For the love of Produce...
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I am staying away from lentils for now, because of the calories and because of the excess digestible carbs, but cooking lentils, and any other legumes or grains in stock/broth can give them a very good taste indeed. I've done that for years in my rice cooker. It is totally effortless and the results can be truly delectable. One of my favourites is to cook lentils with sardines.Because I wanted to make room in the freezer, I cooked lentils tonight in crayfish bisque instead of water. Wow. I will use stock from now on to cook legumes. Why didn't I think of this before?
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I was wondering if I should post this here or on the cheese thread. Turkish salad of watermelon, feta and mint dressed with a little drizzle of pomegranate molasses and olive oil.
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A boiled artichoke and hollandaise. The artichoke didn't have much flesh under the leaves. Is that a seasonal thing?
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I have never seen artichokes that had a lot of flesh under the leaves. I quite love them, but never eat them. It is just not worth the effort in my opinion. Of course, perspectives can differ. My tiny bachelor-suite galley "kitchen" encourages minimalism where cooking is concerned.A boiled artichoke and hollandaise. The artichoke didn't have much flesh under the leaves. Is that a seasonal thing?
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@acpgee
Did you get them cooked all the way?
The artichokes I grow tend to be on the small side compared to some of the giant things I see in the store. I find if I don't cook them long enough, the meat doesn't soften up; it seems like it's not there. Of course if I cook them too long, they just fall apart. I steam them upside down rather than boiling. Sometimes I'll steam them halfway and then cut into halves or quarters and roast with maybe some garlic and butter on the cut side. I ran some through my smoker before it stopped working.
I can also imagine that if the artichoke had been in storage or transport a while, it might dry out. When I cut artichokes from my garden, I cut very long stems and keep them in water rather than the refrigerator. I don't know if you could do that to store 'chokes to "bring 'em back," but if you try it, cut a little bit off the stem first so it will be opened up to let water in. Of course they trim 'em pretty close for the retail market so it may not be possible to rehydrate them.
I only eat artichokes for the six or eight weeks that I harvest them from the back yard. The plants have become perennial. They have also mutated; the points of the leaves point OUT rather than be a nice globe. They hurt when they stick you. They also are so much more packed with flavor than any I've had from the store. They are so tasty, I often don't even use any butter. A little clarified butter mixed with olive oil and garlic can be a nice addition, but if I cut them and steam them right away, they don't need anything else.3 -
I know nothing about artichokes or their culture.
What I've observed in limited personal experience: When I ate them in prime artichoke growing areas close to harvest season (someplace around Monterrey California at the time), then were nice and meaty, i.e., thick leaves.
When I'm buying them here at a store in Michigan, whether in season WRT their place of origin or not, they're feeble things by comparison, more fibrous and not as thick-leaved.
I don't know whether it's culture, shipping/storage time, the varieties that ship best, or something else. Sometimes they're a little better here, sometimes a little worse - seems random . . . but they're never as good as they were when I had them close to when/where grown.2 -
Yeah. My garden is awfully close to my stove....
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It's my own fault, and it turned out OK.
It's cold out now, so that means it's bean cooking season. I like beans, and I like to sprout them and cook them. I mostly cycle through black beans, garbanzo beans, and mayocoba beans. I add some others from time to time, and I also do lentils and green peas, also pulses, but not exactly "beans."
I made a big batch of black bean soup. It's tasty. In the meantime I soaked some garbanzo beans and got them sprouting. A couple days later, and it's time to cook them. But alas - I still have a lot of soup left. I hate wasting food, and I decided not to freeze any soup. So next thing you know I have three quarts of cooked garbanzo beans. I ate quite a few of them.
Today I used them as an ingredient along with some other produce to make something that had more going for it than beans cooked with some carrots, celery, garlic, and onion. I had about 1.5 quarts left of beans. Maybe a little more.
I chopped some parsley. I diced a green sweet bell and an English cucumber. I finely diced a shallot. I mixed all that into a big bowl with the beans and then added cumin, two kinds of balsamic vinegar, and a little olive oil. Now I have 2.5 quarts of a really good bean salad.
I should give some away, or else I won't be able to cook anything for a few days because I still have one serving of soup left plus all this bean salad, and I do want to roast that cauliflower I brought home.
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@mtaratoot
My artichokes got overcooked actually. They weren't as big as the monsters I find at the greengrocers midsummer which I normally try to steam instead of boil. I boiled these for 30 minutes as I was in a hurry to cook after going into the office all day and the outer leaves fell off really easily.2 -
Lentils used to be my favourite. I cooked them in the rice cooker, just like rice, and it worked out great. Having to reduce carbohydrate and energy intake led to a ban, but I am still eating soybeans and lupini beans. Soybeans are, in my opinion, the tastiest beans there are while lupini beans are higher in fibre and protein and lower in fat and digestible carbohydrates.I like beans, and I like to sprout them and cook them. I mostly cycle through black beans, garbanzo beans, and mayocoba beans. I add some others from time to time, and I also do lentils and green peas, also pulses, but not exactly "beans."1 -
Kind of beige. Kind of boring. Still kind of tasty.
I had a big kilogram-sized head of cauliflower. It was time for it to go in me belly. Broke into big chunks, tossed with salt, pepper, curry, garlic, and chipotle, added some olive oil, and roasted at 425 in the convection oven on a baking stone.
I might save a few pieces to use for another dish if I don't just finish it all.
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Lately have been into soursop. Any soursop lovers?
Didn’t realize how versatile it is.
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I have never had soursop for one sad and simple reason: I have never seen them in my neighbourhood, and not even in Chinatown. They are supposed to be quite delicious, so I would buy them immediately if I could. Lucky you.SafariGalNYC wrote: »Lately have been into soursop. Any soursop lovers?
Didn’t realize how versatile it is.
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Hitting the produce for Christmas Eve dinner: Roasted stuffed Winter squash, with chickpea "rice", smoked tofu, onions, garlic, sage, eggs, smoked goat gouda, gruyere; on top, dry gluten chunks pulverized into panko-esque submission with some broth and parmesan added. (Maybe I should post this on the cheese thread? That's a lot of kinds of cheese.)
Not sure what the squash is: It was recommended by my local farmers market squash/pupkin specialty grower, but I don't remember the name. The sage was chancy: I decided to go dig in the snow, see if some sage in the garden was useable, since it's a tough plant. It was.
Side salad: Spinach, carrots, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, onion, with red wine vinegar and pumpkin seeds.
Got some zinfandel (red!) going, too.
Happy Holidays, whatever holidays you celebrate!
Thinking maybe kumquats for desert: I got a nice bag of them at the local Asian specialty market.
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Hitting the produce for Christmas Eve dinner: Roasted stuffed Winter squash, with chickpea "rice", smoked tofu, onions, garlic, sage, eggs, smoked goat gouda, gruyere; on top, dry gluten chunks pulverized into panko-esque submission with some broth and parmesan added. (Maybe I should post this on the cheese thread? That's a lot of kinds of cheese.)
Not sure what the squash is: It was recommended by my local farmers market squash/pupkin specialty grower, but I don't remember the name. The sage was chancy: I decided to go dig in the snow, see if some sage in the garden was useable, since it's a tough plant. It was.
Side salad: Spinach, carrots, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, onion, with red wine vinegar and pumpkin seeds.
Got some zinfandel (red!) going, too.
Happy Holidays, whatever holidays you celebrate!
Thinking maybe kumquats for desert: I got a nice bag of them at the local Asian specialty market.
Such an inspiring, health-giving feast!1 -
Hitting the produce for Christmas Eve dinner: Roasted stuffed Winter squash, with chickpea "rice", smoked tofu, onions, garlic, sage, eggs, smoked goat gouda, gruyere; on top, dry gluten chunks pulverized into panko-esque submission with some broth and parmesan added. (Maybe I should post this on the cheese thread? That's a lot of kinds of cheese.)
Not sure what the squash is: It was recommended by my local farmers market squash/pupkin specialty grower, but I don't remember the name. The sage was chancy: I decided to go dig in the snow, see if some sage in the garden was useable, since it's a tough plant. It was.
Side salad: Spinach, carrots, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, onion, with red wine vinegar and pumpkin seeds.
Got some zinfandel (red!) going, too.
Happy Holidays, whatever holidays you celebrate!
Thinking maybe kumquats for desert: I got a nice bag of them at the local Asian specialty market.
@AnnPT77 - beautiful!! Love the colors!! Happy holidays!!1 -
I wonder whether some of you think I choose my holiday foods because they're "healthy". I assure you that this is not the case: I'm a hedonist, on holidays subordinating everything else to selfish indulgence . . . but I lummesome veggies. 😋 If nothing else, the sheer quantity of good cheese (and wine) alongside the meals - and chocolate alongside fruits for desert - that ought to persuade.
For Christmas, I was thinking some kind of quiche-y main dish pie with a sweet potato crust. Maybe black beans in it? Sadly, the only black beans I had on hand were canned refried beans. It'd have to do.
The sweet potato crust is versatile and easy: I'll do it again for sure. Today's filling was good, too: Spinach, gruyere, onion, eggs, refried black beans (from a can), firm tofu (pureed in a food processor with some of the other ingredients), garlic, chevre. I did some servings plain, some with smoked tomato-y salsa . . . liked both.
Some progress photos, starting with the crust before pre-bake - I may've rearranged a little after photo, it's just thin slices with spray avocado oil under/over;
Scary mud-looking filling, pre-bake:
Still slightly scary post-bake, but tasty to me:
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Yer makin me hungry.
That's not really a bad thing. I need to fuel up. Maybe some frozen Trader Joe's latkes.2 -
AnnPT77 wrote "The sweet potato crust is versatile and easy: I'll do it again for sure. Today's filling was good, too: Spinach, gruyere, onion, eggs, refried black beans (from a can), firm tofu (pureed in a food processor with some of the other ingredients), garlic, chevre. I did some servings plain, some with smoked tomato-y salsa . . . liked both.
Some progress photos, starting with the crust before pre-bake - I may've rearranged a little after photo, it's just thin slices with spray avocado oil under/over;"
That looks good. Did you precook the sweet potatoes, or just prebake before adding the other ingredients?0 -
AnnPT77 wrote "The sweet potato crust is versatile and easy: I'll do it again for sure. Today's filling was good, too: Spinach, gruyere, onion, eggs, refried black beans (from a can), firm tofu (pureed in a food processor with some of the other ingredients), garlic, chevre. I did some servings plain, some with smoked tomato-y salsa . . . liked both.
Some progress photos, starting with the crust before pre-bake - I may've rearranged a little after photo, it's just thin slices with spray avocado oil under/over;"
That looks good. Did you precook the sweet potatoes, or just prebake before adding the other ingredients?
Just thin-sliced the raw sweet potato, arranged in lightly oiled pie plate, sprayed with oil, baked.
Got the idea here:
https://www.cookinglight.com/food/vegetarian/sweet-potato-quiche-crust1 -
Thanks for the link AnnPT771
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I had some leftover quinoa. I had made it to serve with some roasted curried cauliflower I cooked the other day. I made way too much; I had no idea how hungry my friend was. Well.... not that hungry I guess. Or she just doesn't eat that much. She thought the cauliflower was great. She's never roasted it. She watched me make it, so she knows what to do. She'll make some for her and her husband some time. She usually just steams it. Borrrring.
Anyway, I wanted an easy meal. I diced a half a yellow onion, three ribs o' celery and a couple carrots. I sliced some Agaricus bisporus pretty thin. I peeled and coarsely chopped five or eight garlic cloves. I did a saute' starting with onions, then celery, then carrots & mushrooms. When they were about done, I added the garlic for a moment and tossed in the quinoa. When the quinoa was just about warmed up, I chopped up the one lone chunk of cauliflower that was left over, then stirred in a scrambled egg.
I plated a serving and sprinkled some Maldon salt on it. It was better than I had expected. It was a take on fried rice, but with the leftover quinoa. I would make it again, but I usually don't have leftover quinoa. It's so easy to make, and I know how much I eat. I usually just cook for one.
I would have taken a picture, but my phone was destroyed the other day, and I need to order a new one. It wasn't all beige!5 -
@ mtaratoot - Perfect post! I too have an abundance of quinoa in my fridge! Left over from a salad a made for a potluck party I went to...I too live alone and using all this left over stuff is overwhelming...I will attempt to recreate your 'fried quinoa-'rice' dish today! Either that, or in the freezer it will go 😂1
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@PAPYRUS3
I bought a ceramic cooktop range several years ago. I love the convection oven, and for the most part love the cooktop. It does make it hard to use my beloved cast iron. Using a proper wok is right out, and that makes me sad. This dish would be really good in a wok. I just used a fry pan. Not the same; doesn't get that "fried rice" flavor. But it was good, and I'd do it again. I bet it would also work with barley.
I always start onions first and add garlic at the very very end. I like my garlic less cooked and coarsely chopped. As I added the carrots, I realized how often I unintentionally use a mirepoix when I make vegetables. So there it was. Just with some grocery store mushrooms and of course the garlic. I would have used more garlic, but being laid up, I don't want to run low on supplies.
What other leftovers do you have?
A few years ago on a Grand Canyon trip that we had outfitted by a commercial outfitter rather than pack our own food, one of my cook nights had a orzo salad. I've never made orzo salad. We had realized early on that the outfitter packs TOO MUCH pasta when there is a pasta meal. We would always leave one package uncooked. Well, I had no idea how much orzo to cook. We left out one package. It still made SO MUCH orzo. I didn't even use it all in the salad. Good thing, because it would have been awful. Too much orzo and not enough of all the stuff that gives it flavor.
The next day was a layover day. One of our group got up and left early for a long hike. When I got up, I realized we had a couple eggs that weren't called for in any other recipes. I made "orzo pancakes." I mixed up the leftover orzo with some spices and a couple eggs, then made patties and fried them on the griddle. Everyone loved them. One of our group called them "taratoots." They went over very well; I'd make them again. I was inspired from something I had seen "The Frugal Gourmet" make maybe back in the '80s that he called "spaghetti pancake." Later in the trip, maybe on another layover morning or maybe the last day, the same guy said, "Make those taratoots again." I told him we hadn't cooked orzo the night before, and we had no more eggs. It's fun to experiment, especially if it comes out good. You could make quinoa pancakes! You could even mix in a few veggies. I think you might need some flour or other binder; I'm not sure the egg would hold 'em all together.
Good luck. Let us know what you do with it.1 -
https://tastecooking.com/best-thing-make-air-fryer-isnt-fried/
I love this idea for air frying grains tossed in olive oil to incorporate into salads. I do it when I have leftover quinoa or cousous but need to try rice. It makes salad filling enough for a packed lunch.2 -
I had a bunch of coriander in danger of spoiling so made zhoug. Will smother it on everything this weekend and freeze what is left. My other produce report is chickpeas. I cooked them in the diluted broth saved from the last time I made salt beef. Wow. This follows the revelation of cooking puy lentils in seafood bisque last week. I will never cook pulses in water again.
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I'm really not sure this belongs here even though there's plenty of vegetables. And again, no images because my phone looks like someone hit it with a four-pound hammer. Well, lightly. It's in one piece, but both sides of the glass look like weird spider webs. My apologies if it's not "produce heavy" enough for this discussion. Please let me know.
I was thinking about just heating up a box of soup for supper. The "best if used by" date has just passed. It will be totally fine for months, but I've been saving it because it's tasty, and is a good thing to have if I'm sick. I'm not even sure if they make it anymore.
But then I remembered I had a half an onion in the fridge left over from the fried-rice style leftover quinoa I made the other day. Yeah, those leftovers drive the bus I guess.
I usually keep a bag of mixed seafood in the freezer from Trader Joe's. It's shrimp, squid, and scallops. It's pretty good, and easy to use. It needs to be defrosted before use. I usually open the bag, weigh half out, reseal the bag in the vacuum sealer, and leave out a container to defrost. Next time I need it, I just pull out the half bag. I pulled out a half bag yesterday. It was not quite fully defrosted, but good enough to drain the liquid and use. So earlier today I put it in a container and added powdered ginger, powdered garlic, chipotle powder, some toasted sesame oil, and some soy sauce. I stuck it back in the refrigerator for a few hours.
Was I going to make this with rice, pasta, or quinoa? I decided brown basmati rice. I put it on the stove with some vegetable broth. I made two servings (a half cup dry, and yes I measured with a cup instead of my scale).
While it cooked, I sliced the half onion, three celery ribs a few mushrooms, and a bunch of garlic. I sat down for ten minutes to rest since I'm still healing, and the rice was going to cook for a while. At some point, I lightly smashed a few roasted hazelnuts, and took out some Italian parsley.
Onions cooked five minutes until soft and just starting to brown over medium heat, then celery went in for a few. Mushrooms followed. Rice was just a few minutes from done. Perfect. When all the veggies were just about cooked, I tossed in the garlic briefly until I could smell it, then put in all the seafood. That cooked several minutes until it was fully cooked. Doesn't take long. A splash of Amontillado sherry went in and I let that simmer a bit to cook down. As it was cooking down, I sprinkled just a wee bit of whole wheat flour on top and stirred it in. Right before it was done, I added the hazelnuts. It still needed just a touch of Maldon salt, so that went in.
I put about half the rice in a bowl, put half the veggies and seafood on top, and garnished liberally with lots of coarsely chopped parsley.
There was no recipe for this dish. The nuts were an idea that came along while I was cooking. The parsley was only added because I still had some left from another dish. In reality, this would have easily fed two people. I had room in my daily calorie allotment, and since my body is healing it needs more calories. I have been under on my calories the last few days, so I decided not to leave myself some leftovers. I had the second serving, but saved just a little rice to eat plain because I sure love rice. Oh. Yeah. I ate that too.
I still have room in my diary for an ounce of blue cheese when it's time to take my next pill, so it worked out perfect.
Onions, celery, mushrooms, garlic, and parsley. Those are all produce. One might argue the Oregon-grown hazelnuts are too. Rice? Probably not, but I could see it wearing an honorary produce badge since it came from a plant. So, is that appropriate to post here? I hope so, because I just did.
As a bonus, it wasn't just beige! And sorry for no pictures. Your imagination will serve you well for that.
Happy New Year!
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I need more passion fruit in my life.
Happy New Year my produce luvin friends!
📷 Just a plate of fruit- papaya, pineapple and passion fruit.
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I found my jar of black-eyed peas. So sad - there's only like a cup left. I started them soaking anyway. It's OK. I'm only cooking for myself, and it's just for tradition.
I feel foolish I didn't get buttermilk while I was out yesterday. If I want to make cornbread sticks tomorrow, also tradition, I'll have to scoot out and get some or see if someone else will do that for me.
Today's produce dish is a little like yesterday's but is more like a big mushy glop. Tasty though.
Like yesterday, I started with sauteing some onions. This time finely diced instead of sliced. I didn't cook them very long before adding the chopped celery and just a couple sliced mushrooms. A very short cook and I added the garlic and only a quarter cup of brown Basmati rice. When it started to smell toasty, I added some water and broth and then a half cup of red lentils. Turned to low and let cook for 45 minutes. It needed just a little something else, so a splash of fish sauce rounded it out.
Again, it's enough for two meals. It has a lot of the same ingredients as yesterday except no fish or nuts and added the lentils which made it more of a mushy stew, and oh so good.
Bring on the new year! I do want to make that cornbread and deliver a bunch around the neighborhood. One of my friends got COVID the other day. I bet he'll enjoy some sticks. The neighbors who fed me a couple days during my initial recovery from injury also love the stuff. Then I'll need to find some other folks to help eat it or I'll eat it all. And I love it. I have enough cast iron corn stick pans to do an entire batch of sticks, and if I make one BIG batch, I can also make those little triangles with my corn triangle pan. I don't even remember the last time I made any.
Come join me. I'll have enough!3 -
Another holiday produce-fest for NYE, conceived for personal enjoyment rather than any other value, with willingness to put in a little more effort than usual for the occasion. The soup (stew?) was especially yummy, if I do say so myself.
Soup: Sauteed onions (in olive oil), elephant garlic added at the last bit; sweet corn (frozen
), rutabaga, red lentils, carrot, couple teaspoons of a vegetable soup base, smoked goat gouda added when I took it off the stove, fresh ground pepper. Really good, one of my better efforts: Veggie-sweet, rich, smoky, satisfying. No leftovers! 😆
Salad: Roasted cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, English cucumber, orange bell pepper, onion, topped with aged balsamic vinegar, some pumpkin seeds, and a light sprinkle of coarse sea salt.
I found my jar of black-eyed peas. So sad - there's only like a cup left. I started them soaking anyway. It's OK. I'm only cooking for myself, and it's just for tradition.
I feel foolish I didn't get buttermilk while I was out yesterday. If I want to make cornbread sticks tomorrow, also tradition, I'll have to scoot out and get some or see if someone else will do that for me.
(snip yummy details)
Bring on the new year! I do want to make that cornbread and deliver a bunch around the neighborhood. One of my friends got COVID the other day. I bet he'll enjoy some sticks. The neighbors who fed me a couple days during my initial recovery from injury also love the stuff. Then I'll need to find some other folks to help eat it or I'll eat it all. And I love it. I have enough cast iron corn stick pans to do an entire batch of sticks, and if I make one BIG batch, I can also make those little triangles with my corn triangle pan. I don't even remember the last time I made any.
Come join me. I'll have enough!
@mtaratoot: I wish . . . especially since I do have buttermilk I could share. I bought some thinking I'd make a batch of Southern buttermilk biscuits (using Shirley Corriher's excellent recipe in Cookwise, a favorite book) for my Christmas feast, but didn't. Maybe tomorrow, we'll see - it's still within date range. There's really no nutritional defense for those biscuits, but they're sooooo good fresh from the oven.
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