Vegetables

Pickled Spring Onions

Published at In Category Blog, Onions, Recipes, Vegetables Tags: ,

First, a warning. You’re going to get lots of pickle recipes this year. Not sure why, but I’m on a pickling binge. And you can pickle anything. Really. These are going to be refrigerator pickles – really just seasoned vegetables that you can keep refrigerated for up to a month or so. Lots of health benefits from pickles and fermented vegetables, so I hope you’ll enjoy them.

Justin Burdett of Miller Union demonstrated this recipe at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market just about a year ago. Put up some of those pretty green onions you got today. Won’t be long before they’ll just be a fond memory.

Justin called for champagne vinegar, which sounds a bit more decadent that it really is. It’s pretty reasonably priced, but you could substitute white wine vinegar or even apple cider vinegar and still get good results. He also cools the brine before pouring it over the vegetables – that keeps the green onions from turning olive green right away and preserves the fresh flavor a little more. Since the green onions are tender, they don’t need even the little bit of cooking that happens when you pour boiling liquid over your vegetables. And it also means these are absolutely, positively refrigerator pickles. No sitting around at room temperature for these savory bits.

Grilled Kale Sandwich

Published at In Category Blog, Greens, Kale, Recipes, Vegetables Tags:

I love hiding vegetables in sandwiches. Sometimes, those are the only vegetables my husband may eat all day. Sorry that I don’t remember the provenance of this recipe. This idea works well with any cooked greens you have on hand – as long as they’re well-drained. Who can resist a grilled cheese (and vegetable) sandwich?

Joe Truex’ Spaghetti with Scallion Sauce

Published at In Category Blog, Onions, Recipes, Vegetables Tags: , ,

Finally – CSA season is upon us. I’ve missed the surprise of the weekly box – such fun to guess what might be in store for us every Wednesday.

Today’s box gives us two big hints for boxes to come – a beautiful bunch of spring onions or scallions or green onions (call them what you will) that will grow to become beautiful big storage onions in later boxes. I’m thinking these are sweet onions, although they’re not Vidalias since we don’t live in that neck of the woods.

And garlic scapes – those little pigtails. It’s the sign of a true CSA connoisseur if you recognized them right away. We’ve had recipes for garlic scape pesto and probably garlic scape pasta, check the Riverview recipe archives. For me, this year, I’m slicing mine into salads with that lovely head of lettuce and arugula. Love, love, love them. And looking forward to the heads of garlic those scapes presage.

And kale! And eggs! Maybe this means it will be a banner year for eggs as well.

I’ve been wanting to share this recipe for ages. Two years ago, Joe Truex prepared this for his demo at the Morningside Farmers Market. Ann Brewer who’s been running those demos since the dawn of time tries to coordinate her demos with what I’m featuring in the AJC’s weekly “In Season” column. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. This was a case where Joe was NOT. HAPPY. (so I am told) with the ingredient Ann had decided he would feature (which of course was all my fault since I had decided to feature green onions). But once he prepared the dish, he fell in love with it, and it became a special at the old Watershed location. No telling that he’s still making it, but now you can make it at home.

Ideas for Fall Produce

Published at In Category Apples, Blog, Radishes, Recipes, Sweet Potatoes, Turnips, Vegetables Tags: , , , , , ,

Each week I put together a collection of recipe ideas for what’s arrived in our beautiful Riverview boxes, but you know, sometimes you just don’t have the time or inclination to follow a recipe. Or maybe you’re in a situation where you don’t have the equipment or ingredients to do anything relatively elaborate. This weekend Read More…

Hot Pepper Sauce

Published at In Category Blog, jalapenos, peppers, Recipes, Vegetables Tags: , ,

I had a conversation with Jennifer Halicki about what to do with those cute little jalapenos. My suggestion was to do a very simple pickle, just putting the jalapenos in a jar (with or without stems) and cover them with vinegar. Leave them for a week or forever, they’ll keep indefinitely as long as you keep topping up the vinegar. This was the old Southern standby for making hot pepper vinegar to season fall and winter greens like turnips, collards and mustard. And it works fine with jalapenos.

Then just the other day I opened an email from Import Food, a company on the west coast that imports primarily food from Thailand. They offered a little more complex version of this peppered vinegar idea. They were recommending the Thai chiles they sell, but it would be just as delicious with your jalapenos or leftover cayenne peppers.

In their words: “Spice up your food with this simple, homemade heat. The combination of sour vinegar with hot Thai chiles is a common condiment in Thailand (called “nam som”), but this goes along great with American food too–especially southern favorites like collard greens, fried chicken, green tomatoes, etc.”

Turkish-Style Braised Green Beans

Published at In Category Blog, green beans, Recipes, Vegetables Tags: ,

And I’ve been waiting to try this recipe that appeared in early August in the New York Times. So glad to see green beans in our box today.

Yes, you can lightly steam your green beans, but sometimes what you really want is a dish of beans that’s been slowly braised with wonderful aromatic companions. I grew up with a dish like this, served over rice pilaf. My mom added cubes of browned beef, but otherwise, this is pretty much her recipe.