For the love of Produce...

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Replies

  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,553 Member
    annk18 wrote: »
    Acpgee this looks delicious. Do you have a recipe for the pancakes? Please post

    I liked the look at these two recipes online.
    https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/banh-xeo-vietnamese-happy-pancakes/
    https://eatingrules.com/banh-xeo-vietnamese-crepes/

    Things I did differently:
    I bought ready made Vietnamese pancake mix from the Vietnamese supermarket. I won't do that again because the mix is easier than I thought, and I keep rice flour, corn flour and turmeric powder on hand. The package directions said 200g of instant pancake mix with some chopped scallion to 450ml coconut milk. After reading the second recipe I use 225ml coconut milk and 225ml beer. I used the pancake cooking method of second recipe but didn't bother with taking the lid on and off. The nuoc cham dipping sauce in the first recipe is more authentic.

    My filling was diced chicken breast dusted with salt and cornstarch and sauteed until no longer raw on a dry non stick pan. I set the chicken aside, add a little oil and fried garlic with beansprouts and sliced mushrooms, flavouring with a ice cube each of grated ginger and caramelized onion that I keep in the freezer. I added a tablespoon of fish sauce when the garlic started to colour. If the garlic is in danger of burning add a little splash of water or liquid condiment and turn down the heat. Mix this up with the chicken. The veggies are nicest if left quite raw.

    I added quick pickled carrots to the lettuce and herb accompaniments. Grate, spiralize, or julienne a large carrot and pack into a glass jar. Dissolve 30g of sugar in 90 ml of neutral vinegar (rice, cider or white wine vinegar) in a small saucepan over a low flame. Pour hot pickling liquid over the carrots. If there isn't enough to cover the carrots top up with water. Let sit at least an hour but up to a few weeks in the fridge, keeping in mind tartness will increase.

    Things I will change next time:
    I used the second recipe's construction technique, putting the fillings in first and then pouring over the pancake batter. Pancakes stayed a little soggy under the flling. Will use the technique of first recipe next time starting with batter only and scattering filling over half the cooked pancake before folding. I might try the technque I use for normal pancakes and mix a tablespoon or two of oil into the batter, whereby it is not necessary to add any oil while cooking if you use a nonstick pan.
  • annk18
    annk18 Posts: 85 Member
    Thank you. I will try these out soon. As I have to be gluten-free, sparkling water not beer will have to do.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 12,943 Member
    Has anyone ever made quick pickle from cherry tomatoes?

    Before a couple days ago, I had never made "quick pickle." I've made salt-fermented pickles. I think once a million years ago I made and processed vinegar pickles. But never "refrigerator pickles." My friend gives me some from time to time, so I finally decided to try some. I actually had some jars of theirs I had been meaning to return, so I filled one of them as I was filling my jars. When I dropped them off, they were really excited, so that's fun.

    I have been dehydrating some of my cherry tomatoes because I have so many. They taste great. I also have made pickled green tomatoes in the past (salt fermented). I am thinking about maybe doing some cherry tomato quick pickle. Has anyone done this? Any tips?
  • spinnerdell
    spinnerdell Posts: 230 Member
    I've made quick pickles from green cherry tomatoes using apple cider vinegar and lots of dill and garlic. They keep well in the refrigerator for a few months, but I prefer water-bath processed pickles for the mellower flavor and much longer storage life.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 12,943 Member
    Well, I decided to just try it. I just now realize I forgot to go pick rosemary and add it; I can throw some on top. Basic recipe with a little lemon zest. Made two pint jars. They will be ready to sample tomorrow.

    x9pzxekq6duk.jpg

    I set aside all the ones that split, but when I added the brine, a whole lot more split. If I were going to do green tomatoes, I'd ferment them in a salt brine. I just couldn't keep up with eating all the cherry tomatoes. I'm caught up. I put a half tray in the dehydrator with a quarter tray of a slicing tomato that had a little end rot (cut that off), and one Chojuro (Asian pear) that are just starting to get ripe, one tray of Bartlet pears that I have been ripening (left one out to eat fresh, and now I need to pull more out of the fridge to ripen, but I may wait until I process the rest of the prunes and some Chojuro), and four trays of prunes.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,553 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    Well, I decided to just try it. I just now realize I forgot to go pick rosemary and add it; I can throw some on top. Basic recipe with a little lemon zest. Made two pint jars. They will be ready to sample tomorrow.

    I set aside all the ones that split, but when I added the brine, a whole lot more split. If I were going to do green tomatoes, I'd ferment them in a salt brine. I just couldn't keep up with eating all the cherry tomatoes. I'm caught up. I put a half tray in the dehydrator with a quarter tray of a slicing tomato that had a little end rot (cut that off), and one Chojuro (Asian pear) that are just starting to get ripe, one tray of Bartlet pears that I have been ripening (left one out to eat fresh, and now I need to pull more out of the fridge to ripen, but I may wait until I process the rest of the prunes and some Chojuro), and four trays of prunes.

    Have you got anything against making a big vat of tomato sauce to freeze? Don't bother peeling, just break down the skins in the food processor.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 12,943 Member
    Two pints of cherry tomatoes wouldn't make that much sauce.

    We used to do something totally unapproved by USDA. We would sanitize jars in a boiling water bath, slice and bake a bunch of tomatoes with herbs and spices, pack the jars, and process. Modern tomatoes don't have enough acid, but we somehow dodged a bullet and didn't get sick.
  • LoveyChar
    LoveyChar Posts: 4,335 Member
    edited September 2020
    I need to write it down also. I put hundred of seeds in pots and in my garden in May and in June and I eventually gave up abandoned it. Some I put many, many seeds in one pot. I have so much stuff growing and it's crazy. I had some rosemary, parsley, lavender, basil, bell peppers, carrots, beets, turnips, radishes, and sweet Spanish onions. I have no idea what's what now.
    Note: Seeds that have been sitting in pots or in a garden may germinate even if you think not. Obviously they don't just become "duds" that quick.

    @mtaratoot You'll have to let us know how they taste.

    @acpgee Parsley looks so vibrant, thanks for the tip!

    Oops, I posted on the wrong thread.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    ae8mi7h8evad.jpeg

    This is about a fifth of the grapes I’ve picked today with at least 10 times as many as today’s harvest still on the vines.

    They’re not dessert grapes as they’re relatively small and full of large pips, so they’re not great to just eat - although they do taste good!

    In previous years I’ve made Grape Jelly, Grape & Chilli Jelly, Grape & Chilli Jam, Grape Lemonade, Grape Muffins, I’ve frozen juice in ice-lolly moulds too. I’ve still got quite a lot of jars left of some of the preserves - there’s a limit to how many we can use/give away!

    All these things take a fair amount of process as even the simplest require hours of preparation.

    I’m wondering if anyone knows of anything else I can make with these wine grapes (I’ve tried a few times to make wine, with no success - and have now given away all the equipment because I’m not really interested in making any more vinegar! 😂)

    Any ideas gratefully received! 🤷‍♀️
  • JaxxieKat
    JaxxieKat Posts: 427 Member
    I didn't think to take a picture, but over the past couple of days I devoured an entire seedless watermelon. It was the best I've had all season.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,722 Member
    ae8mi7h8evad.jpeg

    This is about a fifth of the grapes I’ve picked today with at least 10 times as many as today’s harvest still on the vines.

    They’re not dessert grapes as they’re relatively small and full of large pips, so they’re not great to just eat - although they do taste good!

    In previous years I’ve made Grape Jelly, Grape & Chilli Jelly, Grape & Chilli Jam, Grape Lemonade, Grape Muffins, I’ve frozen juice in ice-lolly moulds too. I’ve still got quite a lot of jars left of some of the preserves - there’s a limit to how many we can use/give away!

    All these things take a fair amount of process as even the simplest require hours of preparation.

    I’m wondering if anyone knows of anything else I can make with these wine grapes (I’ve tried a few times to make wine, with no success - and have now given away all the equipment because I’m not really interested in making any more vinegar! 😂)

    Any ideas gratefully received! 🤷‍♀️

    I have no idea what the result would be with wine grapes (different, for sure), but Concord grape pie is a totally amazing thing. Pie might be worth trying, if you haven't. (Still a lot of work, sadly.)
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,553 Member

    This is about a fifth of the grapes I’ve picked today with at least 10 times as many as today’s harvest still on the vines.

    They’re not dessert grapes as they’re relatively small and full of large pips, so they’re not great to just eat - although they do taste good!

    In previous years I’ve made Grape Jelly, Grape & Chilli Jelly, Grape & Chilli Jam, Grape Lemonade, Grape Muffins, I’ve frozen juice in ice-lolly moulds too. I’ve still got quite a lot of jars left of some of the preserves - there’s a limit to how many we can use/give away!

    All these things take a fair amount of process as even the simplest require hours of preparation.

    I’m wondering if anyone knows of anything else I can make with these wine grapes (I’ve tried a few times to make wine, with no success - and have now given away all the equipment because I’m not really interested in making any more vinegar! 😂)

    Any ideas gratefully received! 🤷‍♀️

    Is it too much work just to press into grapejuice that you could boil down and freeze for cooking? I imagine sorbets and granitas would be pretty delicious. Also any dishes such as bulgogi, normally marinated in pear juice would be great marinated in grape juice.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    Thank you both for the ideas, unfortunately we’re not a dessert sort of family, I have looked at things like sorbet etc before but I know it would just sit in the freezer until I ended up throwing it out.

    I love the idea of pie, just requires destemming & deseeding the grapes, really, so less work than reducing it all to juice but again, I don’t see that we’d eat more than the smallest slice each.

    I’ve made a batch of grape jelly this morning from all of the grapes I picked the day I posted here, from juice I’ve been extracting for the last two days. Such a long process! 😂 (wash, destem, boil to produce juice, strain through 4 different grades of sieve/muslin then wait for it to drip through the jelly bag - if I don’t go through the sieve process it just blocks up the jelly bag too fast and I get nowhere fast!) I used very little sugar as I want the jelly sharp as a cheese accompaniment rather than for sweet recipes.

    Next project is a Caramelised Grape & Onion Relish I think! For that I’ll have to take all the pips out of them, by hand. 😂😱

    Still looking for ideas though! The Relish will probably use up a quarter of the remaining grapes on the vines.

    I am going to try using up some of a previous years Grape & Chilli Jam to replace Mango Chutney and the Red Chilli components in a South African glazed Chicken recipe that my husband really enjoys. Hoping I can slip the change under the radar until after he’s eaten and enjoyed it! 😂

  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    Forgot to add - I’m going to process another batch into juice again then boil it down to reduce (to save space in my always full freezer) because I like the Bulgogi idea. I can think of a few places where I could use a concentrated juice in marinades and sauces (would it sub as red wine for richness in some dishes, I wonder 🤔)
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,553 Member
    Forgot to add - I’m going to process another batch into juice again then boil it down to reduce (to save space in my always full freezer) because I like the Bulgogi idea. I can think of a few places where I could use a concentrated juice in marinades and sauces (would it sub as red wine for richness in some dishes, I wonder 🤔)

    Trying to think of other dishes that have fruit juice based sauces. There are probably more Korean dishes with the pear juice marinade. Chinese orange chicken comes to mind, and any dish with a yuzu marinade (though you might need a squirt of lime for tartness). Tagines which contain dried fruit.

    If you can be bothered to half and remove the pips my favourite uses for halved grapes is Ajo Blanco and a green salad with grapes and salty cheese (crumbled blue cheese or feta, or parmesan shavings). The first ajo blanco recipe uses a combination of chopped granny smith apple and grapes, but I normally use all halved grapes. I use more grapes than the second recipe calls for. Some recipes call for peeling the grapes but just halving them gives the same mouth feel as peeled grapes, so I don't bother.

    https://spanishsabores.com/2018/05/27/ajo-blanco-recipe-chilled-almond-soup/
    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2016/may/26/how-to-make-the-perfect-ajo-blanco
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,613 Member
    Might be a weird question, but...
    If you had to pick only 5 vegetables/fruits, which would you pick for best and balanced nutrition? I've been stuck on roasting cauliflower lately!
  • icemom011
    icemom011 Posts: 999 Member
    I had two green papayas, and made one of them into a Tom Sum, hopefully I'm correct about name? which is the Spicy Thai green papaya salad. I love spicy food, so i really liked the results. I omitted the dry shrimp because i don't have that. Another sub was to use pbfit instead of peanuts, that saves calories but peanuts probably much better for the taste. Could have tried peanut butter, i guess, since I'm out of peanuts. Overall, i liked it though. So i have one more. Any one has interesting recipies, preferably low calorie?