For the love of Produce...

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  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,575 Member
    @acpgee - location dependent, possibly? It's asparagus season here now . . . and never, ever artichoke season (locally). The artichokes are usually not very good: Rare to find any that look fresh, and are nicely fleshy - ever. So, I have artichoke envy of yours and @mtaratoot's!

    As an aside, having grown up in a family where asparagus was a garden perennial, I learned to prefer the thicker stalks as having better flavor - it's about the age/heartiness of the rootstock, not so much that the skinny ones at the store are "baby" ones that will be more tender. And of course the grocery store ones more are often too far open: Even the ones I got at the market yesterday are not as tight as I'd prefer. The ones my neighbor brought over a few days early, photo also in the thread, were more nearly ideal, for my taste. Maybe I'm just weird, though. 🤷‍♀️
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,369 Member
    When I bought my house, I thought about putting in asparagus. I wasn't sure I'd live here long enough for them to really start producing. Well, that was twenty years ago. Oops. Should have planted them. I had the perfect spot. Alas - that spot is now where the raspberries grow. It's not where I wanted to put them, but they needed to go in the ground, and the spot was second best. They were gifts from a friend who died not too long afterwards. Perhaps I should plant some in this other bed that might actually be a little too wet. Then I'd almost never have to plant anything in the garden again as it would almost be entirely perennial.

    My poor artichokes. All the wet weather meant the soil was super moist and soft, the chokes are in a particularly friable part of the garden, and the large flowers must have held rain to get even heavier, and the wind came up.... several of the plants are flat on the ground and among those, some are broken. Others will be OK. I'm going through them while they are small. The other day I made some including some "babies." I parcooked them in the steamer then roasted. Yum. I'm not cooking today. It's a celebration day. I'll probably reheat a couple vegetable dishes for supper. One is a barley mushroom vegetable soup/stew, and the other is a cauliflower chick pea stew. Who knows... maybe an artichoke because.... Mmmm.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,990 Member
    I am guessing panko absorbs the moixture the mushrooms exude during roasting. Good idea.
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,300 Member
    I had lion's mane mushrooms for the first time last night. Really good. Especially sauteed with some teriyaki sauce. The flavor of the mushrooms with the sauce worked amazing together.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,990 Member
    I tried a new vegetable tonight in a restaurant called Monk's beard. Really tasty. It was served steamed or under grilled seabass. It tasted salty so at first I thought it was samphire (aka salicornia or glasswort) which is often served with fish but the texture wasn't the same. Had to ask the waiter what it was, and he had to ask in the kitchen.
  • o0Firekeeper0o
    o0Firekeeper0o Posts: 416 Member
    I got my first garden ‘harvest’ the other night from picking some fresh herbs! I used the lemon balm to make a cup of amazing ‘tea’, and threw a couple rosemary sprigs in the chicken stock I made. I used a little cilantro in my cucumber salad last night and still have cilantro, rosemary, and 2 kinds of basil sitting in the fridge!
  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,072 Member
    o0Firekeeper0o wrote: »
    I got my first garden ‘harvest’ the other night from picking some fresh herbs! I used the lemon balm to make a cup of amazing ‘tea’...

    All summer long, there is a pitcher of fresh lemon balm & mint iced tea in my fridge. Sometimes I infuse it with fresh berries, a splash of lemon or lime juice, or even one of those zero calorie fruit flavoured packets. So refreshing!

    At the moment, I am madly trying to use up all of last season's tomatoes before the new crop arrives in about a month or two from now.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,990 Member
    @MsCzar
    I don't have a garden in Central London but occasionally buy a cheap 5kg box of tomatoes from the green grocer when there is a glut in August. I typically halve, roast and puree and freeze for sauces and soups. There was a discussion on this thread previously about what to do with an over abundance of tomatoes from the garden.
  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,072 Member
    edited May 2022
    acpgee wrote: »
    @MsCzar
    I don't have a garden in Central London but occasionally buy a cheap 5kg box of tomatoes from the green grocer when there is a glut in August. I typically halve, roast and puree and freeze for sauces and soups. There was a discussion on this thread previously about what to do with an over abundance of tomatoes from the garden.

    Oh yes! I've got a larder full of jarred sauce, chili garlic paste, bean chili, tomato paste,soup and salsa; plus a freezer full of blanched and skinned tomatoes. It isn't so much the 'what' as my willingness to consume all of the above in the next 2-3 months.
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,300 Member
    Had my first tomato sandwich of the season with tomatoes from a local farm. So simple, so good.
  • perryc05
    perryc05 Posts: 226 Member
    edited June 2022
    Jerusalem Artichokes are easy to grow, even in poor soils, look like mini sunflowers and cook up a treat:
    https://www.healthyfood.com/healthy-shopping/in-season-mid-winter-jerusalem-artichokes/
    https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/search?search_api_views_fulltext=Jerueselum+Artichokes
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/search?q=Jerusalem+Artichokes
  • o0Firekeeper0o
    o0Firekeeper0o Posts: 416 Member
    Had the first garden cucumbers the other day and have a few more to pick today! So yummy. Might need to make a cucumber sandwich soon
  • naturallykat
    naturallykat Posts: 118 Member
    I love this thread!

    My current obsession is red cabbage and apple coleslaw with tamari roasted seeds.

    Finely chop red cabbage, grate carrot, and chop apple into thin slices. I like to coat the apple in lemon juice at this point so it stays fresh for a few days.

    Mix mayo with a vinegar (i like apple cyder vinegar) or lemon juice, S&P, and any fresh herbs you have that might go well - like dill or parsley. Mix dressing and veggies. Top with tamari roasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Enjoy.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,575 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    I'm on a rhubarb kick still. Chop it up, mix with just a bit of honey, and roast at 425 for 5-8 minutes.

    This is intriguing. I like rhubarb, but resent how much sugar (or other regular, caloric sweetener) I need to add to make it taste best.

    I know that in some ways, you and I have similar tastes. I've never roasted rhubarb. Roughly how much honey do you find you need to add (per hundred grams of rhubarb, or whatever)?

    Thanks!
  • SuzanneC1l9zz
    SuzanneC1l9zz Posts: 458 Member
    We need a "yum" button!
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,369 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Neighbor Bob phoned, told me to come over . . .

    <snip>

    That thing where restaurants give you 3-4 stalks of asparagus as a portion? That's BS. 😉 Yum, asparagus.

    When I bought my house 20 years ago, I thought I should plant asparagus. There was even a nearly perfect place for them. I wasn't sure I'd live in this house long enough to reap the harvest which can take a few years to really start coming in. Well.... Never happened. I have grown other things in that space, and kept thinking I should add asparagus.

    I ended up using that space for raspberries. When LaVerne gave me a bunch of plants when they moved out of a rental house they'd lived in for 30 years, I put the raspberries in a bucket of water intending to start a new bed. I had the perfect place. Spring came, and they started leafing out. The new bed wasn't ready. So now, I don't have a good space for asparagus. I rarely buy them. Only when they are in season locally. I think I missed my chance this year.

    A friend wants to go pick strawberries soon.

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