For the love of Produce...

acpgee

Ooh. I want asparagus. At least artichokes seem to be back in season.

AnnPT77

@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

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

We've been seeing button and chestnut mushrooms on sale a lot recently and roast mushrooms are an easy veggie side that can sit for a few days in fridge after roasting and warmed up in the microwave when you want to eat them.

I rinse off any dirt under running water than bung into a small casserole dish and drizzle with olive oil and season. You can add optional pressed/grated/minced garlic and herbs such as thyme or oregano or rosemary to the oil. Air fry or roast until they have lost enough moisture to your liking, anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes giving a toss occasionally and draining liquid. Before eatinng, heat up in the microwave and finish with a handful of chopped parsley and an optional squeeze of lemon or a little drizzle of truffle oil.

mtaratoot

acpgee wrote: »

We've been seeing button and chestnut mushrooms on sale a lot recently and roast mushrooms are an easy veggie side that can sit for a few days in fridge after roasting and warmed up in the microwave when you want to eat them.

I rinse off any dirt under running water than bung into a small casserole dish and drizzle with olive oil and season. You can add optional pressed/grated/minced garlic and herbs such as thyme or oregano or rosemary to the oil. Air fry or roast until they have lost enough moisture to your liking, anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes giving a toss occasionally and draining liquid. Before eatinng, heat up in the microwave and finish with a handful of chopped parsley and an optional squeeze of lemon or a little drizzle of truffle oil.

They won't sit for a few days in the fridge in MY house. They will sit in my belly shortly after they come out of the oven!

My method is to carefully pop out the stipe (stem) then put the caps top side down on parchment paper. I finely chop the stipes and add some finely chopped garlic, possibly something else, and a small amount of panko. And spices. I mix that up with a little oil and stuff the caps then roast at 425 in a convection oven for about 25 minutes.

I do have to wait for them to be cool enough to eat.

Mushrooms are more closely related to animals than plants. I don't have to call it a side dish. I bought some nice mushrooms yesterday. Maybe I'll make some today.

acpgee

I am guessing panko absorbs the moixture the mushrooms exude during roasting. Good idea.

Athijade

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.

nsk1951

Mushrooms and Asparagus ... two of my favorite vegetables! Asparagus isn't on my table very often though, as I am with @AnnPT77 on those we can get at the supermarket. Like her, my mom had a large asparagus bed and would go pick them right before cooking them for us. My sister carried on the tradition after our mom died and the asparagus bed went to weeds. Now her bed is gone to weeds as well and she isn't starting over. I bought a timeshare in a local OCA farm and the pickups begin the last Saturday in June. I guess that means they aren't going to have asparagus in those bags of vegetables as the season for them will be gone by then. Still, if I ever do find those nice thick stems with tight buds, I grab them!. As of Mushrooms, they are part of my permanent shopping list and I enjoy them in multiple ways all year long. Very rarely do I make stuffed mushrooms caps, but @mtaratoot gave is one I am going to copy!.

One of my decadent ways to eat mushrooms is to caramelize thinly sliced onions and add thinly slice mushrooms to cook until they are also done ... I use half olive oil and half butter for the cooking. These are then piled atop a crusty slice of Italian bread or on half a bulky roll. Yum! Seasoning is whatever strikes my fancy or ends up in my hands but always a little sprinkle of salt and pepper.

AnnPT77

Maybe it's just me, but a thing I really love - don't make very often, though - is sliced turnips layered with a classic bread stuffing (whole grain bread, sage/thyme/onion/garlic kind of thing) and with plentyPlenty of sliced fresh mushrooms in the stuffing layer. Bake until nice and browned, turnips cooked through.

acpgee

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.

acpgee

Fourth attempt at the Chinese steamed aubergine salad. I think I don't get that astonishing violet colour because the Asian aubergines I can find locally are quite pale. Very tasty nonetheless

o0Firekeeper0o

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

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

@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

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

Had my first tomato sandwich of the season with tomatoes from a local farm. So simple, so good.

acpgee

We had bruschetta with both tomatoes and defrosted frozen peas as a starter on Saturday. I too am amazed that something so simple can be so good.

o0Firekeeper0o

(Im)patiently waiting for my garden veggies to ripen! I see itty bitty cucumbers, teeny green tomatoes, and maybe, finally even a pinhead-sized tomatillo starting to form!

I had a parenting ah-ha moment a week or so ago and made my toddler, who loves sour things, try a piece of my refrigerator-pickled beets. She is now obsessed so I bought a couple large beets from the store and finally got to roasting them today. They’re cooling on the counter in their pickling liquid, and I had to explain to her at dinner that there would be more ‘picklebeet’ tomorrow

perryc05

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

Picked the first 2 cucumbers from the garden yesterday. Excited to eat them.

acpgee

I roasted grapes for the first time. Great addition to a salad. I tossed while seedless grapes in olive oil and air friedn 6 minutes at 200C. Most recipes online recommend roasting longer. The skins become imperceptible after roasting and naturally the fruit becomes sweeter.

o0Firekeeper0o

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

acpgee

I made an English summer pudding for a weekend dinner party, but now that the household has tested positive for Covid I guess we will be eating it ourselves. I used Sophie Grigson's recipe which takes 15 minutes flat to make. This one used strawberries and blackberries.

naturallykat

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.

lemurcat2

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.

AnnPT77

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!

AnnPT77

Neighbor Bob phoned, told me to come over . . . then let me take as much as I wanted of already-washed asparagus from a huuuge pile. I have a big lot, what's in this photo plus the 217g I steamed to eat for dinner. He also gave me a quart of ultra-ripe strawberries. Have I mentioned how much I appreciate neighbor Bob, even though he randomly prunes things or plants perennials in my yard/garden without explicit permission? 😆


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

SuzanneC1l9zz

We need a "yum" button!

mtaratoot

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.

mtaratoot

Amid a profusion of produce from my neighbor's garden and gifts from a friend's CSA, I had taken some seafood blend out of the freezer the other day. Yesterday it was pretty much thawed out, so I made a marinade and left it to have after my Ultimate game.

It was late. I didn't feel like cooking. Went to bed.

So I made breakfast fry-up ....

Half a white onion, a stick of celery, a couple garlic scapes, a pint of a mix of sugar snap peas & snow peas, a lovely small zucchini, and some fresh/spring garlic plus the marinated seafood. Served on sprouted brown rice.

Mmmmm......






And since I'm just one person that makes my breakfast just short of 700 calories. The picture is half of the batch, and I ate the other half, too. That's OK. I am making up for a deficit yesterday since it was too late to cook.


With all the delicious fresh stuff I have, I will probably snack on raw sugar peas and strawberries for the rest of the day.