For the love of Produce...

acpgee

Looking for a locally grown wine at a 7-11 in Bangkok I found this bottle of mangosteen wine. A little sweet but not unpalatably so with the distinctive scent of mangosteen, one of my favourite fruits. Would be great in a spritzer.

mtaratoot

I saw some celariac today in a grocery. I wonder if it's been there all along because it was hiding behind some stacks of fresh local cranberries and also because there were soft spots on the outside. I opted not to buy any because of the soft spots. I wonder if they were more visible if they'd stay fresher. I might walk over to the other local store and see if they have any crisp stuff.

And, just for grins, I snapped pictures of celariac (with the yellow tape), rutabaga (second image with a more brownish skin) and turnip (last picture with whiter skin).

Now you'll be able to tell the difference.

I didn't take a picture of the jicama because we've determined that's what @SafariGalNYC had included a picture of when she asked about it on Sunday and started us down this path to get to the ROOT of the matter.

elisa123gal

My latest obsession is invisible apple cake... don't go there.. you may go insane!

acpgee

I’m in Bangkok and bought some mangosteen and water apple. I have never had water apple before. Do I just slice it up and eat it? The glossy skin feels slightly sticky, as if leaking sugar.

mtaratoot

You already know I love beets. I had some shredded raw golden beets on a big salad for lunch. Then I tossed a couple red beets in the pressure cooker. When they were done, I wiped off the skin, sliced 'em, and put 'em in a shallow casserole. I sprinkled with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and some dried onion flakes. Don't forget a splash of balsamic vinegar!

Set in the fridge for an hour or so to marinate.

I cooked some brown jasmine rice in a little Better Than Bullion.

That's it.

Two servings for about 500 calories total. This is one of the two servings.

acpgee

I love mangosteen. Water apple which is new to me was odd. Lightly sweet and thirst quenching with a high water content and crisp. A cross between a Sharon fruit and celery.

mtaratoot

Today's lunch used some more of those vinegar beets as well as some shredded raw golden beets. And carrots. And broccoli. And a little nutritional yeast. Very lightly dressed (half of a serving of dressing) and a little of the vinegar from the beets. Mmmm. Darn it though; I forgot to add sesame seeds.

widgit808

Been making a veggie soup nightly for dinner. Saute carrot, celery, jalepeno and onion in pan for a bit, add mushroom, zucchini and garlic, cook till mushrooms have cooked down. Add some pepper, oregano, garlic powder and low sodium broth and btb. Finish with some red wine vinegar instead of salt. I blame the brown color of broth on the mushrooms 😉

mtaratoot

widgit808 wrote: »

I blame the brown color of broth on the mushrooms 😉

I love mushrooms; I bet a lot of that color is from the better-that-bullion. I find it adds color when I use it. Flavor too.

acpgee

I sometimes deep fry sage, rosemary or thyme as a garnish for boiled potatoes or vegetable soup. You only need a third inc of oil in a small saucepan. Here in Thailand they use the same technique to make herbs that are either too hard or harsh edible. Yesterday i had a larb with deep fried kaffir lime leaves on top. They did remove tha hard central stem first. The deep fried whole peppers had mellowed but were still hot enough to make my nose run. Last we had an extraordinary dish of small unbattered deep fried little fish with deep fried whole cloves of unpeeled garlic served with a spicy dipping sauce.

widgit808

mtaratoot wrote: »

widgit808 wrote: »

I blame the brown color of broth on the mushrooms 😉

I love mushrooms; I bet a lot of that color is from the better-that-bullion. I find it adds color when I use it. Flavor too.

@mtaratoot No better-than bullion in the soup, by btb i meant bring to boil. But i do agree better than boullion adds a lot of flavor, i used to use it back in the day before i had to worry about sodium

acpgee

New vegetable for me in a restaurant on Koh Tao that does some local island dishes. Langia leaf could be ordered stir fried with egg or boiled in coconut milk. At home I would probably substitute spinach or watercress in either recipe, assuming I can find them online.

mrsstoll2016

Like SpicyWater I am vegetarian in a small community in Western PA so my options are limited but I do eat some form of fruits or vegetables on a daily basis (even if it's just frozen)

acpgee

Sorry for the meat picture but this is a post on the theme of deep frying herbs that are too strong or hard to be edible in their natural state. At home I sometimes deep fry sage, rosemary or thyme in a half inch of oil in a small saucepan to crumble onto boiled potatoes or root vegetable purées. On my vacation thus far in Thailand I have seen the same technique applied to kaffir lime leaf (central stem removed) as well as whole cloves of unpeeled garlic. Yesterday I was served pork belly garnished with thin slivers of deep fried lemongrass which made an edible fragrant garnish.

acpgee

We stumbled across the Bangkok edition of Din Tai Fun, an international chain purveying Taiwanese food. Less exorbitant than the London branch and I couldn’t resist stopping in for my favourite vegetable. Stir fried pea shoots topped with shrimp. I grow pea shoots but never harvest enough to make this dish.

Wynterbourne

I've recently been craving lots of Korean food. I made Enoki mushrooms in gochujang sauce. Not the prettiest photo, but:

mtaratoot

I had another huge salad today. Assorted greens. Carrots. Shredded golden beets. Red onion. Very lightly dressed. Added nutritional yeast, fresh ground black pepper, and sesame seeds. I finally remembered to open a can of anchovies and chop half of 'em up. I poured half of the fishy oil in too. Good stuff.

Tri-color quinoa will be off the stove soon. I am skipping the roasted vegetables tonight.

I also started soaking some black beans and myocoba beans to cook tomorrow.

mtaratoot

I cooked the beans today, but differently than I've ever cooked beans before.

I bought a pressure cooker in nearly-new condition at a thrift store last year. I had one years ago. This is a modern Fagor with automatic vent and lots of safety vents. I've been using it to cook beets really quickly. Last time I cooked beans was before the warm weather came, and that was before I had this cooker.

Cooking times were all over the map. I found a Canadian resource for cooking times with a pressure cooker. Their times were close to what came in the manual with my cooker. Yes, my cooker was so new it still had the manual!

It was so fast. I cooked them just a little longer than I should have - lesson learned. They were still delicious. Since there was so much cooking liquid, I just took out the bay leaves, added some other flavors, and went to down with my immersion blender. I ate my share, and now I have three quarts of bean soup to eat over the next week. It will be even better tomorrow than it is today.

Next week I might try to make a winter squash soup. I like to add a big can of fish when it's done. I've usually used mackerel, but I have a couple big cans of skin-on bone-in salmon that will be perfect. I think I'll be eating well this winter. I just need to not eat TOO well if ya know what I mean.

acpgee

I imitated a dish we had at a restaurant on Friday. Caprese salad where layers of tomato were replaced by beetroot between thin slices of fresh mozzarella. At the restaurant the veg was topped with anchovy but at home we used smoked salmon.

mtaratoot

A friend has been suffering with flu for about a week. I found out late last week. I asked if he needed anything. Nah. I get it. Nobody wants to admit they could use a little help. I told him I hope he didn't think I was nagging if I suggested he make some miso broth, possibly with a little sambal oelek. He realized that was a good idea.

Today I told him that I had made a big batch of bean soup (black beans and mayocoboa beans), and I asked if he wanted any. He said he wasn't ready for any socializing yet. I told him I'd drop a quart jar off and scoot so I didn't have to wear a hazmat suit. He agreed. I asked if I could bring him a few books. I took him a few. "Houses and Other Black Holes," by Dave Barry. "Rogue River Journal" by John Daniel. "We Swam the Grand Canyon" by Bill Beers. "The Adventures of Unemployed May" by Erich Origen & Gan Golan - illustrated by Ramona Fradon. "Up S*it Creek, A Collection of Horrifyingly True Wilderness Toilet Misadventures" by Joe Lindsay. You know - good stuff to read while you're sick.

He lives maybe twelve miles or so away. Farther if you take the easier route with fewer curves. We actually had a nice visit outside his gate where we could be outside and he could feel safe not contaminating me. I haven't seen him in a while; he's been going through some struggles. I am hoping that changes soon. We had some laughs. We watched some rainbows form and dissolve. We dodged the light rain. He told me some really good news, so I'm pretty sure life will be better for him soon.

I mentioned that I've been really enjoying retirement. I told him I was amazed that when I dropped a package off at the UPS Store, the person who helped me told me who looked to be a bit older than I am said he didn't know what he'd do with the time. I told that person I don't know how I found time to work; my life is full of fun, and I couldn't even keep up with my garden last summer. Well, my friend has a garden and he said, "Hey - do you want some Delicata?"

See, I got to the produce eventually....

I said of course! He gave me some. I need to buy some more produce soon, but not today!

When I got home, I cooked one. I cut it into half-moon shapes, tossed it with olive oil, salt, garlic powder, Hatch green chile powder, and some cinnamon. I roasted it and served it along with some locally grown wild rice. The farm is maybe 25 miles south of me. Oh my it was so good. I have three of the delicata left.