Jake's Birthday Bean and Snap Pea Salad

August 19th! Jake's birthday, and another celebratory pot luck at the McMurtry's in Walnut Creek. I decided to concoct a summer bean and snap pea salad that had been a big hit on the Fourth of July. The inspiration  came from a striking photograph in the Canadian cookbook First Mess by Laura Wright. Her title refers to a passage in M.F.K. Fisher's An Alphabet for Gourmets.

Slicing sugar snap peas down the middle is the key to the salad's striking presentation and it always gets raves. The rest of the ingredients are prepared in the traditional manner-- just simmer green and yellow beans until tender, run a bit of cold water over them, drain and plop them in a bowl. Blanch whole snap peas for a minute in the boiling water, drain them, slice horizontally and add them to the bowl. Salt the veggies and dress them with a simple vinaigrette made from olive oil, balsamic vinegar, shaved shallots, and a small spoonful of Dijon mustard. At the last minute I added halved cherry tomatoes and sprigs of basil for flavor and effect.

To serve the salad, I chose a BIA rectangular baker with a vegetable motif to show off the beauty of the dish. I poured the undressed vegetables into the baker and arranged them artfully in order to take the photo and then I dressed and rearranged them right in the server. The little green pea pod at the top of the picture is actually a design painted on the white porcelain, but it certainly looks like a part of the salad. You can easily spot the pea pod in the empty baker below.

My precious BIA rectangular baker with veggie pattern

I first discovered BIA Cordon Bleu when I went to work for Chef's Warehouse in Daly City. This was the newly opened retail cookware store for BIA, as it's now called, a company that produced French inspired cookware, bakeware and tableware made from porcelain. To learn more about the history of the company called Belgian Import Association, click Here . I was hired to organize the cookbook section of their shop, but I soon had ample opportunity to familiarize myself with all the BIA products, and I lost no time collecting appealing pieces. At that time the South San Francisco company designed and manufactured beautifully decorated dinnerware sets, casseroles, oval and rectangular bakeware, cafe-au-lait bowls, pitchers, soup tureens etc. etc. My co workers and I collected  to our heart's content, but little did we realize that in the near future our beloved decorative fruit and flower patterns would be eliminated and could not be replaced. Though the company is still thriving they have switched to plain white patterns and the glazed ceramic stoneware that is now in vogue.

Unfortunately my supply of dinner and salad plates is dwindling due to inevitable breakage, but I still have plenty of oval, rectangular and round bakers due to their thickness and durability. I should mention that all porcelain is made of clay and fired at a very high temperature to allow for strength and durability. These wonderful products can withstand hot ovens, microwaves, freezers and dishwashers. But sadly, they can't withstand a crash to a hard floor or a stiff bang on a granite counter top.

The casserole pictured above, decorated with colorful summer vegetables, is one of my BIA favorites. I use it to bake Dean's favorite microwave polenta.

A round baker with a rare grape pattern

I have tried to replace my broken items on the BIA website as well as on EBay but the selection is minute. All I found were few items with chili peppers from an estate sale in Texas. So I'll just have to enjoy the pieces that I have left, and hold on to the those dwindling dinner plates with a firm grip.

Today We're Making Oatmeal Cookies

Actually, the cookies above are not my cookies. They were baked and photographed by Joy the Baker who has an inspirational blog. She inspired me to make my current favorite Oatmeal School Cookies from the classic cookbook Laurel's Kitchen. As you might notice from previous cookie posts, I love oatmeal cookies both for their wholegrain goodness and sweet chewy appeal.

Laurel's Kitchen, A Handbook for Vegetarian Cookery and Nutrition was written by Carol Flinders, Laurel Robertson and Bronwen Godfrey. Published in 1976, it contributed to the increasing awareness of vegetarian eating in the U.S. The second edition called The New Laurel's Kitchen came out in 1986 and is still in print. Laurels Kitchen was a little too hardcore for my taste. I gravitated toward the Vegetarian Epicure I and II by Anna Thomas. But I still browsed through Laurel's information and recipes and somehow came away with this recipe for oatmeal school cookies to add to my growing repertoire of oatmeal favorites.

My version of Oatmeal School Cookies, stored in a cookie tin

I guess I first baked these cookies in the 70's and I liked the flavor but I found them to be unpleasantly hard. Maybe I over-baked them but, for whatever reason, they never made my list of favorites nor were they included in my files. Then lately the memory of oatmeal school cookies crept into my sensory stream of consciousness. I remembered the crunch of sesame seeds and a wholegrain goodness that appeals to me now. I generally add whole wheat flour to most of my baked goods and I like the results. Of course Laurel's version would be 100% whole wheat and include wheat germ as well, so it was time to locate the recipe. No need to visit the library, the recipe showed up on the Canadian blog Ten More Bites.

The original recipe calls for pumpkin or sunflower seeds, but I remembered sesame seeds, so that is what I used. I require walnuts in my cookies and Dean requests chocolate chips, so both are included. Dean (or Mr. P as Jeanette calls him} loves them!

                                                OATMEAL SCHOOL COOKIES

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup wholewheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
3/4 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins and chocolate chips
2/3 cups toasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Using a mixer, cream butter and brown sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, wheat germ and oats. Combine with other ingredients.
Stir in raisins and chocolate and seeds. If the mixture seems a bit crumbly, add a tablespoon of water or apple juice.
Drop Tablespoonfuls onto  baking sheets, flatten tops. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack

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