My Garden, A Picture Diary with Food News

Great stuff! (4.00 / 4)

Re: cauliflower - my suggestion is that you mail it to Jay in Portland, Oregon...

:)

Okay, seriously - I love cauliflower, especially the purple variety (although I don't think there's any difference in nutrition or etc, I do think the purple has a 'deeper' taste, if that makes any sense?).  What I do is just break it up into bite-sized pieces and roast it with a bit of salt and olive oil.  When it starts to brown a little, it's done.  

Wish I had like a 'real' recipe for you (I'm sure AAF does...), but that's pretty much all I do with it myself.  Serves just fine as a meal on its own.  I suppose you could also steam it and add it to pasta?  Soups too, maybe?

Glad to hear about your friend!  My friend Sean was over there for the first few years, and fortunately he made it back okay too.  If I had a drink, I'd raise it your friend right now!  Wishing him the best during the rest of his time back there.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Tue Mar 24, 2009 at 20:30:27 PM UTC

Wonderful story! (4.00 / 4)

I'm jelous, I could live on avacados and pomegranites.

Re: the cauliflower, I steam or boil it untill just tender, then either dip in a sauce made with mayonaise and as much seasoned rice vinegar as is to your taste, actually you could dip it raw in that sauce and it'd be good too, or dip in a bit of ranch dressing. I like a vinegarette made with sesoned rice vinegar, honey mustard, Italian herbs (dried), granulated garlic and onion, and parmesean cheese. Shake well and add olive oil by 1/3 to 1/2 of the volume of the vinegar/seasoning mix.

Steamed and served with pasta and an alfredo sauce or as a side to pasta and a pesto would be good too. Oy, I'm getting hungry now....

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Tue Mar 24, 2009 at 23:31:14 PM UTC

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You're making me hungry! (4.00 / 4)

the cauliflower can be eaten raw with a veggie dip such as dill dip. I like it just salted also.

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by: nycstray @ Tue Mar 24, 2009 at 23:56:28 PM UTC

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i do cauliflower in these ways: (4.00 / 3)

~ steamed with melted cheese or sour cream on
~ steamed & mashed & added to mashed potatoes
~ steamed & sprinkled with parmesan cheese & nutritional yeast
~ steamed with an equal amount of broccoli then tossed in a drizzle of Newman's Own italian dressing
~ stir fried with an assortment of veg (yellow squash, onion, mushroom, pepper, broccoli, snow peas or whatever you like & have on hand) sometimes i add meager sausages (beef cocktail weenies)served over jasmine rice or brown rice or ramen

come firefly-dreaming with me....

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by: RiaD @ Wed Mar 25, 2009 at 00:59:31 AM UTC

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cauliflower is sort of like eggplant (4.00 / 4)

i.e.; vegetable substrate; there to soak up other stuff.

Nice looking celery. I have three second year lovage plants, and this year got around to doing something with the leaves for the first time - in a cream sauce on potatoes, beets and carrots, with sauteed red bell pepper, onion and garlic. Thyme, salt and pepper in the cream sauce too, with some grated Xsharp cheddar. That all mixed in a baking pan, sliced tomatoes on top, then more grated cheese (and yes bread crumbs would work for a gratin). I made this the other day and woke up in the morning hungry for the leftovers, though I usually don't eat until after coffee.

Lovage is sort of like celery/parsley/anise; slight licorice taste. Strong flavor, don't use too much. An underrated plant. I shall be letting mine go to seed this year and hopefully will be able to offer the seed around to share.

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Wed Mar 25, 2009 at 01:15:25 AM UTC

for the liver & kidneys -- eat brussel sprouts (4.00 / 5)

Curtis, the garden pics bring joy to my heart~for my yard is still buried in snow.

Today,  the southeastern corners of the garden-boxes began poking through the snow; and they're 18 inches high. I still can't even see the shapes of most of the beds, however.

I'll be starting my tomatoes and cabbages next week; lettuces and herbs this if I can get the grow-lights set up properly and wade through the snow to the supplies, all organized and waiting for me in the basement of our barn. (I forgot I wouldn't be able to reach them easily until snow melted.)

Thank you for the inspiration, and happy green thumbs.

We need a national green-thumbs day.

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by: zic @ Wed Mar 25, 2009 at 02:51:37 AM UTC

at the other end of the scale (4.00 / 1)

we here are awaiting a chance of our first snow since either late 2007 or early 2008. Not sure. Not good. We got rain last summer, fortunately. But pleez can we haz just a LITTLE snow? Anything???

Sometime back I got involved on a comment thread on a post on another blog about what the best thing that might possibly be invented could be, if the sky was the limit.

After a few days' contemplation, I decided on a weather equalizer. Not totally equal, mind you. But more flexibility in moving it around some.

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Fri Mar 27, 2009 at 01:45:10 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

my farmer (4.00 / 5)

at the farmer's market told me how to cook cauliflower:

toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and a clove of garlic.  Roast in a foil packet until it's just beginning to brown.  It's heavenly.  I also chop it up and add it to my farmer's market soup, which is tomato based and loaded with veggies.

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by: chicklet @ Wed Mar 25, 2009 at 04:07:15 AM UTC

Now I know what's for dinner. (4.00 / 3)

Thanks for sharing!

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by: zic @ Wed Mar 25, 2009 at 21:18:51 PM UTC

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I never thought about roasting it! (4.00 / 5)

That'd be good roasted on the coals of a camp fire. Add a potato in foil with garlic, Italian dried herbs and butter, then make another packet with onion and carrots. Place all packets at appropriate locations in the coals and roast till done! mmmmmmmmmm, now that's cookin'

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Thu Mar 26, 2009 at 01:31:30 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

a packet of squash and leeks for me, please. (4.00 / 2)

And while we're at it, we could toss some apples in a bit of maple syrup, cinnamon, and nutmeg and throw those on when everything else is done to have for desert, with a side of cheddar cheese.

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by: zic @ Thu Mar 26, 2009 at 02:11:12 AM UTC

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what kind of dog is that, Curtis? (4.00 / 2)

Uncut Dobie?

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Fri Mar 27, 2009 at 01:46:57 AM UTC

She's a mutt (4.00 / 3)

Got her from the Humane society, same with Lenny. She's lightning quick and she's never found a time that she doesn't want to chase the tennis ball. I'm not good with dog breeds, maybe these pics will help you figure it out.

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by: Curtis Abbey @ Fri Mar 27, 2009 at 03:12:28 AM UTC

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Heinz 57 (4.00 / 3)

Her face is reminiscent of German Shepherds, but she's built more like some kind of hound. At the same time, she reminds me of my border collie for some reason. Maybe something else in the face or the neck.

In "Animals in Translation," Temple Grandin goes off at one point on animal coloration and winds up writing that she thinks a dog that is mostly black with a little white spot on the chest might be a really good thing. So there you go.


"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Fri Mar 27, 2009 at 03:16:22 AM UTC

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