For the love of Produce...
Replies
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This is boring, but it was a useful discovery for me.
During the pandemic, before we really knew what was going on or had any decent treatments, I was trying to shop less frequently, but keep any personal small pleasures in the mix where I could. One of these is a lemon or lime wedge in my daily iced matcha.
I discovered that it worked really well to buy a bunch of lemons and limes, wedge them, and freeze them in a tempered glass dish with a snap on lid, layers separated with parchment paper so they'd be easy to pick out individually while frozen. They give a nice fresh flavor to the cold drink, plus can be briefly thawed and squeezed if I need a little citrus juice on something.
It's so convenient, I'm planning on continuing this routine for the foreseeable future.
P.S. Yes I do have lots of freezer space. 😉8 -
I've been really into raw tomatillos lately. I just shuck them, wash off any stickiness and slice into salad. It's kind of like a cucumber meets a Granny Smith apple for a stiff shot of lime (or maybe two). Very different from a green tomato and worth checking out.6
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This is boring, but it was a useful discovery for me.
During the pandemic, before we really knew what was going on or had any decent treatments, I was trying to shop less frequently, but keep any personal small pleasures in the mix where I could. One of these is a lemon or lime wedge in my daily iced matcha.
I discovered that it worked really well to buy a bunch of lemons and limes, wedge them, and freeze them in a tempered glass dish with a snap on lid, layers separated with parchment paper so they'd be easy to pick out individually while frozen. They give a nice fresh flavor to the cold drink, plus can be briefly thawed and squeezed if I need a little citrus juice on something.
It's so convenient, I'm planning on continuing this routine for the foreseeable future.
P.S. Yes I do have lots of freezer space. 😉
Genius 💡 idea!!!!2 -
Just love these little things!7 -
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I've posted this before, but it is a great thing to do with a bulb of celeriac. I tossed in the daikon lingering at the bottom of the fridge too.
https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/family/celeriac-soup-with-chorizo-oil/
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I only make super easy pasta sauces that can be prepared in the 10 minutes it takes to boil the pasta, such as aglio olio, cacio e pepe, carbonara, putanesca. Pesto Trapanese is even easier than those. If you buy slivered almonds that are already de-skinned so that they don't need blanching, it is just a question of whizzing raw tomato, raw garlic, basil leaves, toasted almonds, parmesan and olive oil together in a food processor or mini chopper. Then season with pepper, lemon juice and salt to taste. We always have tomatoes and garlic in the fruit bowl, and basil and mint growing on the windowsill so it is a great store cupboard feed to throw together for unexpected guests.
https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/pesto-trapanese-recipe
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Some really good stuff locally is starting to come in. Tonight I had some of this nice, ripe Honey Rock melon (I wish you could smell it!), and fresh local sweet corn. So good!
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Melons.
Summer melons.
Best melons I've tasted, and they're in season for sure, come from around Hermiston, Oregon. It's out in the desert, but has ample water from the Columbia. Sun + water = melons. I doubt they'd travel any better than others, but locally they can't be beat. The watermelons are literally CRISPY. Like crazy hear how loud it is when you eat it crispy. They are sweet, too. Ripe AND crispy. Oh wow. The cantaloupe have a flavor so deep you think you're tasting a black hole of goodness where no flavor has ever escaped from and you can still taste the flower that a bee pollinated to create the fruit in the first place. Not as crisp as the watermelon, but oh such a deep flavor and firm flesh. No mush. Mmmmm....
I spent $40 on melons last time I was at the market that had really good ones. I have been eating some every day, managing ripeness and refrigeration, and it's sometimes hard to not eat more. It's also fun to spread it out for more deliciousness, and boy howdy is that ever going on.
My neighbor has a peach tree that actually has started to do very very well. I haven't asked him for a peach yet. I don't think I will this year. Instead I will give them pears. Next year I will give them more pears. Maybe some day I'll get a peach. Doesn't matter. He'll get pears. He doesn't grow 'em.
I think maybe I'll buy some peaches tomorrow.....7 -
So I managed to score artichokes for Friday nights dinner party after work. I will follow the suggestion of @mtaratoot and steam. I can fit 4 in my casserole pot and 2 in the pasta pan.
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Farmers market had long beans. Lummesome long beans!
P.S. Free bonus rainbows courtesy of the prisms in my kitchen window.
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Making pesto tonight. My basilicum plants require watering once, and sometimes even twice a day now that the weather is so warm. A heavy prune will probably reduce their thirst.
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Such nice, lush plants! I'm always shocked by the quantity of basil required for a batch of pesto- what looks like enough to feed the whole village magically shrinks to a tiny amount after grinding.3
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These plants were so bushy I only cut back one of them to make enough pesto for 4 servings. The hubby and I both had a plate of linguine with pesto tonight and froze the rest (pesto freezes well). I still need to cut back the other plant to reduce it's watering needs.
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This Chinese aubergine salad is a dish I posted before but tonight I used a new technique of cooking everything in the microwave which makes things a lot easier.
https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/microwave-eggplant-with-scallion-chile-crisp-oil
Deviations this time: I added 2 teaspoons of vinegar and a pinch of sugar before pouring on the hot oil
Deviations for next time: I will soak the aubergines a minute or two in acidulated water which helps turn the skins very bright purple, though they skins were pretty attractive this time. I will heat up the oil for contact frying the garlic and scallions in a small saucepan instead of the microwave. Too much guesswork about the temperature of the oil when using the microwave.
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This Chinese aubergine salad is a dish I posted before but tonight I used a new technique of cooking everything in the microwave which makes things a lot easier.
https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/microwave-eggplant-with-scallion-chile-crisp-oil
Deviations this time: I added 2 teaspoons of vinegar and a pinch of sugar before pouring on the hot oil
Deviations for next time: I will soak the aubergines a minute or two in acidulated water which helps turn the skins very bright purple, though they skins were pretty attractive this time. I will heat up the oil for contact frying the garlic and scallions in a small saucepan instead of the microwave. Too much guesswork about the temperature of the oil when using the microwave.
Tasty and looks so pretty too! Anything purple gets my vote. 🤗😋2 -
I'm going on vacation in two weeks and my profilerate windowsill basil plants which require daily watering will not survive. Pad Kra Pao was a great dish for using up lots of basil. A very easy one skillet weeknight meal.
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/oct/13/how-to-make-the-perfect-pad-kra-pao-or-thai-stir-fry-recipe
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I discovered a vegetqble non tip today. i dumped some artichoke stalks in the ziplock bag I keep in the freezer for making vegetable stock. Yuck. The boiled up artichoke stalks made everything bitter and I ended up tossing the stock.5
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I had quite a lot of summer squash my neighbor brought: Yellow, but tender-skinned so I'd call it yellow zucchini. He also brought me many tomatoes, various types. (He's a sweetie. No, not like that.)
I shredded a whopping 1310g of the squash, and cooked it down in a cast iron skillet (with a little avocado oil) to soften, brown, and release the water. Toward the end, added thin-sliced garlic and sloppily chiffonaded fresh basil from the pot outside.
Meanwhile, 445g of the meatier tomatoes roasting in a baking dish in the oven, with some feta from the local cheese guy. Cooked some red lentil spaghetti.
Mixed the whole mess together for this visually questionable but tasty and so-filling dinner. It's alarmingly brown-ish, but tasted really good. It's "use zukes" season, right?
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I made wakame salad for the first time.
https://www.seriouseats.com/seaweed-salad-recipe
Very easy, refreshing and handy as a veggie side from the pantry when you haven't been to the shops.4 -
For ages I never read this thread as I misread it as ‘for the love of products’ … duh.
I’ve been enjoying dipping into it now though. Though I still don’t think of fruit and veg as ‘produce’ let alone ‘products’!
Anyway my first post on the thread is to celebrate my daughter (18) who made supper tonight - a substantial salad with purple and green salad leaves, feta, new potatoes, shaved purple carrot, mixed nuts and seeds combined with a yoghurt and fresh mint dressing (and a few left over chicken wings glazed in marmalade/mustard/ginger/garlic that I made earlier in the week).
‘I think I’m good at making salad’
She’s right! I wish I’d taken a picture…
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@gentlygently
I’ve been enjoying dipping into it now though. Though I still don’t think of fruit and veg as ‘produce’ let alone ‘products’!
Just curious, what do you think produce is if not fruits and vegetables?
Shame you didn’t get that pic, it sounds like she did a great job.4 -
I’m British - I don’t think about produce as a noun at all… I think ‘fruit and veg’ for ‘fruit and veg’ and misread ‘produce’ entirely to make it a more commonly used noun over here. Well, I think it is a general UK language thing … but may be just a my family thing?
I’ve lived in the Sates so my mistake is even more surprising - it is not as though I did not know all about collards, and fried okra or green tomatoes, peach cobbler and corn bread and getting my groceries at the Pig. No prizes for guessing which part of America…!
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gentlygently wrote: »I’m British - I don’t think about produce as a noun at all… I think ‘fruit and veg’ for ‘fruit and veg’ and misread ‘produce’ entirely to make it a more commonly used noun over here. Well, I think it is a general UK language thing … but may be just a my family thing?
I’ve lived in the Sates so my mistake is even more surprising - it is not as though I did not know all about collards, and fried okra or green tomatoes, peach cobbler and corn bread and getting my groceries at the Pig. No prizes for guessing which part of America…!
Oh okay, I think I understand, produce is a word Brits don’t use as a noun. Interesting, I didn’t realize that.
Although the US is roughly 97% the size of Europe, I do believe you’re talking about parts of the South haha. TBH I have no experience with most of those ingredients, and technically peach cobbler and corn pudding are not considered produce but I wish they were, sounds delicious! 😊 And what a fun name for a grocery store, I bet the logo is cute.0 -
@ddsb1111 The grocery store chain is called Piggly Wiggly, and you are correct: @gentlygently was talking about the South.
https://www.pigglywiggly.com/history/
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takinitalloff wrote: »@ddsb1111 The grocery store chain is called Piggly Wiggly, and you are correct: @gentlygently was talking about the South.
https://www.pigglywiggly.com/history/
Haha I knew I’d love the logo!0 -
gentlygently wrote: »I’m British - I don’t think about produce as a noun at all… I think ‘fruit and veg’ for ‘fruit and veg’ and misread ‘produce’ entirely to make it a more commonly used noun over here. Well, I think it is a general UK language thing … but may be just a my family thing?
I’ve lived in the Sates so my mistake is even more surprising - it is not as though I did not know all about collards, and fried okra or green tomatoes, peach cobbler and corn bread and getting my groceries at the Pig. No prizes for guessing which part of America…!
Oh okay, I think I understand, produce is a word Brits don’t use as a noun. Interesting, I didn’t realize that.
Although the US is roughly 97% the size of Europe, I do believe you’re talking about parts of the South haha. TBH I have no experience with most of those ingredients, and technically peach cobbler and corn pudding are not considered produce but I wish they were, sounds delicious! 😊 And what a fun name for a grocery store, I bet the logo is cute.
May I suggest - as a person in the North myself (Michigan, specifically) - that you check some of that stuff out? It's all produce usage, if not produce per se. (Well, corn pudding is, not so convinced about corn bread - but corn bread is good.)
Collards are interesting, really sturdy and round-ish so some uses that other greens don't have. Nice flavor, too. Fried okra is tasty, but of course fried is a little calorie-dense. Roasted okra is pretty nice, though; and it can also be cooked down more and used to thicken things (check out gumbo recipes). Fried tomatoes are yummy, but it's possible to get some of that great flavor by dipping green tomato slices in egg, dredging in flour (of any type, including chickpea), and baking. Peach cobbler? Well, yeah, a little calorie dense - but a good "sometimes" food, and other roast-y/grill-y peach things are excellent, too. Southerners aren't silly when it comes to good eatin'!
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gentlygently wrote: »I’m British - I don’t think about produce as a noun at all… I think ‘fruit and veg’ for ‘fruit and veg’ and misread ‘produce’ entirely to make it a more commonly used noun over here. Well, I think it is a general UK language thing … but may be just a my family thing?
I’ve lived in the Sates so my mistake is even more surprising - it is not as though I did not know all about collards, and fried okra or green tomatoes, peach cobbler and corn bread and getting my groceries at the Pig. No prizes for guessing which part of America…!
Oh okay, I think I understand, produce is a word Brits don’t use as a noun. Interesting, I didn’t realize that.
Although the US is roughly 97% the size of Europe, I do believe you’re talking about parts of the South haha. TBH I have no experience with most of those ingredients, and technically peach cobbler and corn pudding are not considered produce but I wish they were, sounds delicious! 😊 And what a fun name for a grocery store, I bet the logo is cute.
May I suggest - as a person in the North myself (Michigan, specifically) - that you check some of that stuff out? It's all produce usage, if not produce per se. (Well, corn pudding is, not so convinced about corn bread - but corn bread is good.)
Collards are interesting, really sturdy and round-ish so some uses that other greens don't have. Nice flavor, too. Fried okra is tasty, but of course fried is a little calorie-dense. Roasted okra is pretty nice, though; and it can also be cooked down more and used to thicken things (check out gumbo recipes). Fried tomatoes are yummy, but it's possible to get some of that great flavor by dipping green tomato slices in egg, dredging in flour (of any type, including chickpea), and baking. Peach cobbler? Well, yeah, a little calorie dense - but a good "sometimes" food, and other roast-y/grill-y peach things are excellent, too. Southerners aren't silly when it comes to good eatin'!
I’ve wanted to take a trip to the South for the longest time to (mostly) eat! I’ve been addicted to the Food Network for long enough to know what I’ve been missing haha! As for making some of it at home, I really should give it a shot. I’m learning how to cook right now with my Little Brothers (BBBS program) and I think we would all enjoy it. My husband has always been the cook in the family but I’m tired of being worthless in the kitchen when he’s gone. I definitely need some Soul Food in my life.
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I've been making feta and cherry tomato dip as a very easy starter. The recipe is very versatile -- tonight I left out the herbs, red onion and honey but threw in spring onion, and leftover Cambodian lime and pepper sauce. Good for dipping crudites as well as crostini.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1024459-baked-feta-dip-with-spicy-tomatoes-and-honey
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