For the love of Produce...

AnnPT77

@acpgee, we don't much see mangosteen here, but the few times I've found/tried them, I haven't been able to figure out the ripeness question. I hope someone will have insight! They are an interesting fruit, though, looking a bit like a tiny eggplant, but harder shell. Ripeness-wise, I just break in and hope for the best.

Today, the new-to-me (I think) thing (that's probably common for others elsewhere) is this roughly softball sized thing that the produce market labels "Korean melon" (web says it would be called "chamoe" in Korean). Interesting, definitely melon-y flavor, but much crisper, almost cucumber-crisp, compared to the melons usual here.

mtaratoot

I tried something else new today. It was loosely based on some things I read online.

I had started a pound of garbanzo beans soaking on Thursday. After soaking overnight, I rinsed and drained twice a day until yesterday. They had just barely started to sprout.

I cooked them low and slow with a few bay leaves from the tree outside, some salt, and one dried Chile de Arbol. I ate some last night. From what was left, I reserved a few for another use (to add to some leftover black bean soup I took out of the freezer the other day to make it into an entirely new dish). I removed the bay leaves and the chile.

This morning, I finely minced a few very small red onions from my friend's CSA basket, a couple more small white onions from same basket, one rib of celery, a few leaves of kale rabe, a few spears of sprouting broccoli, a yellowish carrot, and a fresh sprig of spearmint from the yard. I mixed that with the quart of beans and squeezed in the juice of a lemon and a nice generous pour of EVOO. As an afterthought, I finely chopped a few cloves of garlic and added them in. I gave it a nice stir and put it all back in the quart container to meld. It's quite tasty.

I had drained the liquid from the beans that went into the salad, and I saved that with the few that will go in the black bean soup. Yumers all around.

Most of the recipes I saw didn't have several of the items I added, and most had parsley and cilantro. I didn't have any of those in my house, so I just used what I had.

o0Firekeeper0o

I got my garden planted on Sunday. Hoping everyone makes it and I can look forward to a summer of veggies, herbs and even a few edible flowers!

mtaratoot

I made a big breakfast today.

I had some purple sprouting broccoli and some kale raab that really needed to be cooked. So I chopped the stems tiny and the rest coarsely. I cut up a carrot, some celery, some onion, and some mushrooms. I spiced it up with a dried Chile de Arbol. Fried up in olive oil and added some nutritional yeast and un-hulled sesame seeds. I added five or eight coarsely chopped garlic cloves right near the end of cooking. Splashed in some 40° N fish sauce for saltiness and umami.

Served over pearled barley.

It was more than I planned to eat, but I thought it wouldn't save well, and I already have plans to cook something else for supper. So.... it's all gone. All for less than 500 calories.

o0Firekeeper0o

I made curry last night with my homemade curry paste and the classic mix in my husband and I have done in curry since we started dating: mushrooms, potatoes, and onion. Even my toddler had seconds and she’s usually “eh” on curry.

Tomorrow I’m making our favorite Southwestern quinoa salad and some crispy tofu. I need to start soaking the beans this afternoon!

AnnPT77

I don't think I've combined this before, though not sure (a risk of the recipe-sparse life): Cooked beets, smashed chickpeas, goat feta, sweet onions, red wine vinegar, black pepper. Cold, so I suppose that makes it salad?
Looks odd, tasted good.


I'd've maybe included some seeds (pumpkin, maybe?), maybe sweet corn, on a day with a bigger calorie budget.

lemurcat2

Now I want beets.

AnnPT77

lemurcat2 wrote: »

Now I want beets.

Mildly guilty admission, in context of this thread: I bought a box of the Geffen already-cooked shelf-stable ones at Costco. It may be a mental block on my part, but I don't like prepping beets, but I do like beets occasionally. (Love the greens, but merely like the beets as sort of a middling-desirable veggie in my personal yum hierarchy. I wait for farmers market season to get beets with tops, usually.)

Probably fresh would be better, but these are OK, taste like simple cooked beets, contain only beets, are super easy. My version of a fast food? 😉

acpgee

While visiting my mom last week, a girlfriend of hers brought over a stunning violet coloured Chinese aubergine salad. I can't wait to try it tonight. The girlfriend's version was deep fried but I will try the furious steam technique.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0D2g5bwuSs

o0Firekeeper0o

I found fiddleheads at Wegmans! Tis the season! Happy dance!

lemurcat2

I've been craving beets since Ann mentioned them, so last night made (as a mid-week birthday dinner for my sister, who is staying with me while work is being done at her place): salmon with sides of spaghetti squash and a warm salad made up of a mix of red and orange beets plus cauliflower with a little blue cheese mixed in. So delicious.

Today I am having leftovers for lunch, and I mixed the leftover beets, etc., with the leftover spaghetti squash when I put them away, and now the red beet color has colored everything a bright pinkish-red, including the spaghetti squash. My meal looks bizarre, but tastes good.

o0Firekeeper0o

I had my fiddleheads the other night and shared with my husband; he still doesn’t fully get “the hype” but agrees they are good. He said I can plant the fern species if I want in our backyard swale… I think me paying $9 for 1/2 pound for these each year is just too much for him to bear

AnnPT77

o0Firekeeper0o wrote: »

I had my fiddleheads the other night and shared with my husband; he still doesn’t fully get “the hype” but agrees they are good. He said I can plant the fern species if I want in our backyard swale… I think me paying $9 for 1/2 pound for these each year is just too much for him to bear

IME, they take a few years to get well established, but if you have a spot where they're happy, they then spread enthusiastically. Ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) is the most commonly grown edible one.

Truth in advertising: I don't love them as an edible (they're OK), but I do grow them as an ornamental.

acpgee

AnnPT77 wrote: »

o0Firekeeper0o wrote: »

I had my fiddleheads the other night and shared with my husband; he still doesn’t fully get “the hype” but agrees they are good. He said I can plant the fern species if I want in our backyard swale… I think me paying $9 for 1/2 pound for these each year is just too much for him to bear

IME, they take a few years to get well established, but if you have a spot where they're happy, they then spread enthusiastically. Ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) is the most commonly grown edible one.

Truth in advertising: I don't love them as an edible (they're OK), but I do grow them as an ornamental.

If you forage or grow them yourself, you will have to google how to pick them and when. I remember hearing as a kid that once they unfurl they become toxic.

AnnPT77

acpgee wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

o0Firekeeper0o wrote: »

I had my fiddleheads the other night and shared with my husband; he still doesn’t fully get “the hype” but agrees they are good. He said I can plant the fern species if I want in our backyard swale… I think me paying $9 for 1/2 pound for these each year is just too much for him to bear

IME, they take a few years to get well established, but if you have a spot where they're happy, they then spread enthusiastically. Ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) is the most commonly grown edible one.

Truth in advertising: I don't love them as an edible (they're OK), but I do grow them as an ornamental.

If you forage or grow them yourself, you will have to google how to pick them and when. I remember hearing as a kid that once they unfurl they become toxic.

There are some reports of toxicity for ostrich ferns. Current recommendation (from Canada's authorities, because I found theirs first) recommends through cooking (boil 15 minutes, steam 10-12) rather than light:

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-safety-fruits-vegetables/fiddlehead-safety-tips.html

I believe that's based on case reports such as this, published by US CDC:

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00032588.htm

Many other types of ferns are toxic, though there are a few other edibles.

AnnPT77

My nice neighbor Bob just dropped off a nice mess of beautiful asparagus, just picked this morning at his brother-in-law's farm, all washed and trimmed, even. 😋 Definitely on the menu for dinner tonight.

lemurcat2

Lucky you!

acpgee

So tonight was the third time I tried the Chinese aubergine salad that was so astonishingly violet when my mom's girlfriend brought a batch over. Have not been able to duplicate that colour with steaming as opposed to deep frying the eggplant. Tried a new recipe because the first one which dictated a 5 minute steam was not long enough.
https://www.chinasichuanfood.com/chinese-eggplant-salad-recipe/

First time I used western aubergines which remained very dark purple. Second time with Chinese aubergines the colour was closer but paler, especially because I did the steaming step a day in advance. Tonight I used one western and one eastern aubergine. The western one remained dark purple and the Chinese got closer to the striking violet colour. The Chinese eggplant absorbed less water during the steaming process.

Despite failing to get that stunning violet colour I will make this regularly. Steaming instead of frying aubergine gives a nice texture that doesn't taste greasy.

o0Firekeeper0o

Went to the farmer’s market on Thursday and have been reveling in the produce.

Baked beets and sauteed beet greens in some butter and garlic. Been eating the beet greens here and there and going to slice and refrigerator-pickle the beets today.

Got an enormous batch of kale and used that in last night’s zuppa toscana. It was the best kale I’ve ever had, and I love kale anyway. Nice mild flavor and great texture.

I have some spinach that I think I’ll prep the same way as the beet greens; the beet greens are almost gone now so I’d like another sauteed green on hand.

And then on Sunday my husband took our daughter to a u-pick berry farm. There’s a few left in the fridge but I’ve also freeze-dried a bunch and used some of the others to make quick chia-seed jam!

AnnPT77

Farmers market produce variety is ramping up here, too, with the early Spring things coming on. Today, I got collard greens, radishes, and asparagus. (Plus some rustic goat milk tomme cheese, and a half dozen soft pretzel sticks, but those aren't produce.)