We grew 'em now we get to eat 'em

[lovebenton0]

I know we're eGullet and we think about, talk about, and cook about food like the foodies we all are over the entire site. . . But I believe there is something special about the cooking we do with the food we have grown ourselves.

And we're in TX where the goodies are coming into our kitchens a bit earlier than in many places in the country.

So what are you cooking with the "fruits of your labors?"

Edited May 22, 2004 by lovebenton0 (log)

[mudbug]

It's pretty much lettuce, pea, asparagus, and rhubarb season around here so it's still early in the season but in addition to other Texas residences responses... you may enjoy this Harvest Forum which is frequented by long time vegetable gardeners who have fabulous and unique recipes for enjoying their produce.

[matilda254]

I have an herb garden at the house since I get a basket of vegetables from a CSA (community sponsered agriculture) farmer. The veggies are organic and wonderful. This week I had purple string beans, swiss chard, beets (made into 2 quarts of pickled beets); green garlic, carrots and turnips.

Matilda254

[sdj3]

in addition to many varieties of herbs, i'm currently swimming in peaches...

[fifi]

The macaroni salad here looks like a good option for using up excess basil. (Is there such a thing?)

[lovebenton0]

Ah, yes! Peaches and herbs. Our own peach tree, infamously crazy, was covered in Central TX snow when the peaches were just nib-sized and most were killed. However, our neighbors have brought almost 30 pounds of peaches from their own well-behaving peach tree. I put up a batch of peach jam a couple nights ago and am now setting up to do a batch of ginger-spiced peach butter.

Stir-fried our first Japanese eggplant of the season, tossed with a chiffonade of fresh cinnamon basil, a sliced spring garlic, spring onions, and cilantro sprigs (all from the garden), and Thai noodles today. That was a winner.

Thanks, mudbug for the Harvest Forum thread. I had not come across that myself.

[fifi]

Stir-fried our first Japanese eggplant of the season, tossed with a chiffonade of fresh cinnamon basil, a sliced spring garlic, spring onions, and cilantro sprigs (all from the garden), and Thai noodles today. That was a winner.

Good Grief Charlie Brown! That sounds like a happy dance in the mouth. I need to see if my sister is growing cinnamon basil. I am just getting into the use of cinnamon in savory dishes and like it quite a lot. I had just never thought of using cinnamon basil. I grew it several years ago and now think that I did not take full advantage of its flavor.

[lovebenton0]

The macaroni salad here looks like a good option for using up excess basil. (Is there such a thing?)

I think you're right, fifi! There is no such thing as excess basil.

However, the mac salad sounds wonderful. I'd slice tomatoes, sprinkle them with a tiny bit of lemon juice, top with a lemon basil leaf for garnish and lay around the plated salad to serve. This is on my list for summer salad.

As far as the cinnamon basil goes -- I also love it with heartier tastes such as an eggplant/fresh tomato sauce, a tossed green salad with basalmic vinagrette and cheese, or a corn/black bean/sweet potato toss, and it is absolutely made for lamb. The taste is not exactly cinnamon, although the aroma is distinctly so, but it is a warm flavor that brings the others ingredients together under a sunny rich umbrella. And such a beautiful plant. I know that the accepted method for growing basil is to pinch off the sprigs before they have a chance to bloom to give more flavor to the leaves-- but the cinnamon basil blooms are rich in flavor as well as aroma. They are especially delightful as a garnish so you can enjoy their beauty as well as the taste. I always allow one cinnamon basil plant to bloom repeatedly and pinch the sprigs then for a different and tasty garnish.

[fifi]

oooo... It occurs to me that cinnamon basil (or any others for that matter) would work wonderfully in this recipe for eggplant. I am currently working off a gratin pan of this ambrosia as a sandwich. A bunch of cinnamon basil leaves in that dish would be wonderful.

[milo]

Horseradish. Anyone like and use the horseradish from their garden? I planted it on a whim a couple years back but now its a huge beast that is going to go unless I figure out a way to use more - well any- of it. Its so tough and hot.

[markf424]

Basil - I've been making gallon jugs of pesto. Well, maybe not gallons. Regardless, it's the quickest way I know to prune my plant back into reality without throwing away a bushel of basil leaves.

Also cherry tomatoes - just made linguini with clams tonight and I always put halved cherry tomatoes in that dish. Delicious!

[matilda254]

I just had a look at my fig tree. It is covered in figs. Another couple of months and I will be in the kitchen making preserves.

matilda254

[lovebenton0]

Sliced Mystery squash (possibly mid-eastern variety -- the ID hunt is on in the TX Gardens thread) and baby yellow crooknecks into wheels, added thick-sliced sweet yellow onion then butter sprayed and grilled over direct heat on a screen for a few minutes each side. Then wrapped it all in foil, sprinkled with lemon juice and coarse ground black pepper, topped with several little sprigs of lemon basil, closed it up and finished cooking on the grill while meat cooked. The steaks were wonderful, but the garden veggies stole the show.

[jackal10]

From the UK (East Anglia)

Now: herbs, lovage, radish, lettuce, arugula, last of the overwintered swiss chard, last of the purple sprouting broccoli, broad (fava) bean tops (like beany spinach), sorrel, horseradish, asparagus, strawberries (greenhouse), cut and come again stir-fry mix

Coming soon: Currants (red, white, black), New potatoes, purple mange-tout, purple broad beans, green garlic

Edited June 2, 2004 by jackal10 (log)

[lovebenton0]

Horseradish.  Anyone like and use the horseradish from their garden?  I planted it on a whim a couple years back but now its a huge beast that is going to go unless I figure out a way to use more - well any- of it.  Its so tough and hot.

  From the UK (East Anglia)

Now: herbs, lovage, radish, lettuce, arugula, last of the overwintered swiss chard, last of the purple sprouting broccoli, broad (fava) bean tops (like beany spinach), sorrel, horseradish, asparagus, strawberries (greenhouse), cut and come again stir-fry mix

Coming soon: Currents (red, white, black), New potatoes, purple mange-tout, purple broad beans, green garlic 

milo was asking for suggestions. What do you do with your horseradish, jackal?

And what is the "beany spinach" you mentioned?

[jackal10]

Horseradish: Doesn't get too out of hand as we dig it each year for Passover.

Also I use the young ferny tops (before the coarse leaves come) as an early salading. They are not hot at all. I imgaine (have not tried, but will) if you cut off the leaves of some of your patch (use for compost), new growth will come that you can use this way. It really won't matter that you weaken the plant a bit...

Usual uses for the root: grate and make horseradish and turnip or beet chrain, horseradish potatoes. Otherwise compost.

Its traditional to pinch out the tops of broad bean plants; this discourages the blackfly since you remove the young tender growth, and encourages better setting of the beans. You can use these bean tops that you pinch out as a bean-flavoured spinach: wilt in a pan with some butter or bacon

[lovebenton0]

in addition to many varieties of herbs, i'm currently swimming in peaches...

What did you, and any of you with peaches, do with the loaded crop this year?

We only got 5 dozen off our crazy peach tree that we ate as fast as we picked them, but the neighbors loaded me down with about 30 pounds of peaches!

I made a ginger dough cobbler, batch of jam, and batch of ginger-spiced peach butter. We gobbled the rest!

[lovebenton0]

Two garden veggie/herb inspired treats:

Toasted Smush Sandwich

Halve, slice, and then saute squash and eggplant in olive oil with garlic, basil, and a sweet and a hot pepper, both minced, or use crushed red pepper (even some black pepper would do), until almost mushy.

Add one chopped fresh tomato and cook down to smush. You may add a tbsp or two of water, during cooking, if needed.

Salt to taste.

Let it cool a bit while you preheat oven to 400 and lightly butter bread as if you were doing grilled cheese, outside only (I used spray butter).

Then pile about 1/2 cup veggie smush onto one piece of bread, sprinkle with mozzarella cheese, and top with other piece of bread.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until the bread is slightly toasty and the cheese is melted.

You can save the rest and use again chilled from the fridge, just start sandwich cold, it will heat up plenty in the oven. I had made sourdough and it was wonderful -- a denser bread like that is better. Toaster oven is perfect appliance for this if you have one.

Shrimp Salad with Borage

Plate hearts of Romaine, spring onions, sliced tomato, chiffonade of lemon basil, purple basil, and borage (tastes like mild cukes). Top with garlic croutes, and surround with boiled shrimp and key lime wedges. Serve with favorite dressing or drizzle with a bit of the key lime juice and touch of olive oil. Red sauce on the side for shrimp if you like.

We followed this with grilled orange roughy marinated in key lime juice and coarse ground pepper; add a drizzle of butter before grilling. Garnish with several fresh lemon thyme leaves when serving.

[fifi]

Judith, your veggie smush sandwich idea sounds a lot like what I have done with the eggplant gratin recipe I linked to above. A couple of weeks ago I did the gratin just for doing that. However, I was in search of a New Orleans style po' boy bread for the sandwiches. Not easy. I have added a brush of really good olive oil to the bread before stuffing the sandwich. I may have to go buy a cinnamon basil plant to try it in that eggplant, tomato, onion mix.

A friend brought me some yellow squash and I made a pan of my "Scorched Squash" recipe. this originated many years ago and was actually a mistake at first. Then I started doing it deliberately.

Put 3 to 4 tablespoons of butter into a frying pan that has a lid. Saute finely diced onion, shallots, or (for a really interesting nutty flavor) dehydrated onion flakes until golden brown. Add fairly thin slices of squash, generous salt and pepper and stir around to coat the squash with the butter. Put the lid on so that it starts to cook down. Remove the lid and continue to cook until all of the liquid boils off and the squash "scorches" slightly. You need to tir frequently to get a good distribution of scorching. I could eat buckets of this.

[andiesenji]

in addition to many varieties of herbs, i'm currently swimming in peaches...

What did you, and any of you with peaches, do with the loaded crop this year?

We only got 5 dozen off our crazy peach tree that we ate as fast as we picked them, but the neighbors loaded me down with about 30 pounds of peaches!

I made a ginger dough cobbler, batch of jam, and batch of ginger-spiced peach butter. We gobbled the rest!

I am still working on apricots. Plums are ripe and need processing.

However when the peaches come in I will be canning some (halves and slices)

making spicy peach/mango salsa and canning that, plus preserves, peach butter and of course

chutney.

If the sugar content is high enough I will dry about 20 pounds and glacé some of them.

[jschyun]

We are eating tomatoes as fast as we can at our house. I had to kill most of my squash plants, because everyone was sick to death of squash. Growing haricot verts in their place.

Grew some purple bell peppers this year, and they look very strange in a salad. My cukes are very good this year, if I may say so. Long, skinny, and never bitter, perfect in a salad or a marinated cuke salad, Korean style.

I love these Texas garden threads for some reason. You guys grow things at about the same time I do, so it's nice to see how everyone progresses.

[jess mebane]

pesto, pesto, pesto. Tomatoes: bisque, spaghetti, salsa, slices with fresh mozz and basil, in the a.m. with eggs, high tea with avocado slices . . . oy. And the corn has that fungusamongus that Jaymes says makes a great dish, but what is it and how?

[memesuze]

all I knnow is the name of the fungus: huitlacoche - someone else will have to drop in with the suggested recipes

[andiesenji]

As far as the cinnamon basil goes -- I also love it with heartier tastes but the cinnamon basil blooms are rich in flavor as well as aroma. They are especially delightful as a garnish so you can enjoy their beauty as well as the taste. I always allow one cinnamon basil plant to bloom repeatedly and pinch the sprigs then for a different and tasty garnish.

I dry the cinnamon basil and holy basil, steep in hot water to make a strong infusion and use it as a rinse in my hair. Lovely aroma.

[lovebenton0]

As far as the cinnamon basil goes -- I also love it with heartier tastes  but the cinnamon basil blooms are rich in flavor as well as aroma. They are especially delightful as a garnish so you can enjoy their beauty as well as the taste. I always allow one cinnamon basil plant to bloom repeatedly and pinch the sprigs then for a different and tasty garnish. 

I dry the cinnamon basil and holy basil, steep in hot water to make a strong infusion and use it as a rinse in my hair. Lovely aroma.

Cinnamon basil hair rinse -- what a great idea, andiesenji!

 

Judith, your veggie smush sandwich idea sounds a lot like what I have done with the eggplant gratin recipe I linked to above. A couple of weeks ago I did the gratin just for doing that. However, I was in search of a New Orleans style po' boy bread for the sandwiches. Not easy. I have added a brush of really good olive oil to the bread before stuffing the sandwich. I may have to go buy a cinnamon basil plant to try it in that eggplant, tomato, onion mix. 

And, fifi -- yes, now that I look at the gratin you linked the smush is similar to that, but all veg. A "new" veg sandwich with my garden goods was the original inspiration for me. I'll have to try your version also, looks yummy. Thick sliced sourdough is great for holding the smush, allowing some absorption without getting mushy bread or falling apart, and adding a nice flavor. But any denser French/Italian style bread would do well I think. I make so much bread when I'm able that I adjust the density I want for the purpose. This time I did two in loaf pan form -- one loaf sourdough plain and the other a sourdough rolled around a garlic, parmesan, and basil olive oil/butter spread. Both worked well for the smush.