For the love of Produce...
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I'd like those variations - the relatives would balk at it, because I think they'd *see* it. So weird, to me!Regarding granny smith in slaws. I typically substitute hard to find green papaya or green mango for a combination of spiralized carrots and granny smith in SE Asian salads such as Som Tam. A combination of grated celeriac and granny smith would work too, I think.
The young-adult nephew was offended when he learned that the chocolate chip cookies he'd liked on tasting - had bananas! 🤣
I don't mind pushing their perceptions generally . . . less on holidays, though.
Holidays are hug time. They keep me in their circle - the widowed relative - on sufferance. I appreciate that deeply, want to please them.
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Soloing Thanksgiving, so improvising right up until oven time. I started out with sort of a shepherd's pie concept, but diverged. Shotgun wedding between shepherd's pie, custard/quiche, but tinged with moussaka? Dunno.
I sauteed onions and garlic, mixed them with chopped carrots, cooked lentils, and good tomato paste; seasoned with nutmeg, thyme, pepper, salt . . . topped with a layer of roasted, smashed Mashed Potato Winter squash . . . then a layer of ricotta and eggs (also salted).
I don't know at all what this is, but it was tasty and filling. I'm happy. Also thankful: Holiday appropriate, and fairly produce heavy, I think.
Happy US Thanksgiving!
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I eat an insane amount of veggies starting with breakfast. Roasted/cast iron/steamed, you name it. Sometimes I'll get em all cooked up and zap em in the Vitamix for a nice soup. I also grow Ponderosa lemons. Baby those giant tart girls like a momma bear till just perfect for harvest!
Ugli fruit is my winter love
sooo hard to find. Its always a conundrum for the produce manager. 3 -
I have the same problem. I noticed that apples are usually classified as "crunchy" or "sweet" here in Toronto, no one seems to be talking about taste. My (slightly extreme) thoughts on that is that glass test tubes are very crunchy and icing sugar is very sweet. Neither are particularly attractive as foods. As for Granny Smith, to me, they are comparable to test tubes covered in citric acid.I mourn that older varieties of apples are less available. Most of the modern ones are too sweet, too simple tasting, and I don't love the texture. Granny Smith taste fine, but I'd prefer something of firmness intermediate between that and the average run of apples. I'd like some more tartness, some wine-y-ness than most of the sweety-sweet moderns. Rave apples were better than average, though not ideal, but I don't often see them. My old school favorites are Winesaps, but I almost never see them anymore.
I've tried too many of the newer varieties to list. Does anyone have any to suggest that I might look out for?
Thanks!
I tend to eat Cortland apples the most, they are fragile and don't last long, but they are probably the tastiest I can find in my neck of the woods.
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I think you get more crunchy bang for your buck if you can find tree-ripened apples directly at the farm. I was lucky to nab a huge box of tree-ripened apples and the taste/crunch/sweetness couldn't be rivaled by any 6-10 month storage-bin apple!1
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allaboutthecake wrote: »I think you get more crunchy bang for your buck if you can find tree-ripened apples directly at the farm. I was lucky to nab a huge box of tree-ripened apples and the taste/crunch/sweetness couldn't be rivaled by any 6-10 month storage-bin apple!
When possible, I'm getting mine at farmers markets from local-ish growers. Generally, if it's apple season, they will have been picked in the past day or so. But a too-sweet too-simple (to my taste) apple variety is still too sweet and too simple, even if fresh. I agree that tree-ripened and fresh-picked are usually best, within any given variety, though.3 -
I don't normally cook squashes besides courgette as they are generally too big for our household of two. We were supposed host a friend for dinner who cancelled at the last minute and I prepared the planned roast dinner anyway. What do you do with two thirds of of a leftover roast butternut squash? It is not sweetened really, as I sprinkled the tiniest pinch of brown sugar on top. We have a couple of leftover roast new potatoes and a little roast cherry tomato, both skin on too.
Was considering a soup made by sauteeing some onion, adding scooped out leftover squash and peeled leftover potato and skin on tomatoes. Blitzing that with the immersion blender and maybe adding a handful of split red lentils. Maybe stir in the leftover bit of Philly light cream cheese languishing in the fridge just before serving?
Ideas on what to do with the squash and other roast veg welcome.1 -
I don't normally cook squashes besides courgette as they are generally too big for our household of two. We were supposed host a friend for dinner who cancelled at the last minute and I prepared the planned roast dinner anyway. What do you do with two thirds of of a leftover roast butternut squash? It is not sweetened really, as I sprinkled the tiniest pinch of brown sugar on top. We have a couple of leftover roast new potatoes and a little roast cherry tomato, both skin on too.
Was considering a soup made by sauteeing some onion, adding ?scooped out leftover squash and peeled leftover potato and skin on tomatoes. Blitzing that with the immersion blender and maybe adding a handful of split red lentils. Maybe stir in the leftover bit of Philly light cream cheese languishing in the fridge just before serving?
Ideas on what to do with the squash and other roast veg .
The soup would be good. I'd consider sage or something smoked (smoked hot peppers are nice with squash IMO). Some toasted seeds (something hull-less, maybe pepitas or sunflower?) on top or blended in (or both) are good, IMO, too.
But I don't usually have leftover squash, unless you count my intentional vast freezer stockpile!1 -
@acpgee
If you make the soup, and if "fishy" fish is something you eat, add a can of mackerel right before you serve the soup. I ate a lot of winter squash soup with mackerel when I was in grad school. Makes me nostalgic. Maybe I'll make some. I bet it would be good with salmon, too.3 -
Most fish will be great, but the fattiest are probably best indeed. I love sardines, especially fresh or frozen ones, but even the canned ones are a great addition, which is what I usually do since fresh/frozen ones are usually not available where I live.@acpgee
If you make the soup, and if "fishy" fish is something you eat, add a can of mackerel right before you serve the soup. I ate a lot of winter squash soup with mackerel when I was in grad school. Makes me nostalgic. Maybe I'll make some. I bet it would be good with salmon, too.
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I had a half head of cabbage left from the soup I made a few days ago. I also had a small fennel bulb and a few other ingredients.
I decided to make a fennel slaw as an attempt to replicate something a restaurant I really like serves. They don't publish their recipe. I modified a go-to recipe I sort of have for cabbage salad with a Mexican or South American flavor profile. It's not really a recipe; I'm sure I've never made it the same twice. I always seem to forget what I use, but this time I took:
Half a head of cabbage sliced thin with a recently-sharpened chef's knife. I still need to do some more work on the knife, but already it's more of a joy to use.
A few inner ribs of a stalk of celery with the leaves, thinly sliced.
A small to medium fennel, also sliced thin.
A small to medium red onion... yeah; you guessed it, I sliced it thin.
Two watermelon radish. Well, a lot less than two. They were hollow and rotten in the middle. I peeled them and sampled them to make sure they were edible, and I julienned some of 'em and tossed 'em in.
Small palm full of caraway seed.
A little salt and some black pepper.
A few splashes of sunflower oil.
A big splash or three of white balsamic.
A few tiny shakes of yellow mustard powder.
Some garlic.
The tiniest bit of sugar; why not.
I tossed it all, and now it's sitting for an hour or three before I sample it. It's going to be good.
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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?5
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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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