cayenne pepper. Blend together ingredients, pausing to scrape the sides periodically, until a thick brown sauce forms. Scoop the sauce into a small bowl and reserve.
- Heat the grapeseed oil over high heat in a skillet until hot. Add the sliced mushrooms to the skillet in a single layer and let them sear without stirring for 3 minutes. Continue to stir for another 1-2 minutes until mushrooms are golden brown. Stir in the green beans and cover the skillet with a lid. Reduce heat to medium and let the green beans cook with the mushrooms for 5-7 minutes longer, stirring occasionally, until the green beans are bright green and have reached desired tenderness.
- Uncover the skillet and stir in the blended spiced plum date sauce, coating all of the vegetables evenly with sauce. Let the vegetables and sauce cook together for another minute or so until hot and bubbly. Taste and add salt, pepper or cayenne for extra spice to taste if desired. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
This looks & sounds delicious. I was just getting ready to do a trial run on making it & then I came across this sentence in the directions “Uncover the skillet & stir in the blended spiced plum date sauce” I panicked & went back over the ingredients, there are no dates listed, what type of dates do I need or am I losing it? lol
I’m still giving this dish 5 stars because as many years as I’ve cooked I know this dish is superb, my taste buds go wild each time my eyes land on that photograph. I hope you can let me know the type of dates before Thanksgiving, our granddaughter & her beau are cooking & invited us to come. I would love to take this dish with us.
Hi Margo! Dates are the second ingredient listed, are you not seeing that on your end? It’s 6 prunes and 2 dates. They’re also talked about in the instructions… let me know if you need more direction!
Delicious, easy recipe to make it is a keeper
Can this be made ahead of time as I will be having some people over for lunch and I don’t want to be cooking then
Yes no problem!
This was really good! I like how simple it was to make.
I need to clean out so much stuff and declutter! But I procrastinate because it’s all so overwhelming!
Thank you! You’ve inspired me now to do it!
Cleaned out, thrown out, given away.
I’m cleaning like a mad woman – every Jan. I do this.
I love the plate.
yes please, makes my mouth water looking at it 😉
Cleaning before Pesach.
When you are done with your house, you can come do mine.m bring a dump truck while you’re at it!
Yes! I love to deep clean in January!