Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Jamestown1630]

For ‘foodies’ – and a lot of vegetable gardeners - one of the most welcome harbingers of warm weather and the growing season is the Asparagus.

This recipe for ‘Asparagus Tart’ comes from the website of the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, and it's as easy as - (actually easier than) - pie!:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/food-and-friends/3-ingredient-asparagus-tart/

But I think my favorite, is just Roasted Asparagus (which is also my favorite way with Brussels Sprouts, in a different season). My husband makes this often, with just olive oil, salt and pepper; but I like the addition of the Parmesan Cheese:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/parmesan-roasted-asparagus-recipe

-JT

[leaning conservative]

The asparagus in puff pastry......oh how I wish that was my dinner tonight!

I always use vermouth when I make chicken pasta in cream & vermouth. It gives such a smooth taste w/ a hit of herbs & spice.

[sheana]

There are a ton of recipes online too. I make danish drops with it, gravy, pancakes, biscuits, etc. Makes the no carb thing a heckuva lot easier.

[Jamestown1630]

I haven’t tried frozen yet; I was disgusted with canned, though.

I don’t think we’ve seen it that high, out of season, in our area; but I do notice that often it’s so thin that it goes away to almost nothing when roasted. We try to only buy when it looks plump.

[Jamestown1630]

I usually don’t like the taste of vermouth; but it works in those kinds of recipes.

[Aliska]

Along off-the-beaten-path roadsides. I lost my reply so have to start over. A missed opportunity to grow it myself. It's got to be easy if it seeds in grass and stuff along roadsides (birds and the wind probably carry it).

Another missed opportunity is my relative told me about a seedless red raspberry that got into the wild from his neighbor. I should have asked if it still grew and taken some cuttings because it's related to roses and should be easy enough to root if you can root a rose.

I screwed up a lot of opportunities. The asparagus was in Henry County, IL.

These beauties were just a couple miles from my home in IA. Found them in 2003. The flower is rare here; I bought some bulbs, the green comes up but they won't bloom.

The blue is common and considered a nuisance, chicory. I think it is pretty. The next day I went back and it had all been mowed off.

Then a couple years later they bulldozed the whole field where 3 clumps of those lilies grew (they aren't really lilies but look like them) for a housing development. So there have been many disappointments.

They aren't edible. My black raspberries have taken over so have to go. There are some blackberries behind the garage, a little tamer so far. And all I have left of my beloved fruit trees is one North Star cherry tree. So there are sad memories, too. At least I have some lovely pictures and had the satisfaction of planting all my trees myself except the last cherry trees, paid to have them done, then lost its mate when my huge tree dropped a gigantic limb. It had to be cut down, too.

[txhurl]

The frozen is for atomizing in your Magic Bullet and making a soup with fresh steamed green peas. A lightly creamy bright green soup when the real thing isn’t sensible.

Europeans whiten their asparagus - celery too, and leeks - by smothering new shoots with dirt so that they never chlorophylize. Never understood that; the vibrant color and taste of the sun-greened stuff is something this Texan celebrates every year. Can’t grow it here very well, too hot.

As an Italian, I tilt back and drop the whole spear in after wallowing it in garlic butter. I did once make it in the grooves of a George Foreman grill (tips by the drip tray), was very nice, but wrasslin’ with/cleanin’ those grills is not an exciting challenge any more :)

[Calvin Locke]

I simply drag a chef's knife, at an angle, across each spear, starting at the bottom.

The blade starts to sink in past the woody part.

Laura Calder demo'd a technique of tapping the blade up the stalk to find the soft spot, but I found myself impatient, taking ever bigger samples. So I tried rolling to accomplish the same thing, and it worked. With a single, smooth motion.

Obviously, you have to adjust the bite-angle to the knife length, woody part, and the cutting board size, but a rhythm develops.

[Aliska]

That's a good resource, have to switch browsers to watch videos and page is slow to load. I bookmarked it. Thanks very much!

I've been peeling broccoli stalks for awhile now. I don't peel peppers except when I roast them. I'll see how I could have done it better with the other veggies, cuts tons of corn off cobs in my day.

I never shelled peas because I didn't like them but do now. I whip through carrots like potatoes, cheap but sharp vegetable peeler. I'll see what I was doing wrong with those.

I was cutting onions wrong, too. Now I can do it better by making the cut from the stem to the blossom end. I used to cut in circles, then stand and cut into smaller pieces with a paring knife, very slow and tedious.

[Aliska]

Thanks, I’ll have to try that. Some of those techniques definitely take some practice and skill even though they sound simple.

[Jamestown1630]

We used to call chicory ‘Cornflower’. My father had unusual blue eyes that were almost that color, and the flowers always remind me of him...

[Jamestown1630]

I’ve never understood the ‘white’ vegetable thing, either; it just seems to my common sense that it would cut down on the nutritional value (?) if not the flavor, too.

[Aliska]

They are more blue than in my photo where they are more lavender.

Thatt would be a gorgeous color of blue eyes. Mine are grey.

[Jamestown1630]

Daddy’s were almost lavender - I think they say that Liz Taylor had similar eyes.

I wound up with green ;-)

[Silentgypsy]

According to JRandomFreeper, you must dedicate a certain plot to growing asparagus. Anything he told me worked. I miss him. RIP, Johnny.

[Silentgypsy]

My sister-in-law used to make heavenly asparagus omelettes.

[Jamestown1630]

I miss him too. He was the first Freeper who engaged me, when I arrived here and began this thread. He was a kind man.

The ASPARAguys, as we call them in our family, will produce for years, after a slow start; so they have to have a permanent place.

http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/garden/how-grow-asparagus

[PrincessB]

My spinach is coming up. I have dill started inside that will go out soon. My chives are nuts. We are getting “weather” this weekend. I have a couple packs of chicken parts I got from the butcher and I am putting them on the stove for a slow cook stock. Also working up my bread making skills this weekend.

[PrincessB]

My spinach is coming up. I have dill started inside that will go out soon. My chives are nuts. We are getting “weather” this weekend. I have a couple packs of chicken parts I got from the butcher and I am putting them on the stove for a slow cook stock. Also working up my bread making skills this weekend.

[Jamestown1630]

Chives ARE nuts ;-) I used to grow them in the most awful clay/rock soil, and they would grow till Christmas (Gardening Zone 7A).

[V K Lee]

RR,
Cauliflower is a good substitute
http://detoxinista.com/2012/01/the-secret-to-perfect-cauliflower-pizza-crust/
http://kirbiecravings.com/2016/07/cauliflower-bread-buns.html

http://www.jocooks.com/healthy-eating/cheesy-cauliflower-breadsticks/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/19/paleo-recipes-with-cauliflower-delish_n_5689172.html