For the love of Produce...

purplefizzy

Must get kohlrabi now.



Big old mess of awesome.
Spring mix, all the herbs, murakami sweet potato, preserved lemon (below), fermented pork sausage, crispy fried shallots.
Ginger miso dressing (red shell. Bottled. Too sweet but dang close to right when lazy.)


Silly pic - finally ready!

BarbaraHelen2013

Figs are back in the shops - sadly they weren’t as crimson and tasty as they will be later in the year but they served as dinner; baked with soft goat’s cheese, pistachios, thyme and honey plus salad.

Katmary71

Kohlrabi update! I ended up having company so I roasted one kohlrabi with potatoes, onions, garlic scapes, garlic, and olive oil. I went easy, just picked rosemary, basil, oregano, marjoram, dill, and parsley and tossed. I was supposed to be doing vegetarian Wednesday and he wasn't impressed when I told him dinner was going to be fava beans and kohlrabi so I had to step up my game. He'd never heard of kohlrabi and when I described it he asked how many friends I had that also made it. I first tried it from a CSA years ago but said lots of us love it thinking of all of you! It went better than when I fed him undercooked fennel, he loved it! Now I need to find a salad for the other one.

Small tip- if your kohlrabi is humongous tear out the ribs before cooking the greens, they're horrible and I put garlic scapes in the stir fry so I couldn't just pull all the stems out as they looked alike, they're really tough!

DancingMoosie

Vegetable and tofu curry with yellow rice

mtaratoot

It's a GREAT time of year for super-local produce. Local like my back yard.


I am going to have some delicious fresh salad greens:




Some blueberries:


Some cherries:



and some Artichokes this weekend. My neighbor gets two of the artichokes before they blossom.



I am also harvesting seeds from my camas plants. I started quite a few years ago with just a few bulbs from a native plant sale. I collect the seeds each year, let them dry, and put some of them back out before the fall rains and some before spring starts. I have been able to expand the patch; my goal is sort of to turn the understory in the orchard into a meadow habitat with mostly native species. But I might add a garden bed on the south end. I actually might take that cherry tree down. We have an invasive fruit fly that showed up a few years ago (spotted wing drosophila) that targets unripe fruit and ruins it. When it showed up, my neighbor cut her cherry tree down. I don't use pesticides, but that might be an option if I decided to use 'em.

I hear ants can be a good substitute for ground beef. I'm not ready to go THERE yet, but I am in the middle of a war against a really bad infestation in our neighborhood. Today I invalidated a bunch of habitat and removed a bunch of individuals. Otherwise, it's like buying a car: re-bait. Those little pests have been damaging my vegetable garden, otherwise I'd leave them alone. But they started it. I plan to finish it!

Edited to fix grammar.

acpgee

I had some leftover miso caramel sauce and drizzled that on a banana. Stunning.

acpgee

Leftover miso caramel drizzled on sliced apple is pretty good too.

mtaratoot

Being unfamiliar with miso caramel, I had to look it up. Based on recipes I saw, of COURSE it's good on apples and bananas. It would probably be good on just about anything.

acpgee

mtaratoot wrote: »

Being unfamiliar with miso caramel, I had to look it up. Based on recipes I saw, of COURSE it's good on apples and bananas. It would probably be good on just about anything.

This is the recipe I think I used
https://food52.com/recipes/18618-miso-caramel

I made it quite a way back at a dinner party before lockdown and I served it on ice cream to make it pair better with an asian dinner. Found the leftover sauce in the back of the fridge, loosened in the microwave, and discovered it is an amazing addition to mundane fruits like bananas and apples.

The actual dessert I made for the dinner party involved dehydrated spiralized sweet potato, sesame seeds and chopped candied ginger. I stole the idea from a yakitori restaurant where the sweet potato chips had been deep fried rather than dehydrated. Scroll down to dessert for a picture of the original.

https://pickyglutton.com/2015/12/28/jidori-review-dalston-yakitori/

AnnPT77

After I made some miso caramel a while back (thanks for the recipe, @acpgee !), I put the leftover bit in the freezer because I didn't have a plan for using it up quickly, and didn't want to waste it (I live alone, and have been in "shelter in place"-ville).

It would be wrong - especially on a produce thread, because no produce involved - to admit that I've sometimes pulled it out and just eaten a spoonful, cold, on its own, as a treat. (It doesn't freeze solid, just firm.)

So good!

mtaratoot

Miso is made from beans -- so it's fermented produce.

acpgee

It's been a while since we made cooked lettuces. Griddled baby gem drizzled with ranch.

DancingMoosie

Produce today included blueberries, Roma tomatoes, a large mango, bananas, calabazas, cauliflower, lettuce, and apples.

mtaratoot

I finally dialed in my artichoke roasting protocol. I had been roasting them cut in half, but a few 'chokes ago started roasting them whole. I had to put them back in the oven because they weren't quite done. Until yesterday.

Convection oven to 425, but I probably don't really need the fan.

Trim off the top third. Trim off spines from remaining leaves. Pull off bottom leaves. Cut stem/handle so it's totally flush with bottom. Place face-up on parchment paper on a cooking tray.

Drizzle a little toasted sesame oil and squeeze a little lemon and/or lime on/in top.

Roast for 40 minutes. Turn the oven off, but leave the door closed another five or ten minutes.

Remove from oven, transfer to plate, enjoy.



Now that warmer weather is here, I might not be running the oven so much. But I still have at least a half dozen artichokes to eat, so we'll see.

mtaratoot

I am bad at estimating artichokes. I just went out and counted. Not six, but a multiple of six. There's 18 of them still to eat. Whew.

mockchoc

mtaratoot wrote: »

I am bad at estimating artichokes. I just went out and counted. Not six, but a multiple of six. There's 18 of them still to eat. Whew.

I wouldn't say no to a few We've planted two plants in a pot, they are doing well but not big enough to have any artichokes on them yet. Can't wait!

lemurcat2

I prefer gem, Boston, and romaine raw. Been having a ton of salads based on them since summer began.

My garden has chard, spinach, a couple of lettuces, and arugula ready to pick, and while I like the latter two raw, the former two are also good cooked (and spinach with bacon and an ACV dressing sounds amazing, from another thread).

I also have blueberries that went from green to blue today (still not quite ripe), strawberries that may eventually make it, and a variety of other veg. But the stuff ready are salad greens, chard, and herbs.

mtaratoot

mockchoc wrote: »

mtaratoot wrote: »

I am bad at estimating artichokes. I just went out and counted. Not six, but a multiple of six. There's 18 of them still to eat. Whew.

I wouldn't say no to a few We've planted two plants in a pot, they are doing well but not big enough to have any artichokes on them yet. Can't wait!

I give quite a few away. My neighbors are happy. It seems every year lately I also dig up one or two and give the plants away. I did a major bed re-work a few years ago. I dug up all the plants in the fall and just set them aside, then covered the bed with black plastic all winter. In the spring when they started to grow a bit, I sorted through the clumps. I made four piles:

1. This one will survive and thrive
2. This one will survive and get bigger eventually
3. Not so sure about this one, but it will probably be ok
4. This one really might not make it

I grouped them so the really healthy ones would be more spaced out. I think only two of them died, so less than two years later, they already could use another thinning. I'm going to wait, but I am going to dig up one giant plant to give a neighbor. Everyone is already growing some, but they want more. I've got plenty... for now. I kind of would like some different varieties. A friend who moved away a few years ago used to trade me barbecue for artichokes. Mmmmm.

I always leave a few to fully open. They are pretty to look at, and the pollinators like the nectar. If you're nearby, come get a couple and cook 'em up!

spinnerdell

I take childish delight cutting into watermelon radishes from my garden- no two exactly alike. They're packing an extra bite this year.

mtaratoot

spinnerdell wrote: »

I take childish delight cutting into watermelon radishes from my garden- no two exactly alike. They're packing an extra bite this year.

You can take most of the heat off if you peel them before slicing. They really are tasty. Watermelon is only a month or so away, and I think I might try grilling some this year and even making a grilled watermelon salad. A restaurant I used to love before they went out of business had this as a seasonal dish. Mmmm. Watermelon radish made me think of watermelon.

As another aside, if you have a chance, dehydrate some watermelon. Slice it thick and dry it until crispy. It's SO good. The only problem is all of the sudden you'll say, "Uh oh. I just ate an entire watermelon."