What are you eating?

[m o l l y]

You are truly blessed! I've gotten very into white asparagus living here. They are a national treasure and they are wildly and deeply good, better then I would have expected. Traditionally, you eat them peeled and steamed with poached egg, smoked salmon and chives. A stand up summer meal and you are right, it is the season! Thank you for the reminder!

[yourfriendclaire]

I love those fat white asparaguses (asparagi?) you get in a jar in Europe!

We had our first summer meal last night. Took the cover off the barbecue and dusted so many spider eggs off the propane tanks. Grilled whole fava beans tossed in olive oil and salt, summer squash, onion, big green chilies, and Beyond hot dogs. Ate it all at our outside garden table with smooshes of hummus, harissa, spicy mango pickle and that garlic fluff you get at the Mediterranean markets in LA. Trying to treat daily life like a vacation...

[m o l l y]

I'd take that trip!

[meadows]

I wanna make that minty pesto, what are the ratios for it??

[ritchey]

4 garlic cloves
1.5 c mint
1.5 c basil or parsley (I’ve made w both and both are great)
1 t red pep flakes
1 14 oz can tomatoes (it says “whole tomatoes crushed by hand” but that seems a little much, I just use crushed or my own puréed canned toms)
1 c halved Roma toms (I recommend more than this)
1 pound pasta (recipe calls for “fresh cicatielli or dried cavatelli” but I make it with whatever I’ve got around, also I don’t even know what those pastas are)
Optional chile oil drizz

It says do this in a mortar but I use a food processor: grind up garlic, some salt, (“heavy pinch”) into a paste; slowly add mint and basil and little 1T blips of olive oil—you want it to become a paste, but not an oily glop. Add only enough oil to help it cohere into a paste, roughly 3T

Heat remaining 4T oil in big pot over medium. When hot, add the paste and start cooking it, stirring frequently, for several mins. Add red pep and cook 30 secs til you can smell it (the pep).

Add the toms (both canned and fresh), season w more salt, and now the fun part—turn it down to a simmer and just let er tip for like 30 mins, until the fresh toms are starting to fall apart.

Meanwhile cook pasta. This author has strong feelings about how heavily you should salt pasta water—it should taste like sea water—so really go for it. When it’s ready to go, drain it (reserve a lil salt water to thicken the sauce if need be, though I’ve never felt it needed it) and dump pasta into sauce. Cook about a min, stir a bit, til sauce clings to pasta.

Serve w optional chile oil drizzle

AND HOT GUS

[rcnederveld]

New veg just came in to the farm we get our veg from: LOVAGE
My new vibe is putting new weird shit in my weekly farm order just because if it's in season and they're growing it it must be interesting/I want to learn my landscape better/etc. I have never encountered lovage before. Any lovage advice? What do you do with it?

I’m real behind on this thread but I LOVE lovage. I’m growing my own right now. I first encountered it at the farmers market in olympia and I would use the stalks as straws for things like watermelon drinks cause then you get the spicy celery flavor with it. I use it in salads a lot but also really do love using the stalks in ways like the above. The stalks you can use anywhere you want to use a celery that has more flavor!

[rcnederveld]

I was given some mulberries last night so deciding what to do with them, not ideal for eating would be way better for baking. There’s a few yogurt lemon mulberry cake recipes I may try, but that berry bar recipe is tempting!

Also if people are into bars, those of you with access to a lemon tree should really check out this lemon bar recipe. 1 Cup fresh squeezed juice. I gave a bunch away and froze some so I wouldn’t eat the whole thing, and now when I’m cooking w the oven I put a frozen one nearby to defrost by the time I’m done w my meal!

I also want to try making shortbread cookies now too, based on this crust!

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/lemon-bars-recipe/

[RCH]

Celery straws?? I had no idea I needed lovage in my life!

Do you good people really bust out your measuring spoons when making these yummy dishes? A tablespoon of olive oil? I have just barely enough discipline to do that for baking but at the stove top, I add spices until it's "whoops, that's a lot."

It's in the 80's here for the first time, so it's basically salads and fruit for me from here on out. I should try to put in some effort... cold rice noodle salad? Gazpacho? Never-ending antipasti boards?

[rcnederveld]

Celery straws?? I had no idea I needed lovage in my life!

I just remembered my first ever FB profile photo is my looking through lovage:

[richjensen]

Just stirred up the best keto-friendly veggie sauté ever. All about timing and sequence. Mine wasn't vegan but I'll outline the vegan version. Servings: 2 large

3 Tb Olive or Avocado Oil
1 Tb Sesame Oil
2 cups Mushrooms
1/2 Onion
6-8 cloves / 1/4 c. garlic
3/4 tspoon fresh thyme / 1/2 t ground thyme
1 medium chopped zucchini
1 medium chopped broccolli
3 - 4 chopped kale leaves
2 Tb soy sauce / tamari
2 - 3 Tb Black or Balsamic or Rice or Red Wine or White Vinegar
2 or 3 cups of clean fresh spinach
3 Tb minced olive medley or something pickled

Non-vegan options:
add 3/4 c diced chevre before the last toss
Replace Olive/Avocado oil with grease left in the pan by 4 strips of bacon. Bacon crumbles added as a garnish topping when served.
Serve beneath two poached eggs (or a serving of broiled tofu)

Oil in a big deep skillet. Set to about 3/4ths heat. Like, water drops will sizzle and sputter. Oil is olive or Avocado mostly, 3 Tbs, plus 1Tbs or splash of Sesame oil. Wash and slice a few big mushrooms (I had shitakes but any would do). Get those in the oil they take the longest. Then chop up half an onion. Get that in there. Now a bit of garlic. I usually have a jar of minced garlic handy but today I skinned and minced 7 or 8 cloves. Finally pull the little leaves off a half dozen fresh thyme sticks and toss those in the pot. By the time the garlic was in there the mushrooms were soft and the onion was getting a bit golden here and there. Now add a chopped zuke, and a chopped broccoli, give that a minute while you chop 3 or so kale leaves, add the kale and stir everything so the kale can get some heat. Now add about 4 capfuls of soy sauce, 2 or 3 caps of chinese black vinegar if you have it, balsamic or rice if you don't, or red wine vinegar or even white vinegar. Finally add two big handfuls of spinach greens and if you are lucky two or three tablespoons of a nice minced olive medley or something pickled. Stir once and remove from heat. Fold together off the heat as spinach wilts. Now serve.

The non-vegan additions included 3/4 C of diced chevre scattered around the pan right before the final fold and serve. Then top the delicious heap with poached eggs (or soy and vinegar drizzled broiled tofu).

One can start with bacon and use the grease for the initial oil (though still add sesame), then chop the bacon and use it as a garnish under the poached eggs.

It was so good!

[richjensen]

Do you good people really bust out your measuring spoons when making these yummy dishes? A tablespoon of olive oil?

Actually, no.

[alex]

Baking yes, sauces i havent made before sometimes, anything else no

[ritchey]

Baking yes always
Otherwise mainly just for spices

The olive oil thing though I have found that this particular cookbook, when it calls for 4T of oil, it really means it--if you do more you will have a dish that's way too oily.

In short, I play it by ear! Sometimes exact, sometimes just glugs and pinches.

But always yes with baking, because baking is science and I don't understand it well enough to fuck around with it.

[willowowow]

Yah but your* pee stinks...

*my

[RCH]

What in the folk songs of the Colorado...!

[RCH]

Summer temperatures are a bit psychologically grueling for me, so I treat myself by hoarding mineral water and lemonade and other things that are good to drink cold. It's just a small start but I've got the will to take over the whole cabinet with my fuzzy treasure!

[rcnederveld]

Just need a place to say that I yesterday while making hummus I accidentally added walnuts. Forgot I was making hummus and went into my automatic herb/greens spread ingredients. It's not BAD, but it's disappointing.

[m o l l y]

I have an oven!
It is full of a meyer lemon olive oil cake! Whole carrots and Belgian endive drizzled with olive oil, maple syrup and chipotle! Just a whole pile of plain little potatoes, steaming in their skins!

I got a couple bergamots at the market. Any cool ideas for them?

[meadows]

Oooh you could make bergamot infused honey or simple syrup, for tea and drinks?

[yourfriendclaire]

Just realized I have no idea what a bergamot actually is

[meadows]

I think it's a citrus fruit, right? I've never seen one IRL!

[m o l l y]

It is an italian bitter citrus fruit; its peel gives earl grey tea its flavor. I potato-peeled a bunch of long strips of the outer peel and tossed it in with a new batch of sauerkraut. Smells intense! Fingers crossed.
Might put some more in a little jar with some honey. I like that idea!

[m o l l y]

btw, the bergamot sauerkraut tasted confusing.

[yourfriendclaire]

I found my new favorite way to prepare eggplant: by making baigan choka, which is like Trinidadian baba ghanoush. It's just roasted eggplant goo, garlic, and roasted spicy pepper. Topped with thinly-sliced raw onions drizzled in hot oil. I've seen some recipes that add curry powder, which IMO takes it up another notch. Super easy and incredibly good. It's fun because you cut slits in the eggplant and wedge garlic slices inside. Normally you do it on the grill or over an open flame but you can ape the flame-flavor by broiling the eggplant in the oven. Here, I'll let Chris from carribeanpot.com tell you all about it:

https://youtu.be/hSYs-4ULHyE

[m o l l y]

Chili crisp. On everything. Especially the kind with peanuts in it. Today I ate a peanut butter, honey and chili crisp sandwich. Zing!

[yourfriendclaire]

We call chili crisp “Grunch” in our household because it’s crunchy and the grandma on the jar looks grumpy

[m o l l y]

lol.

[richjensen]

oooo. nice thread. you'd have liked my jackfruit chili tonight.

[m o l l y]

Tell us about it! Do you use canned jackfruit? I still don't know how to turn jackfruit into food. Help me; I'm already like 5 pulled-meat substitutes behind.

[richjensen]

The chili turned out quite tasty. Just the usual things, various beans and cumin, chili powder, garlic and tomatoes, and so on. jackfruit is the meatish part. can kind of have the consistency of pulled pork. Yes, this was jackfruit from the can. I have made jackfruit from the fruit but it is a lot of extra roasting and processing. canned jfruit is rather like artichoke hearts..

[m o l l y]

I will buy the can of jackfruit. Oh boy, here I come! Any other hot jfruit tips welcome.

[kmikeym]

i'm staying at meagan and evan's while they are out of toown to watch ol' gerty and there are a ton of off-brand hot pockets in the the fridge that cal brought home from school. had a pizza one and a bean and cheese one. not bad.

[m o l l y]

Didn't know those came in savory.

[m o l l y]

We call chili crisp “Grunch” in our household because it’s crunchy and the grandma on the jar looks grumpy

Chili crisp has evolved in our house to being called "the sad lady." As in, this would be great with the sad lady.

[yourfriendclaire]

Every morning for the last 1 Year I have eaten a breakfast burrito while playing chess