For the love of Produce...

PeachHibiscus

I decided to plant watermelon in the garden this year. I harvested five large ones yesterday. They are amazingly sweet and juicy!

mtaratoot

I was at a local thrift shop a few weeks ago and picked up a nice pressure cooker. I finally tested it today. It held pressure, so I gave it a whirl.

I cooked beets in 15 minutes. Oh joy! Now I can even cook this kind of thing in summer because it really doesn't put that much heat into the house, and the cook time is super fast. I wonder what I'll try next....

AnnPT77

Yeah, I know, boring repeat . . . but I'm excited about it: It's Georgia Candy Roaster squash season again, time to start roasting & freezing. 😋 (12in/31cm ruler for scale.)

acpgee

Sauteed snowpeas stretched with frozen peas. I blanched the snowpeas first by pouring boiling water from the kettle over them and then straining a minute later. I used a knob of butter and a generous pinch of salt to contrast the sweetness of the petit pois.

acpgee

Chinese chicken and celery stir fry. The hubby says it's his favourite way to eat celery. Next time I will cut on the diagonal which will be prettier. I remove a lot of the stringy bits by breaking each stalk in half starting from the concave side making it easy to pull off strings from the back of the break point.

acpgee

I don't normally cook beet. Hubby bought one remembering a fantastic salt baked beet we once had at a BBQ restaurant that cooked over open wood fires. Recommendations on what to do with the beet at the bottom of the vegetable drawer would be welcome.

AnnPT77

acpgee wrote: »

I don't normally cook beet. Hubby bought one remembering a fantastic salt baked beet we once had at a BBQ restaurant that cooked over open wood fires. Recommendations on what to do with the beet at the bottom of the vegetable drawer would be welcome.

Internet suggests they can be salt-baked in the oven, but I've never tried it. I don't eat beets very often, don't usually get fancy with them, just roast or boil. Either eat plain, sweet & sour dressing (like the "Harvard Beet" thing), or as a cold salad with feta and whatever else is in the fridge. I love them as a savory pickle (onions, garlic, salt, some combination of pickling spices like mustard seed, fennel seed, coriander, dill, bay leaf, etc.), but don't usually bother.

@mtaratoot, don't you cook/eat beets some way(s), or am I remembering incorrectly?

mtaratoot

acpgee wrote: »

I don't normally cook beet. Hubby bought one remembering a fantastic salt baked beet we once had at a BBQ restaurant that cooked over open wood fires. Recommendations on what to do with the beet at the bottom of the vegetable drawer would be welcome.

@AnnPT77

Yep. I'm a beetster. Can't beat the beets. Mmmm.

In the past, I'd do one of two or three things. Easiest is to cover with water and boil until done - usually an hour or so. Then the skins just slip off when cool enough to handle. Slice about a quarter inch thick or a little thicker, lay out in a casserole dish, season with salt & pepper, then a little high-quality balsamic. That's the basic. Can add walnuts or pecans if you want and even feta. So delicious.

The other way is to peel first, the slice, then toss with spices and oil, and roast in the oven. I bet you could just use a bunch of salt for that. I use the convection setting. They get a little crisp and are so delicious.

I have also roasted them whole, and that might be best for what you're trying to do. Wrap in foil and roast on a pan. Convection not needed. You have to guess when they are done.

And then a few weeks ago I bought a nearly new stainless steel pressure cooker at a thrift shop. I tested it to see if it held pressure, and when it did, I made a couple beets. Essentially they are steamed on top of the steamer basket in the pressure cooker, but they took only 15 minutes. Then, just like when boiled, I slipped off the skins, sliced, and seasoned with salt & pepper and balsamic. I didn't have any leftovers. Yum. Love 'em.

If you have a charcoal fire, I bet a bagel (mmmm.... I had one today) you could wrap that beet in foil with your spices and cover it in the coals for 40 minutes and it would resemble what your hubby remembers. Maybe it would be even better.

SafariGalNYC

Did someone say beets, beetsters ? ☺️

Rosemary Beet chips. They are addictive! I made a batch in oven and they came out pretty good.

kbrown1527

I wish I liked vegetables more! These all looks so good and fancy! I usually stick with simple stuff.. I made cabbage soup this week, I add spinach and broccoli to just about everything. I go through phases where I will eat a lot of Spaghetti squash.

I’m more fruit obsessed! Blueberries and bananas are a staple at my house. Plus whatever is in season. I’ll get dragonfruit occasionally for myself.. that is my favorite but so expensive!

mtaratoot

Back before I stayed away from fresh juice (all the calories with almost none of the fiber), my favorite was beet, carrot, ginger (with extra ginger). Maybe I should bust out the juicer and make some anyway.


@kbrown1527 - experiment with less common vegetables, and try different methods of prep. I'm fortunate that I do like vegetables, and I like to cook. You might be surprised that you like jicima sliced thin in salads or steamed. You might decide you like roasted rutabaga or parsnip. You might slice some cabbage very thin, add some thin sliced red onion, some herbs, and some lime juice. Let it sit a few hours. Slice some fennel in there too, and the result might amaze you. None of this is really fancy even if it looks like it.

Shred some potato. Salt it. Let it drain in a colander over another bowl to catch the liquid. Shred some onion and carrot. Add salt and pepper and garlic. Decant the liquid off the potato starch in the bottom of the bowl and mix that in. Add that to a hot cast iron skillet and bake in the oven until crisp. Now that's fancy.

Find a friend or three and join a CSA. You get a box of produce every week or two. It will be local and in season. You might have to do some research on good things to do with it, or your CSA might provide some ideas. You might find some new favorites. I only "discovered" adding fennel to salads a decade ago.

gentlygently

Beetroot is also really good raw…

Finely chop into thin matchsticks (or grate?) and then coat with yoghurt/salt/pepper and lots of ‘popped’ mustard seeds (Ie fried in oil)

Or try with seasoned yoghurt and lots of mint (this one works better with cooked beetroots, but can be for raw too).

I made a fab beetroot and orange preserve, and also beetroot chutney. And it makes a good moist chocolate cake (same impact as carrot or courgette in cake).

Add cooked beetroot to corn beef hash for one of the ultimate comfort foods (but send my hubby and daughter out, they both hate this one!).

acpgee

I tried out a shortcut with the beet root chips, using the spiralizer and air fryer. Mine were a little scorched so will use a lower temperature next time.

acpgee

I am in Tuscany on vacation and the most extraordinary thing I ate today was a piece of roast zucchini garnish on a steak tartare. The courgette had the distinctive taste of anchovy but didn't look like it had been tossed in anchovy butter. I need to figure out how to reproduce this. Going to try a coating of melted butter with SE Asian fish sauce as a first attempt when I get home.

acpgee

A side of grilled veg in Siena, Tuscany.

acpgee

I tried to reproduce a roast vegetable dish I ate on vacation in Tuscany that tasted of anchovy. First attempt at brushing/tossing radichio and courgette destined for the griddle pan in a mixture of melted butter and SE Asian fish sauce. Good and worth doing again, but not a reproduction of what I ate in Siena.

acpgee

Braised celery was a new veggie side for me. Surprisingly good.

acpgee

I tried a new Szechuan green bean side, I blanched the beans by tossing a kettle full of water over them and draining a minute later. Stir fried with garlic and a condiment called "Chinese Olive Vegetable" which gave a great vegan umami hit. This is going to be my go to green bean treatment from now on.

AnnPT77

Scored this, for a treat:

mtaratoot

If it has to be a plant to be produce, then ignore this post. If you were going to look for mushrooms in the grocery store, they would be in the produce section, so there's that. There's also the fact that they are more closely related to animals than plants. Fungi are heterotrophic.

I do love to eat them, and it's fun to go look for them in the forest.

A couple days ago I took advantage of the great weather and went to a place I often find chanterelles. I had been there once before about a month ago and found nothing. They are late this year. I went back out and enjoyed the sun which makes it easier not to get turned around and means that I don't get as wet if I skip the rain pants. I did find a few chanterelles.

Then I was back out in a different part of the forest yesterday for another outdoor activity. I took the "long way" home because I hadn't driven that way in a while, and it's nice. It's about 20 miles farther. I figured maybe I'd also scout for new places to find mushrooms. As I drove down the road, I saw a "tuft" of what looked like mushrooms smack in the middle of the gravel road. I was pretty sure I knew what it was. I slowed to a stop, walked back behind the truck, and harvested a clump of Fried Chicken Mushrooms. They're really not all that tasty, but I might clean 'em up. Really dirty from being in the MIDDLE of the road. Then less than a mile later I saw what I thought was a Sparassis on the side of the road. They grow on tree trunks, so I suppose it fell off someone else's truck or something. It was a little wet and mushy, but I can trim out the good parts. It's one of my very favorites! I also found a place to take a very short walk, and I found a few older Lobster Mushrooms. I just took two of them.

So yesterday my basket had the full-meal-deal: lobster, fried chicken, and cauliflower!

Chanterelles:





Full Meal Deal: