For the love of Produce...

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  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,990 Member
    @mtaratoot
    I used my hubby's method for the eggs. These were lowered into boiling water for 6 minutes, stirring for the first minute to ensure that yolks are centred. Afterwards plunged into cold water. I think for nicoise a slightly firmer yolk is more practical so next time will do for 7 minutes.

    I get my cast iron griddle pan to 250C according to the laser surface thermometer and fry oiled tuna for 30 seconds each side. I nonetheless struggle to make neat thin slices. If anyone has tips on how to do this I would be grateful. Glad to see on Masterchef New Zealand they also struggle to make neat slices of seared tuna.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,575 Member
    o0Firekeeper0o wrote: »
    acpgee wrote: »
    Salade nicoise.
    hcixm8qmjg6z.jpeg

    That looks AMAZING. I make mine with canned tuna and usually don’t have the egg or capers on hand, thus the “shady” aspect of my nicoise. But man it’s SUCH a good salad!

    I just tried kumquats for the first time today. They are INCREDIBLE. So sour but also with a candied orange peel flavor… I’m addicted. I saw a YouTube video on different citruses and being the citrus addict that I am, I was inspired to try them

    Yes to kumquats! I've been able to get good ones here - far from their native territory! - lately, too. Such a nice little treat. 😋

    Exactly once in my life, I saw and bought limequats - a similar-sized green lime-tasting citrus, but sweet enough to eat out of hand like a kumquat: Tart, sweet, yummy. So, so good . . . I wish I could find more.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,990 Member
    Hubby came back with a cheap kilo box of strawberries which is surprising at this time of the year. Apparently imported from Spain. I haven't tried one yet, but they smell amazing.
    3sx3bjmhslo7.jpeg

  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,369 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    @mtaratoot
    I used my hubby's method for the eggs. These were lowered into boiling water for 6 minutes, stirring for the first minute to ensure that yolks are centred. Afterwards plunged into cold water. I think for nicoise a slightly firmer yolk is more practical so next time will do for 7 minutes.

    I get my cast iron griddle pan to 250C according to the laser surface thermometer and fry oiled tuna for 30 seconds each side. I nonetheless struggle to make neat thin slices. If anyone has tips on how to do this I would be grateful. Glad to see on Masterchef New Zealand they also struggle to make neat slices of seared tuna.

    I changed my technique to something similar from putting eggs in cold water, heating to boil, getting off the heat, and letting sit for nine minutes before plunging in cold water. Now I gently lower them into GENTLY boiling water. It's the timing I'm working on. Has to be a very gentle boil or the albumin gets tough. They are easier to peel with this method. I think I'm doing ten minutes, and I'll try seven minutes next time.

    Here's an idea I just thought of for the ahi. First cut into those rectangles, then pop in the freezer for maybe ten or 15 minutes. Then use a boning knife and make slits almost all the way through. Then pan sear on two or four sides. You might reduce the sear time as the inside will cook a bit if it's partially open, but that would be a great way to get easy-to-separate small slices in the finished product.
  • SuzanneC1l9zz
    SuzanneC1l9zz Posts: 458 Member
    My breakfast this morning was a slice of my homemade herb & garlic bread, toasted, topped with half an avocado and some finely cut up mushrooms and onions sauteed in a small amount of olive oil. With a couple of sticks of turkey pepperoni to bump up the protein and calories a bit. So simple, but so good!
  • o0Firekeeper0o
    o0Firekeeper0o Posts: 416 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Exactly once in my life, I saw and bought limequats - a similar-sized green lime-tasting citrus, but sweet enough to eat out of hand like a kumquat: Tart, sweet, yummy. So, so good . . . I wish I could find more.

    A LIMEquat?! That sounds absolutely amazing. I didn’t even know such a thing existed. I hope I can get them for myself one day!
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,369 Member
    I made lots of veggies the last two nights, trying to use up what my friend gave me from her CSA box before she brought me more. Of course I got to share the bounty with her when the food was cooked.

    Wednesday night was a mix of mustard greens, collard greens, purple sprouting broccoli, broccoli rabe, onions, garlic, and a big handful of mixed salad greens. I added a chile de arbol, some soy sauce, and some fish sauce. And lots and lots of freshly grated ginger. I made a very small batch of brown basmati rice to go along with it. It was SO good. I ate a third of it, gave her a third as a to-go box, and took a third for lunch yesterday.

    Last night I cooked the last of the mustard greens and salad greens of course with more onion and garlic. I added a julienned rutabaga and a couple big yellow carrots. It was a much smaller batch of vegetables, and still quite tasty. I made sprouted brown rice and a nice fillet of Sockeye salmon. Again it was quite tasty.

    But I've been eating too late in the evening and too much and well... the scale tells me I'm eating very well.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,990 Member
    There were mangosteen at the asian supermarket! My favourite fruit. They were exorbitant but I couldn't resist buying a box. Last time I ate them was on a pre-pandemic vacation in Thailand. Does anyone know how to tell when they are ripe?
    zjm0tpa7d2w0.jpeg


  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,990 Member
    Mangosteen is such beautiful looking fruit. Pictured from top and bottom. Love the little flower like pattern at the base. It reminds me of Japanese ceramics with a pretty decorative pattern on the underside of the plate that only the dishwasher will enjoy.
    byuob7pv8pad.jpg
    pt9g1has1u55.jpg
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,369 Member
    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.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,575 Member
    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.
    eebe0npinpen.jpg

    I'd've maybe included some seeds (pumpkin, maybe?), maybe sweet corn, on a day with a bigger calorie budget.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    Now I want beets.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,575 Member
    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? 😉
  • o0Firekeeper0o
    o0Firekeeper0o Posts: 416 Member
    I found fiddleheads at Wegmans! Tis the season! Happy dance!
  • o0Firekeeper0o
    o0Firekeeper0o Posts: 416 Member
    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 :D
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,575 Member
    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 :D

    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
    acpgee Posts: 7,990 Member
    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 :D

    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
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,575 Member
    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 :D

    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.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    Lucky you!

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