For the love of Produce...

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Replies

  • purplefizzy
    purplefizzy Posts: 594 Member
    Katmary71 wrote: »
    You need to say where you're finding your apples, they're my favorite fruit! I've been partial to Pink Lady and Honeycrisp for year round. I usually get my usual plus one or two different ones to try once fall hits. My favorite seasonal is probably Opal which is good as it's cheaper than a lot of seasonal ones. I'm going to check in on this before going to Sprouts tomorrow!

    If you like sweet soups the butternut squash soup I just made has two apples in it, I can type if interested. My SIL doesn't like how gingery it is but I love it and added extra pumpkin spice to mine.

    East Bay, CA Apple report, 2020:
    -Safeway for envy, cosmic crisp (2.99/lb)
    -Trader Joe’s for the extended Fuji Family (koru, kiku)
    -FM for the fun varietals, but timing (who can go to FM mid day Tuesday?!?) sux during winter
    -WF for standard Fuji but only cuyama orchards
    -WF or 360 market for pink lady, organic honeycrisp
    -the tiny farmstand in Marin for the truly good stuff. Gravensteins, heirloom opals, the black-whateveritscalled one I love...

    Similar climate friends, anything I should look out for?
    Always open to new ideas and I notice that the more popular a variety gets the more the flavor seems to go down, size of fruit goes up... ugh. Gimme the little ugly apples. They’re better.
  • purplefizzy
    purplefizzy Posts: 594 Member
    Katmary71 wrote: »
    Lol at crab apple!

    I found Cosmic Crisp at Winco for $2.99. My Winco didn't have them but I was in the neighboring town's and spotted them. I love Honeycrisp and thought Cosmic had less flavor. I just got one so maybe it was the bad apple of the bunch.

    Agreed that they are hit/miss. Like all apples. Seriously I appreciate when they do samples. I hate grainy or tasteless or just ‘flat and sweet’ apples and I dislike cooked apples and I dislike food waste... so bad apples become freezer apples for future soup becomes work... 🤦‍♀️
  • tuckerrj
    tuckerrj Posts: 1,453 Member
    My tastes are simple, I'm fond of bananas. My mornings aren't complete without one. As for apples @puplefizzy , they started carrying OPAL apples here in our neighborhood. It has the mildly sweet, understated taste of a Golden Delicious but unlike the Golden Delicious, they're really crisp. Nice!
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,221 Member
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    kizhdzi94jss.jpeg

    Finally time for a bit of real cooking.

    Lions mane mushroom, cauliflower (par cooked first), seasonings, rice flakes (rice based Panko sub), egg.

    Roasted with spray coconut oil until deeply darkly sexy.

    I’m so sad for all of the other cauliflower, ever.
    It should all be this awesome.

    If only you had some Sparassis to add to the Hericium -- just a thought. I love Sparassis.

    I have no idea what you just said and I am not going to google those terms.

    Sparassis is cauliflower mushroom.5ats1tplz76t.png
    It's a parasitic fungus. Around here it likes cedar trees. They can get freakishly huge. You chop 'em up and they sort of resemble noodles. Saute' and they are really good; the hold some of their crispness. Once you find one, keep the location close to the chest because it will come back year after year on the same tree!

    Hericium is the genus for the Lion's Mane that @purplefizzy likes so much.

    I didn't realize people ate cordyseps. Very odd fungus for sure. I sure don't want one growing in ME!
  • Priasmama416
    Priasmama416 Posts: 103 Member
    I've done things like hiding vegetables in meals without my family knowing. Grating carrots or zucchini into something, using cauliflower rice instead of regular but not telling them, and using using yellow lentil noodles or zucchini noodles.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    Lunch was shakshuka, which I'm pretty sure I learned about from @just_Tomek on this thread a while back, on some barley. Reminded me I really need to eat barley more often.

    I also made some baba ganoush which turned out fabulously. I'll have some of it with some raw veg as a side with dinner.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,946 Member
    Not really a vegetable dish but Cambodian beef lok lak is served on a bed of greens, onion, cucumber and tomato. Pictured with sticky rice and khmer lime and pepper sauce.
    dhf3pz15ji4b.jpeg


  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,221 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    Not really a vegetable dish but Cambodian beef lok lak is served on a bed of greens, onion, cucumber and tomato.

    I have people in my circle who claim bacon is a vegetable.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited January 2020
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Lunch was shakshuka, which I'm pretty sure I learned about from @just_Tomek on this thread a while back, on some barley. Reminded me I really need to eat barley more often.

    I also made some baba ganoush which turned out fabulously. I'll have some of it with some raw veg as a side with dinner.

    Make a large batch of just the sauce, portion and freeze. Next time you want shakshuka based meal, just defrost. Easy.

    I did something like that -- made 2x as much sauce as I needed and cooked 2 eggs. Will have the rest of the sauce tonight with 2 more eggs. That was my trial to see if I liked it, so I may well make more next time!
  • Safari_Gal_
    Safari_Gal_ Posts: 1,461 Member
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    Found a new to me veggie. Molokhia. I saw this on sale in my local Arab shop, and people were grabbing it like it was gold. So I figured, when in Rome....... and grabbed couple bags. Also, I harassed a nice Arab lady about how she makes it. Got some directions, did a bit of looking around online, and now I have a meal in mind. Will post back the results when I make it.

    0472dc_564e9b85e9a24deba645cbc0910552bb~mv2_d_3024_4032_s_4_2.jpg

    @just_tomek - awesome! I had just to have molokhia in Egypt all the time! In soup it’s wonderful! Talk about a nutrient dense veggie- wish i could find it fresh instead of frozen in NY!
  • amtyrell
    amtyrell Posts: 1,447 Member
    Molokhia is more commonly called Egyptian spinach in the USA.
    I have grown it from seed in the past. It makes great wilted greens.
    https://migardener.com/store/99-seeds-by-category/vegetables/egyptian-spinach/
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    Oh, forgot to list the jalapeno that was also in the soup. It added a bit of heat, not much.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,166 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    Has anybody tried, or even see, the new Cosmic Crisp apples? I've been looking, but I haven't seen them yet.

    I saw some at WF, so tried one after seeing them discussed on the thread.

    Speaking only for myself, I'm underwhelmed. It tastes like a modern apple, and kinda like an apple that will keep for a year in cold storage.

    I like variety in apples, but I'm not mostly a fan of some of the highly-touted modern eating-apple varieties, which seem to me to run to bland and over-sweet. For raw eating, I'd prefer something more tart and acid, though I admit I'll usually eat the apple that's in front of me (with prejudice against Macintosh or either color of Delicious).

    It was huge, too: Most of the apples I eat are smaller, say 110-125g after coring but with skin. This was 225g, and from what I read, they're intentionally bred to be big. I'd rather the smaller, personally.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    Root vegetables tend to be underrated, I think.

    I have been eating turnips this week and am excited about the celeriac I'll have this weekend.
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 7,066 Member
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    Rutabaga. Got one that was 900g after cleaned. Been eating it all week.
    100g = 40cal so whole thing was 360cal.
    I had it roasted in chunks, made baked fries and finally had it pureed. Excellent humble nasty looking vegg :)

    I tried rutabaga for the first time last year, I used a mandolin and layered with apple and onions, it came out so good! I'll have to try fries and mashed.
  • amtyrell
    amtyrell Posts: 1,447 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Root vegetables tend to be underrated, I think.

    I have been eating turnips this week and am excited about the celeriac I'll have this weekend.

    I have been growing and eating a ton of turnips and radishes this winter. Love me some root crops. Particularly when the only things still growing are root crops and lettuce
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    I don't have anything growing, but will be hitting the green market tomorrow to see what they have (usually only eggs, meat, canned stuff, and apples and other produce that cellars well, but we shall see). ;-) I haven't made it there yet this winter.

    I have to plant turnips and radishes next year, those would be fun to grow.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,946 Member
    When I had half a bulb of celeriac leftover from making Dutch pea soup, someone on this thread recommended this soup. We thought it was terrific.
    https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/family/celeriac-soup-with-chorizo-oil/
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,946 Member
    For me a new way to prepare root vegetables. I was at a somewhat fancy restaurant on Wednesday and they made a hash brown out of finely grated parsnip. A little hard to see in the photo as it is sitting under the partridge breast. Incidentally the poached leeks finished in butter were a revelation too.
    tw14tz0mbwxs.jpeg
  • Safari_Gal_
    Safari_Gal_ Posts: 1,461 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    For me a new way to prepare root vegetables. I was at a somewhat fancy restaurant on Wednesday and they made a hash brown out of finely grated parsnip. A little hard to see in the photo as it is sitting under the partridge breast. Incidentally the poached leeks finished in butter were a revelation too.
    tw14tz0mbwxs.jpeg

    Wow!!! Parsnip hash brown.... must figure out how to recreate!
  • amtyrell
    amtyrell Posts: 1,447 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    When I had half a bulb of celeriac leftover from making Dutch pea soup, someone on this thread recommended this soup. We thought it was terrific.
    https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/family/celeriac-soup-with-chorizo-oil/

    I love garlic roasted celeriac if you are looking for more ideas
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    une4zh0itgnp.jpeg

    I’ve never seen either of these before in the shops, so figured I’d ask!

    I know Persimmons have cropped up here recently but how about the Chayote? Any ideas on how best to cook/eat it?
  • Safari_Gal_
    Safari_Gal_ Posts: 1,461 Member
    une4zh0itgnp.jpeg

    I’ve never seen either of these before in the shops, so figured I’d ask!

    I know Persimmons have cropped up here recently but how about the Chayote? Any ideas on how best to cook/eat it?

    I stole this from shape.com : :)

    You can eat all parts of the chayote (and probs should-remember the nutrients in that peel), which makes it versatile for cooking and eating. (If you remember the shrimp monologue from Forrest Gump-"you can pickle it, sauté it, grill it, bake it, roast it…"-the same goes for chayote.) Each method will bring out different flavors and textures. For example, grilling caramelizes the chayote due to its sugar content. It is low in sugar but still a fruit.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    Thank you both! Basically sounds like I can just treat it like a lot of root veg or squash.

    Also, thanks for the warning about the potential slime factor, that would definitely put me off if I wasn’t forewarned.

    The taste will have to surprise me when I get to it because I have never seen a real life kohlrabi either, though I do have a vague idea of what they are!

    I’ll start with slicing and cooking on the cast iron grill pan I think, to get a feel for it’s taste and texture.
  • amckholmes
    amckholmes Posts: 119 Member
    I use chayote often - it is popular amongst us low carb eaters! I use it in place of apples in desserts like apple cinnamon crisp. I cut it in half and bowl it for about 10 minutes, slice it thinly, mix it with cinnamon and a bit of all spice, coconut oil, coconut flour, chopped nuts and put it in a shallow pyrex dish. I sprinkle chopped nuts, coconut flakes, a bit of flour and coconut oil on top and bake it until it’s bubbly. It has the perfect texture to replace apple and takes on the spicy flavor well. It creates a very easy yummy low carb treat
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    Thank you both! Basically sounds like I can just treat it like a lot of root veg or squash.

    Also, thanks for the warning about the potential slime factor, that would definitely put me off if I wasn’t forewarned.

    The taste will have to surprise me when I get to it because I have never seen a real life kohlrabi either, though I do have a vague idea of what they are!

    I’ll start with slicing and cooking on the cast iron grill pan I think, to get a feel for it’s taste and texture.

    Kohlrabi is kind of like turnip. I really like it (it's good raw with a bit of salt, as well as cooked). I've never had chayote.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    The skin on a choyote, known as choko in Australia can be tough if it's not a nice young one so then I would peel it. The one in the photo doesn't look very young. They grow like a weed over here. In the depression they were very common apparently.
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 7,066 Member
    Kohlrabi is awesome, just peel with a sharp knife! When I tried choyote I just stir fried it with other vegetables. It was good but I probably won't buy again unless it's on sale. It looked cool so I had to try it! With the baking persimmons my grandma used to make the best persimmon bread and cookies once they softened up.