For the love of Produce...

@SafariGalNYC
I would use all that stuff in stir fries except maybe the beets. My use for cooked beets is something similar to dutch herring salad. Any smoked or brined or pickled fish, soft boiled eggs, cooked beets, raw apple, sliced pickles, optional boiled potato. Classic dressing is store bought mayo thinned down with juice from the pickle jar. Add yoghurt to reduce mayo calories. If using potato dress them while warm as for any potato salad. The salad pictured was made with Spanish smoked sardines sprinkled with dried dill.

acpgee wrote: »

@SafariGalNYC
I would use all that stuff in stir fries except maybe the beets. My use for cooked beets is something similar to dutch herring salad. Any smoked or brined or pickled fish, soft boiled eggs, cooked beets, raw apple, sliced pickles, optional boiled potato. Classic dressing is store bought mayo thinned down with juice from the pickle jar. Add yoghurt to reduce mayo calories. If using potato dress them while warm as for any potato salad. The salad pictured was made with Spanish smoked sardines sprinkled with dried dill.

@acpgee - I always have herring in the house! I can’t wait to make this .. thank you 🙏 😉

acpgee wrote: »

Advice needed. I sometimes sprout my own mung beans but don't always think of doing that a week before needing them. When I buy mung bean sprouts they are so perishable, lasting maybe 3-4 days in the refrigerator. So how do you use bean sprouts?

I normally buy them for beef hor fun, then on day 2 do pad thai. If there is anything leftover will do Korean beansprout namul. If I have good beef stock on hand will use a handful in Pho.

Ideas for using beansprouts would be appreciated.

I only do boring things with them: Salads (maybe lightly pickling them first), scrambled eggs or omelets, that sort of thing. I'd maybe try a savory pancake/crepe kind of a deal though I can't recall whether I have . . . or in Spring roll or romaine lettuce wrap? Just thinking in print here . . . .

acpgee wrote: »

We were in Canada last week and bought some huge ripe sweet strawberries. They were labelled as having been grown in California, but no cultivar name was provided. That's different from the UK where the cultivar is always named on the label.

Cultivars aren't usually on the label in my part of the US, either. Some produce is brand-named, but that may not be exactly synonymous with a cultivar in the strict sense in all cases, I'd guess. Occasionally I'll see a label/sign with something I know to be a cultivar on it. It's common with apples, as one counter-example. Most things not, though.

My best guess is that this would be the pattern in the rest of the US, as well - it has been in the few places I've grocery-shopped in other than my home state.

Do potatoes count as produce? I discovered the quickest way to make great mash. You do need a potato ricer (which I bought for making gnocchi).

Prick whole baking potatoes in a couple of places with fork to prevent explosions in the microwave. Zap approximately 8 minutes until soft all over. Cut the hot potatoes in half and put cut side down in the potato ricer and press. Discard the flattened skin of each half potato. Stir in milk, butter and salt until you get the texture/taste you want. You can warm up the mash for a minute in the microwave, if necessary, before serving.

Variation: Greek mash with lemon, olive oil and salt.

Strawberries in my area have finally arrived, and because of the wet weather, they're probably the worst in recent memory. Oh well, it happens. Cheers

So I promised some colleagues who have never eaten artichokes to make them in August at a dinner party. The logistical puzzle is how to cook six artichokes? I normally can simmer two or three in a pasta pan. Will be experimenting with the microwave and sous vide wand which I can clip onto a big bucket between now and August.

If anyone has a technique for doing artichokes for a large number of people let me know. Also ideas for what else to serve after a starter of steamed whole artichokes with hollandaise or alioli for dipping.

acpgee wrote: »

So I promised some colleagues who have never eaten artichokes to make them in August at a dinner party. The logistical puzzle is how to cook six artichokes? I normally can simmer two or three in a pasta pan. Will be experimenting with the microwave and sous vide wand which I can clip onto a big bucket between now and August.

If anyone has a technique for doing artichokes for a large number of people let me know. Also ideas for what else to serve after a starter of steamed whole artichokes with hollandaise or alioli for dipping.

I usually steam my artichokes. Do you have a canning pot or other large stockpot? Put your steamer in the bottom. Put the artichokes in upside down so the steam rises into them. Make sure to keep enough water in the bottom so the pot doesn't run dry. You should be able to steam a lot of 'chokes in a big pot. I can do four in the Dutch oven I use to make soup. I bet I could do more than a dozen in a canning pot.

acpgee wrote: »

Microwaved artichokes were good, but there is no way I could do six simultaneously for a dinner party.

Steam is your friend. Get your steamer going.