For the love of Produce...

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Replies

  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 12,941 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    I made cardi augratin.907l6z4i3swb.jpg

    I am used to calling them cardoon. People grow them around here as ornamental plants. My neighbors have one. Cute little artichoke flowers all over. But you don't eat the flowers, you eat the leaves. I don't recall seeing them in the market. Do they taste much like artichoke?

    We eat the stalks--you need to sort of peel them. They are low-cal, and full of fiber. I don't like artichokes, but love these. They are called "globo" or "gobo cardi" which means "humped", because they are bent over and buried underground to keep them white. The color is a silvery white green. As when cleaning artichokes, you need to put them in water with lemon so they don't turn brown. Cut in about 5" lengths, rinse, and boil for 40 min, drain.

    I found a recipe where you line a pan w parchment paper (I didn't and have a big cleanup--next time I will be more careful), layer in the cardi, pour about half a glass of milk over, salt, pepper, sprinkle Parmigiano and bread crumbs, and then lightly pour a thin stream of EVOO over all. Bake 30 min at 350° or until crusty.

    They also make risotto and soups with them. I love cardi. I ate almost the entire pan by myself.

    I am going to experiment with the lemon trick when I start picking artichokes next year. I didn't know about that. Thanks for the tip!

    I haven't made risotto in years. So. Much. Stirring.
  • Steph_135
    Steph_135 Posts: 3,280 Member
    I wish I loved vegetables this much... I should try to find some good veggie recipes, cause mine are so boring. All I know is how to overcook them - or put them in soup. Actually, I do make a good bean chili with lots of veggies. :)
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    Chilis and stews are a perfectly good way to start.

    Try getting an inspiring vegetable cookbook -- Barbara Kafka's Vegetable Love is one I like, but there are many. (Seasonal ones are great, but less so in Dec, at least in the Northern Hemisphere.)

    I also love this site for ideas: 101cookbooks.com
  • Steph_135
    Steph_135 Posts: 3,280 Member
    @lemurcat2 Thanks for those suggestions!! I will check them out right now. :)
  • o0Firekeeper0o
    o0Firekeeper0o Posts: 416 Member
    Steph_135 wrote: »
    I wish I loved vegetables this much... I should try to find some good veggie recipes, cause mine are so boring. All I know is how to overcook them - or put them in soup. Actually, I do make a good bean chili with lots of veggies. :)

    You can never go wrong with trying them roasted! Whatever veggie you’re roasting, look up what temp and how long to cook them for, and then you’re off to a good start!
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,613 Member
    🤤 That salad looks SO GOOD
  • msapplek
    msapplek Posts: 95 Member
    senalay788 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Found this fun little mini butternut-type squash (that's a regular teaspoon, for scale). Good texture and flavor. Not a lot of squash for me 🤣, but could be a good thing for people who are a little scared of the giant old-school Winter squash varieties that require specialized techniques to break into, and produce alarmingly huge buckets of mashed roasted squash.

    I'd meant to put it in the mega-veggie vegetarian shepherd's pie I made for Christmas Eve dinner (lentils, onions, cremini mushrooms, parsnips, rutabaga, elephant garlic, corn, peas, turnips, celery, sweet potato, mashed potatoes, fresh sage & thyme, cabernet, broth, well-browned roux, chevre (in the potatoes), fresh grated parmesan on top) . . . but I forgot.

    qu61w316f44p.jpg

    This is called honey squash. I only found them once around here and bought few. Perfect for single serving unlike the butternut squash which is difficult to find on the smaller size.

    Funny, I came across the honeynut squash at the farmers' market this fall for the first time. I wonder if farmers all over got together and decided to go all in on the honeynut squash this year.

    Anyways, I really enjoy this variety: the taste, texture and serving size are great! I did notice, though, that the carbs and calories for the honeynut squash are relatively higher compared to butternut or spaghetti squash.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,721 Member
    Just for the record, even though I think my PP probably made my opinion clear: IMO this is Too Small a Squash. I ate the whole thing, and wished I had more. ☹️ I usually hold myself to 180-200g squash servings (around a cup, maybe a jot less), can happily eat more, and this was only 132g for the whole thing. And so few seeds in something that small - I do love roasted seeds with chili powder and popcorn salt. It was cute, though.

    My favorite so far (about which I posted earlier in the thread) is Georgia Candy Roaster. They're a banana-shaped squash, probably roughly the size of my lower leg, yield around 8-10C of smashed roasted squash.

    I'm a curmudgeon, and I don't prefer the tiny little Winter squash varieties that seem to be popular recently, though many are very tasty. Gimme a giant heirloom type of massive size, preferably.

  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    I like medium size -- nothing so gigantic it's difficult to deal with. I've been eating kabocha lately, which is a reasonable size (the ones I've had are similar in size to a normal butternut). I do love acorn, not because it's smaller, but I like the taste.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    Watermelon is something I only mess with when it's in season, but watermelon-tomato salad (in mid summer) is great too, also with feta.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,721 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    What we have here is a gallon jar full of what will be saurkraut in a few weeks.

    uf89m7niogry.jpg


    Pretty basic. Three heads of cabbage and some salt. Well, I did peel two globes of garlic and tossed in all the whole cloves, not so much to flavor the kraut (which it will do) but because I want to eat pickled garlic, and I am afraid it won't ever have enough sugar on its own to ferment by itself.

    Homemade sauerkraut is So Good. I haven't made it in years (I've gotten lazy and buy the high priced raw stuff in interesting flavors that's made by The Brinery just a ways down the road in Ann Arbor). Used to make giant crocks of it every Fall, and can much of it. It's nicer raw, but after a while we needed to cut the fermentation before we produced alien life forms instead of kraut (and realistically, probably we also got tired of skimming 😆). Enjoy your kraut!
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 12,941 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    What we have here is a gallon jar full of what will be saurkraut in a few weeks.

    uf89m7niogry.jpg


    Pretty basic. Three heads of cabbage and some salt. Well, I did peel two globes of garlic and tossed in all the whole cloves, not so much to flavor the kraut (which it will do) but because I want to eat pickled garlic, and I am afraid it won't ever have enough sugar on its own to ferment by itself.

    Homemade sauerkraut is So Good. I haven't made it in years (I've gotten lazy and buy the high priced raw stuff in interesting flavors that's made by The Brinery just a ways down the road in Ann Arbor). Used to make giant crocks of it every Fall, and can much of it. It's nicer raw, but after a while we needed to cut the fermentation before we produced alien life forms instead of kraut (and realistically, probably we also got tired of skimming 😆). Enjoy your kraut!

    I think this may be my first batch in 20 years. Why I stopped, I have no idea.

    There's a few neighbors who ferment things, and we like to share. So this will get shared. I don't plan to process any in jars; if it gets "done enough," I put it in jars and refrigerate. That slows the process down enough that it really doesn't keep getting more sour. I used to make something that was a cross between kraut and kimchi. I would add lots of hot chilies and fish sauce, but slice like kraut. This time it's just plain old cabbage. I bet it will be really good. I can still add some chilies if I want. And carrot. And fish sauce.... Nah. I'll let this one go as-is.

    My real FAVORITE is half-sour pickles. I don't find them in stores. I have to make them. I haven't in a while. Next summer! In the past I would actually process some of them so they could be shelf-stable. Better if I just jar 'em up and put them in the fridge so they're still alive.