Food bytes

[blake_logan]

So, for tonight's trip to the CSA box, I pulled out collards, chard and a couple of spring onions. 

 

The challenge here is collards take a long time to cook whereas chard cooks very quickly.  I decided to try fixing braised greens in oyster sauce, something I've read about but never tasted.

 

The prep took longer than the leeks & asparagus from last night.  To try to tenderize the collards, I cut the center rib out of the leaves then rolled up the green part and cut them into thin strips.  I cut the chard in larger strips -- maybe 1/2 inch.  I sliced the spring onions into 1/4 inch slices that got a little wider in the green part.

 

I put a tablespoon of oil in a wide shallow pan over medium high heat and sweated the collards until they were completely wilted.  Then I added the spring onions.  When they were starting to get soft, I added a clove of chopped garlic.  Once the garlic aromas were released, I added the chard and 1/2 cup of chicken stock, covered the pot and turned it to low heat.

 

While the greens were braising, I cooked a package of ramen noodles.  By the time they were done, the greens were almost tender.  I mixed about a tablespoon of oyster sauce and a splash of rice wine vinegar into the greens, tossed in the noodles and added some pre-cooked frozen shrimp.  I put the lid on the pot and let it steam on low heat until the shrimp were warmed through.

 

This could have hit a 10 out of 10 points, but I decided to cut some corners. 

 

The shrimp were frozen and they had been in the freezer a little too long and were tough.  Instead of real chicken stock, I used the little packet from the ramen noodles so it turned out a little salter than I would have liked.  It ended up being more like an 8 out of 10.  Tasty enough that I'm going to make it again. 

 

This was total improvisation, so you probably won't see anything like it in a cookbook or restaurant.

Edited May 20, 2017 by blake_logan
correct a typo

[mollyhousemouse]

On 5/17/2017 at 3:36 PM, dughlas said:

I'm extremely fortunate. The area where I live has an extensive agricultural heritage. There are several of CSA's  A couple will even include meats and poultry by partnering with small scale producers of those items. .

 

2 minutes ago, blake_logan said:

So, for tonight's trip to the CSA box, I pulled out collards, chard and a couple of spring onions. 

 

 

What is this wondrous CSA you speak of?

[Former Member]

12 minutes ago, mollyhousemouse said:

 

What is this wondrous CSA you speak of?

As I understood a box of veggis, you can get delivered from farmers near by.

[mollyhousemouse]

1 minute ago, Lyssa said:

As I understood a box of veggis, you can get delivered from farmers near by.

Like a subscription? 

What happens if you get something you don't care for?

It sounds very convenient though. But I'll stick to wandering the farmers market and the produce section.

My little army will eat a lot, but things like greens and beets, not so much.

Now give them Brussels sprouts, green beans, haricort vert, fresh green peas, they're happy!

[Former Member]

11 minutes ago, mollyhousemouse said:

Like a subscription? 

What happens if you get something you don't care for?

It sounds very convenient though. But I'll stick to wandering the farmers market and the produce section.

My little army will eat a lot, but things like greens and beets, not so much.

Now give them Brussels sprouts, green beans, haricort vert, fresh green peas, they're happy!

Sounds good, I think, a lot of kids would be much more pickier. 

[mollyhousemouse]

1 minute ago, Lyssa said:

Sounds good, I think, a lot of kids would be much more pickier. 

Yeah, we eat a lot of veggies.  And, (patting myself on the back) without a lot of sauces.

Most kids in the US eat things like broccoli or carrots, but dipped in the ever present buttermilk ranch dressing.

I never offered it to them for this.  They still don't care for it, even as a salad dressing.

When we were broke and living on the stuff from food pantry's canned vegetables were our lifesaver!

[Former Member]

1 minute ago, mollyhousemouse said:

Yeah, we eat a lot of veggies.  And, (patting myself on the back) without a lot of sauces.

Most kids in the US eat things like broccoli or carrots, but dipped in the ever present buttermilk ranch dressing.

I never offered it to them for this.  They still don't care for it, even as a salad dressing.

When we were broke and living on the stuff from food pantry's canned vegetables were our lifesaver!

I am lucky, my kids eat nearly everything I put on the table. There are very rare things that they don`t like.

[mollyhousemouse]

Just now, Lyssa said:

I am lucky, my kids eat nearly everything I put on the table. There are very rare things that they don`t like.

I believe it's not all luck.

It's in great part how they were raised.  The parents attitude towards the food on the plate. 

 

I have that with my kids too.  

 

So, good job Mom! 

[Former Member]

1 minute ago, mollyhousemouse said:

I believe it's not all luck.

It's in great part how they were raised.  The parents attitude towards the food on the plate. 

 

I have that with my kids too.  

 

So, good job Mom! 

Thanks! And I can give the compliment back, good Mom!

Edited May 20, 2017 by Lyssa

[Bucket1]

My nephew is like that. My sister taught him from a young age. He is a bit of a fruit bat, that is his go-to snack.

[Former Member]

My parents tried really hard to get me to eat onion, bell peppers, squash, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, and numerous other vegetables. Aside from bell peppers and tomatoes, I refused to eat any of the vegetables I listed. I would eat stuffed bell peppers, but I still don’t really like bell peppers. I like cooked tomatoes in most cases, but wouldn’t eat them raw – I do eat them now, but still don’t care for raw tomatoes.

 

We never had brussels sprouts and I never tasted them until I stayed at a rescue mission – not the best place to discover new ingredients, but they were prepared in a tasty way. I wouldn’t go out of my way to get them, but I wouldn’t refuse to eat them.

 

My parents never pressured us to eat grated daikon (Japanese Radish) because it’s so strong. But we did eat takuan, pickled daikon usually colored yellow – it’s very smelly, so at least one of my sisters-in-law won’t allow my brother to store it in her refrigerator.

 

We grew up eating Napa cabbage cooked or pickled. We sometimes had bok choy too. I like Napa cabbage much more than European cabbage. Broccoli is another of my favorites.

 

My parents had friends who were farmers and they also had vegetable gardens. They’d bring my parents large supplies of the vegetables – including multiple crates of tomatoes, multiple crates of strawberries, and corn that were too ripe to ship to market. (You’ll notice that I had no problem eating strawberries!) So when we had a particular vegetable, we didn’t have it just a few times a week, we ate it almost every day until we ate it all. (My mother would grumble about having to can tomatoes on the hottest day of the year! She never seemed to complain about having to can strawberry jam. But the home-canned tomatoes went into spaghetti and stew all year round.)

 

I won’t eat fish anymore either, because some of those farmers would go sports fishing and bring us some of their catch. Our dentist would go on those trips too and our annual Christmas gift was a case of canned Albacore tuna – tuna sandwiches for almost the entire year! I finally refused to eat any more fish and my mother let me get away with it!

 

To sum it all up, just because your parents try their hardest to get you to like or even try certain vegetables, some kids are just too stubborn to eat it, no matter how well it’s prepared. A professional chef would have an extremely difficult time convincing me to eat some of those vegetable!  ;-)

[blake_logan]

12 hours ago, mollyhousemouse said:

 

What is this wondrous CSA you speak of?

 

CSA = Community Supported Agriculture

 

At the beginning of the growing season, you enter into an agreement with a farmer to purchase a share of their harvest.  The details of the agreement vary from farmer to farmer.  Some do a "take it or leave it" box of vegetables (which sort of forces you to expand your horizons when something shows up in the box that you've never seen before).  Others let you pick & choose from the display at a tailgate market.  There are about 20 farmers in my area that have a CSA plan.  I bought into one that lets you pick & choose since I don't think kale is fit for human consumption and I've not been able to eat turnip roots ever since my grandmother tried to pass off mashed turnips as mashed potatoes when I was about 8 years old then enforced the "clean plate" rule.

 

11 hours ago, mollyhousemouse said:

Most kids in the US eat things like broccoli or carrots, but dipped in the ever present buttermilk ranch dressing.

I never offered it to them for this.  They still don't care for it, even as a salad dressing.

Yeah, ranch dressing is pretty nasty stuff

[hohochan657]

11 hours ago, droughtquake said:

My parents tried really hard to get me to eat onion, bell peppers, squash, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, and numerous other vegetables. Aside from bell peppers and tomatoes, I refused to eat any of the vegetables I listed. I would eat stuffed bell peppers, but I still don’t really like bell peppers. I like cooked tomatoes in most cases, but wouldn’t eat them raw – I do eat them now, but still don’t care for raw tomatoes.

 

We never had brussels sprouts and I never tasted them until I stayed at a rescue mission – not the best place to discover new ingredients, but they were prepared in a tasty way. I wouldn’t go out of my way to get them, but I wouldn’t refuse to eat them.

 

My parents never pressured us to eat grated daikon (Japanese Radish) because it’s so strong. But we did eat takuan, pickled daikon usually colored yellow – it’s very smelly, so at least one of my sisters-in-law won’t allow my brother to store it in her refrigerator.

 

I love pickled daikon, to me it's doesn't give off a strong smell at all !

 

Well, one man's meat is another's poison ...

[Bucket1]

13 minutes ago, blake_logan said:

CSA = Community Supported Agriculture

 

At the beginning of the growing season, you enter into an agreement with a farmer to purchase a share of their harvest.  The details of the agreement vary from farmer to farmer.  Some do a "take it or leave it" box of vegetables (which sort of forces you to expand your horizons when something shows up in the box that you've never seen before).  Others let you pick & choose from the display at a tailgate market.  There are about 20 farmers in my area that have a CSA plan.  I bought into one that lets you pick & choose since I don't think kale is fit for human consumption and I've not been able to eat turnip roots ever since my grandmother tried to pass off mashed turnips as mashed potatoes when I was about 8 years old then enforced the "clean plate" rule.

I love this idea but also love farmers markets

[Mikiesboy]

Just now, Bucket1 said:

I love this idea but also love farmers markets

Zero like either where we are ... 

[Former Member]

2 minutes ago, Mikiesboy said:

Zero like either where we are ... 

But you will have your own farm on your balcony, as far as I heard.

[Bucket1]

1 minute ago, Mikiesboy said:

Zero like either where we are ... 

The markets are a big thing here - usually early on the weekend

[Mikiesboy]

2 minutes ago, Lyssa said:

But you will have your own farm on your balcony, as far as I heard.

Maybe... if i get out there

[Former Member]

1 minute ago, Bucket1 said:

The markets are a big thing here - usually early on the weekend

In Germany there is almost in every city two times a week a market. In bigger cities in every part of the city. In Cities like Berlin in every part of the city more than one. The one I love most is in Celle. It is as if you hop in a Netherlands Genre Painting. When we lived near by, I used to go there just to soak up the colors, scents to relax. I would like to show a picture, it is so beautiful, this little old city with the market. 

[Former Member]

2 minutes ago, Mikiesboy said:

Maybe... if i get out there

Think about fresh Mangold = swiss chard..... My new passport is ready, I just got the letter. Maybe I have to stop by to help you get the planting done.

[Bucket1]

4 minutes ago, Lyssa said:

In Germany there is almost in every city two times a week a market. In bigger cities in every part of the city. In Cities like Berlin in every part of the city more than one. The one I love most is in Celle. It is as if you hop in a Netherlands Genre Painting. When we lived near by, I used to go there just to soak up the colors, scents to relax. I would like to show a picture, it is so beautiful, this little old city with the market. 

That sounds like you could spend hours there

[Former Member]

16 minutes ago, Bucket1 said:

That sounds like you could spend hours there

Yes!

[Mikiesboy]

Okay missed writing anything for Friday. Sorry.

 

Today I'm thinking of making Sheppards Pie. Normally you'd do this with defrosted ground meat (I like a pork and beef blend). But i forgot to defrost so i'm going to cook it in the pressure cooker. I've looked this up and it seems that you can do so by simply placing it on your trivet inside the Instant Pot and added a cup of water. 25 minutes later, cooked meat which has not fallen through the trivet. Okay that's interesting. So i'll cook the meat and then the potatos in there. Easy peasy. Dinner is on the table. I'll let you know what we thought.  

[Brayon]

It sounds great Tim.

 

Where making some homemade Chicken and Yellow Rice. It's my Uncle's recipe, so its new to me.

[Brayon]

8 hours ago, Mikiesboy said:

Okay missed writing anything for Friday. Sorry.

 

Today I'm thinking of making Sheppards Pie. Normally you'd do this with defrosted ground meat (I like a pork and beef blend). But i forgot to defrost so i'm going to cook it in the pressure cooker. I've looked this up and it seems that you can do so by simply placing it on your trivet inside the Instant Pot and added a cup of water. 25 minutes later, cooked meat which has not fallen through the trivet. Okay that's interesting. So i'll cook the meat and then the potatos in there. Easy peasy. Dinner is on the table. I'll let you know what we thought.  

 

How did it turn out Tim?