For the love of Produce...

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  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,966 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    Does anyone know how to cook choi sam? We had it at a Vietnamese restaurant and thought it was great so bought some. First attempt I blanched by putting it in a colander and pouring a kettlefull of boiling water over it followed by a stir fry. Stems were okay but the leaves were chewy and stringy. Second time I blanched for a minute in boiling water, drained well and stir fried. Better than last time but still kind of tough and stringy.

    Who knows how to stir fry this vegetable? I love the flavour but am struggling to get a palatable texture. Or is this a shopping problem (young shoots vs old plants) rather than a cooking problem?

    I wonder if one could cook it as some do asparagus, standing upright in a narrow-ish pot, so that the stems get some simmering/boiling, the leaves just a steaming (with potentially some control over the steam via lid/no lid). Haven't done this, just speculating. I'm lazy, I usually cut thick stems out of leafy veggies, and start them before the leaves. Not as pretty, though. 😉
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,590 Member
    The really strange thing about the choi sam was that the first time I did a very short blanch, and stems were file but leaves were unpleasantly chewy. The second time with the longer blanch the leaves were nice but the stems were stringy. Completely againt my intuition.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,966 Member
    snowflake954 wrote: »
    Vegetable pie w spinach, radicchio, egg, and feta cheese.hwxaiazns3o9.jpg

    What is your crust, @snowflake954? It's hard to tell from a photo, but it looks more bread-like than a pastry crust, but "shorter" (more fat) perhaps than a bread variant. (Perhaps I'm misreading it, but it looks really yummy - as does that filling - so I'm curious.)
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,590 Member
    The greengrocer still had artichokes but they were tiny. I normally steam artichokes and dip leaves in hollandaise but there won't be much flesh on these. Anyone have experience cooking tiny artichokes?
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  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,400 Member
    Stuffed endive.m433568afwji.jpg
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  • B_Plus_Effort
    B_Plus_Effort Posts: 311 Member
    I'm a displaced European so my broccoli is white aka cauliflower, ha ha

    during the weight loss phase I believe in eating green vegetables with a protein, so chicken and green beans, or salmon and broccoli, or steak and spinach, (no filler carbs like white rice) or you get the idea mix it up

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  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,126 Member
    snowflake954 wrote: »
    Stuffed endive.m433568afwji.jpg
    kfzle263n16l.jpg

    This looks really delicious. Many people don't think of cooking lettuces, but they are great. Would you be willing to share the basics of the recipe/process? Mmmmmm.....
  • B_Plus_Effort
    B_Plus_Effort Posts: 311 Member
    senalay788 wrote: »
    Plates of sadness. Sorry.
    But if this works for you, you do you.

    We are still talking about weight loss here right? ha ha
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    snowflake954 wrote: »
    muszyngr wrote: »
    senalay788 wrote: »
    Plates of sadness. Sorry.
    But if this works for you, you do you.

    We are still talking about weight loss here right? ha ha

    You can lose and still eat wonderful, tasty food. I think that's the purpose of this thread. It's great to get ideas on how to cook different vegetables, and see different produce from around the world. I don't criticize what people eat, but I grew up on a farm with basic meat and potatoes, so I'm familiar with that and want to branch out. Lose weight and have fun, the internet opens up a whole new world of recipes.

    Definitely

    I never take photos since that would require me to use nicer plates or at least not mixing bowls for things like salad and soup, and plus I'm not good at it, but maybe I will try. Some delicious produce-forward dishes lately:

    Yesterday for lunch I had pacific cod with zucchini noodles to which I added my last cauliflower and carrots from my garden, as well as some of my garden's chard (I still have more), plus some cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, green olives, and of course garlic. Sauteed in a little olive oil (noodles added just before it came off the heat), and the cod served on top. Drizzled with some white wine vinegar.

    For dinner I had a basic salad (oil, vinegar, and an Italian seasoning mix for the dressing, I use less oil than in a standard vinaigrette to cut cals): romaine, tomatoes, carrots, celery, radishes, and a few chopped kalamata olives. With it I had a chicken chili (although it ended up more like a soup) made with tomatoes, various peppers (chipotle and jalapeno), garlic and onion, a dried bean and lentil mix I bought from a local middle eastern grocery, shredded chicken thighs, and lime juice. I actually made this as part of my current experiments with my instant pot and used some homemade chicken stock in it as well. I didn't actually bother juicing the lime but just quartered it and tossed it in and that worked great. The soup's broth turned out really delicious, spicy/tomato-y/lime-y.

    Neither of these dishes would have been hard for me to fit into a weight loss diet -- I had fewer than 1350 cals yesterday (not intentionally).

    I also recently made a "parsley pesto," (it also used sesame seeds in place of pine nuts), which I had on pasta and veg (I always use what is on hand, I think it was mainly cauliflower, zucchini, and mushroom) with some salmon. This was less low cal (since pesto), but the pesto was strong enough that you really didn't need to use a lot, and really tasty.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,966 Member
    muszyngr wrote: »
    senalay788 wrote: »
    Plates of sadness. Sorry.
    But if this works for you, you do you.

    We are still talking about weight loss here right? ha ha

    I would not call your choice of food style "sad', personally, because I think that's kinda mean. I also think your implication is incorrect that people have to eat a very limited range of foods in order to lose weight, and in this particular produce-centric thread *extremely* incorrect.

    I think perhaps you didn't read the room well . . . or in this case, the thread. If you browse back through posts, you will see lots of delicious-looking, varied, calorie-efficient, generous-portioned, nutritious foods, all centered (because of the thread theme) on veggies and fruits. Some dishes pictured (but not all) have limited protein, but I wouldn't make the assumption that protein wasn't in the meal - it's just not the focus of this thread.

    Personally, I'd find meat + one green veg to be a *deeply* unsatisfying meal pattern. I wouldn't still with it: Big boredom, low enjoyment, for me. If it gets you to overall well-rounded nutrition, and suits *you*, that's great. I'm speculating, but you may prefer not to spend the extra prep time for the produce-centric dishes in this thread, but that tradeoff is pretty individual, and has zero to do with calorie levels. Or, perhaps you simply wouldn't enjoy eating them - also fine.

    Enjoy your meat + green, sincerely!

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