I picked the last of the cucumbers off the dying vines a couple days ago and decided to put up more Bread & Butter pickles and wound up with 4 quarts worth. I sent a quart I put up a couple weeks ago with the wife to her office 2 days ago and she told me her coworkers have just about cleaned out the jar, so it looks like they are a hit over there.
We're having meatballs/Italian sausage with red gravy over pasta tonight and I fixed a nice salad with kale, chard, mixed leaf lettuces and a couple cucumbers I kept for salads. I did have to use store bought tomatoes, but that is all that came from the market.
- rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
- applestar
- Mod
- Posts: 30541
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
This was a couple of days ago, but At MIL’s House, we had ham for Christmas. This year, the middle BIL was the chef, with MIL supervising. The ham and the rest of the meal was overall excellently done, except — as My DH put it, he was a bit “ham-fisted” with salt on the spinach and on the corn, while the broccoli had been left unsalted....
But what I made was from the leftover ham — bones and fatty and stringy scraps which we brought home — a ham and great northern beans, carrots, and pea soup. I started with sunflower oil and butter caramelized onions and garlic in the bottom of the pot, then added the giant ham bone and the scraps. Instead of a bit of ginger which is my usual addition, I added about a cup of older home made kimchee that nobody wanted to eat out of the jar anymore, along with one of the fat daikon slices that was pressing the kimchee down. As soon as I added it, and the pungent kimchee aroma filled the pot, I wondered if I had made a mistake and nobody would want the soup now, but by the time it had cooked, the kimchee was completely melted into the soup and had added depth of flavor that was astounding.
Before that I made beef and barley soup which was made with demiglace made with winter-harvested celery from the garden, and added “it’s been opened and left in the fridge a little too long orange marmalade” that nobody wanted to eat from the jar any more and last slice of Swiss emmentarle cheese as well as about a cup of konbu (kelp) left over from making broth for tofu and potato miso soup.... oh yeah I added the water that was used to preserve the used konbu in the ham and bean soup. Oh! In both soups, I added 2 green Gochugaru yon Gochu Korean pepper pods harvested from the garage where they are hopefully overwintering.
So far nobody has noticed these oddball additions but have praised the soup.
...oh yes’m the garlic and herbs used for the soups also can from the garden.
But what I made was from the leftover ham — bones and fatty and stringy scraps which we brought home — a ham and great northern beans, carrots, and pea soup. I started with sunflower oil and butter caramelized onions and garlic in the bottom of the pot, then added the giant ham bone and the scraps. Instead of a bit of ginger which is my usual addition, I added about a cup of older home made kimchee that nobody wanted to eat out of the jar anymore, along with one of the fat daikon slices that was pressing the kimchee down. As soon as I added it, and the pungent kimchee aroma filled the pot, I wondered if I had made a mistake and nobody would want the soup now, but by the time it had cooked, the kimchee was completely melted into the soup and had added depth of flavor that was astounding.
Before that I made beef and barley soup which was made with demiglace made with winter-harvested celery from the garden, and added “it’s been opened and left in the fridge a little too long orange marmalade” that nobody wanted to eat from the jar any more and last slice of Swiss emmentarle cheese as well as about a cup of konbu (kelp) left over from making broth for tofu and potato miso soup.... oh yeah I added the water that was used to preserve the used konbu in the ham and bean soup. Oh! In both soups, I added 2 green Gochugaru yon Gochu Korean pepper pods harvested from the garage where they are hopefully overwintering.
So far nobody has noticed these oddball additions but have praised the soup.
...oh yes’m the garlic and herbs used for the soups also can from the garden.
- MoonShadows
- Senior Member
- Posts: 149
- Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:50 am
- Location: Stroudsburg, PA - Zone 6a
- Lindsaylew82
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 2115
- Joined: Wed May 21, 2014 9:26 pm
- Location: Upstate, SC
Last night we had collard greens! There are two niiiiice heads of broccoli still on the plants out in the tiny garden I'm "tending". I didn't want to waste the stems and stalks of the collard greens, so I started a lactofermentation of them. I hope they turn out!
Apple,
Do you have a ginger bug? I bet some of that syrup would make a really nice soda!
Apple,
Do you have a ginger bug? I bet some of that syrup would make a really nice soda!
- applestar
- Mod
- Posts: 30541
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
I heated up the last of the ham/bean soup broth/liquid, added diced carrots, onions, and diced up all of the good pieces of the leftover ham we still had left in the fridge... a good amount of fresh black oyster mushrooms, frozen peas... finished with a splash of Tanqueray gin, then used TJ’s frozen pie dough to make a pie. When I told DH we didn’t have any potatoes, he proposed adding leftover storebought potato salad that was a bit too vinegary for our taste (you see how I’m influencing him? ) I decided to layer the potato salad in the bottom of the pie rather than mixing in as he thought, then the cooled filling on top. While I was preparing the eggwash for the top crust, I decided at the last minute that I would add a kind of custard over the filling (without seasoning so as to tone down the intense flavors of the combined filling), so I beat 2 eggs with some kefir and used it as eggwash, then opened a hole in the middle of the top crust and carefully poured the rest in while lifting the top crust to allow the mixture to spread without overflowing from the hole.
Here it is
I forgot (again) that TJ’s frozen pie dough is a bit overly sweet, so there is a bit of objection to the sweetness that I can’t get over, but overall, it turned out yummy and I had two wedges in succession
(... nah none of the added ingredients for the pie was from the garden, not even the mushrooms unfortunately, but it’s a follow up to the post above so I put it here ... )
Here it is
I forgot (again) that TJ’s frozen pie dough is a bit overly sweet, so there is a bit of objection to the sweetness that I can’t get over, but overall, it turned out yummy and I had two wedges in succession
(... nah none of the added ingredients for the pie was from the garden, not even the mushrooms unfortunately, but it’s a follow up to the post above so I put it here ... )
- Lindsaylew82
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 2115
- Joined: Wed May 21, 2014 9:26 pm
- Location: Upstate, SC
I've had this particular bug for about 4 weeks! My first 3 were failures...
I have been bitten by the fermentation bug! and I have been trying recipes from Sandor Katz's Wild Fermentation. I'm in love! I think I'll try my Kimchi tonight. I made it with cabbage leaves, broccoli leaves, cauliflower leaves (all from my garden) and a massive head of Napa cabbage one of my organic chemistry professors gave me in exchange for some of the cilantro that is thriving in my itty bitty garden! It just hit the 3 week mark. It's a little funky (cabbage-y funky), and I'm honestly a bit intimidated by it!
Another friend of mine gifted me 4 cabbages! I've been looking for a recipe, but I think I'll just try sauerkraut!
Winter break, and I'm enjoying what freedom my research allows! I've missed y'all!
I have been bitten by the fermentation bug! and I have been trying recipes from Sandor Katz's Wild Fermentation. I'm in love! I think I'll try my Kimchi tonight. I made it with cabbage leaves, broccoli leaves, cauliflower leaves (all from my garden) and a massive head of Napa cabbage one of my organic chemistry professors gave me in exchange for some of the cilantro that is thriving in my itty bitty garden! It just hit the 3 week mark. It's a little funky (cabbage-y funky), and I'm honestly a bit intimidated by it!
Another friend of mine gifted me 4 cabbages! I've been looking for a recipe, but I think I'll just try sauerkraut!
Winter break, and I'm enjoying what freedom my research allows! I've missed y'all!
- Lindsaylew82
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 2115
- Joined: Wed May 21, 2014 9:26 pm
- Location: Upstate, SC
It got down in the teens last night, so we cut the broccoli heads. We had the lightly steamed with salt and pepper. They were SO good... these were the largest broccoli I’ve ever grown!
We had some of the greens as well last night! Tonight I tasted the Lactofermented collard green stems and carrots. Perfectly sour and salty! I put them in the fridge!
We had some of the greens as well last night! Tonight I tasted the Lactofermented collard green stems and carrots. Perfectly sour and salty! I put them in the fridge!