Vegetables

Saturday, 21 March 2015

Celtuce - spring veggie

First week of spring after a long winter - it's timely to think about spring vegetables.  I discovered celtuce (篙筍) last year and thought it a nice change from asparagus and the usual spring vegetables.  Celtuce is also called celery lettuce or asparagus lettuce, and is apparently a very popular vegetable in China.  This is what it looks like in the supermarket.  .

The first time I saw the celtuce, I asked a woman who was picking through the pile how she cooks it.   It was great practice for my mandarin as that was the only thing she spoke.  So with a combination of hand signs and half-understood mandarin, I was able to figure out how it's done.

So what do you do with this stick sitting on your counter?

With a sharp knife, slice off the skin side ways, holding on to the top of the celtuce so you don't cut yourself

With skin removed, it's just a matter of cutting it up into chunks or slices.  I cut mine into half inch slices for stir-frying.

While the celtuce is crisp, it can be a little bland.  I would use it mostly for texture and add other vegetables beside it for contrast and flavour.

The lotus root is a good companion as it is even more crisp than the celtuce and it's a different colour.

Peel off skin with a potato peeler.  Cut off the ends.

Slice cross-wise to get the half moon shape

Stir fry the celtuce and lotus root in hot oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper or a dash of fermented soy sauce.  I usually add red peppers and king mushrooms for contrast in colour and texture. This would make a great backdrop for stir-fried shrimp.

 

Sunday, 28 July 2013

Growing my own salad

I love the idea of harvesting lettuce from my backyard for my salad - apart from the fact that I know where it came from, it is also very fresh and tasty - very satisfying overall.  I had started growing my own salad this year, thanks to my serious gardener friend who  offered me nine lettuce plants that she had pulled from her vegetable garden.  I planted them in organic soil in an old planter liner, and in two weeks, I was able to harvest enough for a salad.  This is despite a random attack by the resident raccoon.  Somehow it just dug up the plants, chewed up a few leaves and never came back - thank goodness!

A week after planting

Three weeks after planting - weekly harvests, and almost no work at all.  
I must have watered them three times this month, thanks to the rain.  I applied an organic fertilizer that came in spikes.

This is a week's harvest - enough for a salad and at least four sandwich wraps

 add some cherry tomatoes from my deck planter

and I have myself a salad!

Thanks, D!

MONDAY, 3 SEPTEMBER 2012

Eating Local in the City

More and more people are bringing the trend to eat local right into their backyards.  There is obvious satisfaction in being able to pick your veggies for your salad just before the meal.  You can't get more local or fresher than that but it's also a lot of work!   

I partook of some of those joys when I spent a week in San Jose and my hosts had strawberries and tomato planters on their back patio and orange trees on the side.  I picked strawberries every morning to go with my breakfast cereal and picked cherry tomatoes and oranges when I felt like having a snack.   I visited friends in Toronto on the weekend who turned their back garden into a vegetable garden, practically. You can see pictures below.  My hardworking friends were watering and working in the patch even as we visited.  You can't let up as your crops are at stake.  And what happens if you decide to take a summer vacation?  

I also can't help but wonder if my generous friends get more than their share of visitors.  We came back with fresh-picked beans and cherry tomatoes - and best of all, a precious jar of yummy pesto!!  I couldn't wait to dig into the pesto and you can see my "local" dinner below.  

Patio vegetable planters in San Jose

Vegetable garden in Scarborough (Toronto)

Looking good!

Tasting good!

Bountiful beans!

 Lonesome fuzzy squash on the garden arbor - there is something growing in ever corner of the yard!

Sweet harvest

My "local" food dinner:  the beans; basil and garlic from the garden was the base for the delicious pesto on the pasta.  No, I don't know where the trout came from but fresh frozen tasted good too!

SATURDAY, 21 JULY 2012

Tofu and Squab

The other day, we had a leisure lunch with some very good friends.  One item stood out from the menu and winked at me was a “peach barbequed tofu, grilled summer squash, red onion, eggplant, sweet peppers, lemon”.  For this avid meat-eater who regularly devoured beef steaks, veal chops, pork bellies and racks of lamb, tofu was a nice change for a day.

When my tofu plate arrived, I took one look and gasped.  The two skewers of grilled tofu were topped with what looked like dull yellow miso (look for them in the photograph; they are hidden on the left side of the plate).  I could not believe that I was getting Japanese dengaku tofu (田楽豆腐) in a western restaurant.  And I did not even like dengaku tofu because of the liberally applied thick and sweet miso.  Testily I took a little bit of the deep yellow glob with my fork and tasted it.  It was sweet, it was not miso, it was peach.  Then I remembered that the menu said “peach barbequed tofu”, which I interpreted as barbequed tofu with grilled peach halves.  Now I got it, it was a clever interpretation of dengaku tofu, western style.

Each skewer of tofu turned out to be three small cubes packed together.  The top and bottom surfaces were charred, and the inside was cold.  The texture was firm and “meaty”.  The natural sweetness of the peach mush did not clog or interfere with the cold tofu.  I liked the tofu enough to want to play Oliver, “Please, sir, I want some more.”

Then I dug into the grilled vegetables and had another surprise.  They were cold too. Okay, I knew that grilled vegetables could be served cold.  But no one had warned me, not the menu, and not our waiter.  All I got were words like “barbequed” and “grilled”, which led me to believe that it was a warm dish.  To be fair, the dish tasted fine once I got over the initial disappointment.  It also helped not to think about the fact that my six small cubes of tofu cost as much as a fish course.

At home that night, I pan roasted a squab and some green beans for dinner.  The bird and a glass of wine got me over the tofu blues.

SUNDAY, 15 JULY 2012

Summer salads

The colourful tomato salad with fresh basil in Akujiki's post whetted my appetite for more.  I had a BBQ last night and created my own summer salad - it was a great hit!  I had started off thinking that I'd make the tomato salad, but when all I could find was half-dead packaged basil from Colombia on the supermarket shelves, I thought maybe I would have to try something else.  I came across a recipe for a salad using hearts of palm, avocado and tomatoes with lettuce and ended up using a combination of both recipes since I already have all the ingredients at home.  An accidental find as I was going to the check out at the local grocer's made a world of difference to the recipe - a live organic basil plant!   The fragrance from fresh basil practically made the salad.  As with Akujiki's salad, the hard part was finding tasty tomatoes - and I did that by following my nose near the tomatoes section.

The hearts of palm, avocado and tomatoes were all cut into chunks, lettuce torn into bite-sized pieces.  The dressing: 1/3 cup olive oil,  2 tbsp red wine vinegar, fresh ground pepper, 1/4 tsp of sugar, dash of salt. Toss the hearts of palm, avocado and tomatoes in the dressing and spoon onto the bed of lettuce laid out on a platter.  Spread out the basil leaves.  And you've got a refreshing summer salad with a great contrast in textures and flavours.  Bon Appetit!

SATURDAY, 7 JULY 2012

What do you do with soy sheets?

Soy and all things made with it are major ingredients in a vegetarian diet.  I'm no vegetarian, butI find myself addicted to the soy rolls wrap with mushrooms stuffing that you find at T & T Markets and other Chinese takeout places.  But there are usually only a sprinkling of mushrooms in them and lots of oil on the wrap.  What to do? 

These wraps are usually made with dried been curd sheets that are available from the market freezer.  They need to be softened in water before use and are also vey greasy.  I looked around for an alternative and to my surprise, found these fresh soy sheets in the refrigerator's soy section of some Chinese markets.  This is a large sheet that can be cut into at least 3 squares, six if you want them smaller.

I chopped up some enoki mushrooms and some cremini mushrooms that I have in the house (really, any kind of mushrooms would do, except maybe not the white mushrooms because they get watery when overcooked.  Stir fry the mushroom mixture in oil, salt and pepper to taste, maybe a touch of oyster sauce.  

 Spoon the mixture onto the sheet.  

Fold the sheet over to form a pouch or roll, with the loose side facing down.  

Now to add more flavour (and calories), it is probably good to brush the rolls with sesame oil before browning in the pan. I didn't do it this time but might do it if I'm making this for a party.

Heat up some oil in a pan, lightly brown on both sides and it’s done in no time.  It’s quite crispy and tasty.  Now I can add some green veggies, bring these in to work and just heat them up in the microwave at lunchtime knowing that I’m eating something nutritious.

The easiest way to enjoy these soy sheets though is to cut them up into strips or pieces, throw them into broth, let them soak in the flavour and just eat it with the soup.  It could be one of the ingredients of a seafood hot pot or casserole - adding texture and protein without overwhelming the flavour.   

TUESDAY, 19 JUNE 2012

Garlic stems, scapes, shoots – they’re all the same!

I love going to market!  There are always new things to discover if you’re adventurous.  This time it’s garlic stems.  Shoppers walked by and casually picked up a bunch without hesitation or saw the need to inspect the goods (they did look very fresh even from afar).  I stopped a man who was about to turn away with his bunch.  In response to my question, he used his hands to show me a chopping motion and fired off instructions in rapid Mandarin.  Ah, I got the drift!  This is a great way to learn about new things to cook and practise your Mandarin while you're at it!

The stems smelled very garlicky and had a real bite when I tried it raw.  I could imagine it would be good chopped up and stir-fried with any kind of sliced meat or tofu, mushrooms, etc. and proceeded to plan my dish.   King mushroom would provide a firm chewy contrast to the crisp green stems and tofu would add a softer texture.  I browned the cubed firm tofu in oil with some ginger before tossing in some sliced king mushrooms, adding a ¼ cup of chicken stock which was quickly reduced as the mushrooms cooked.  After removing the tofu and mushrooms from the pan, I heated oil then threw in the garlic stems that had been cut into inch-long pieces.  I stir fried the stems, covered with lid for a few minutes until cooked then added the tofu and mushrooms.  A dash of cooking wine, pepper, touch of oyster sauce completed the flavouring.   It was a surprise to me how sweet the stems were when cooked – quite a contrast to the bitter taste when it was raw.  There are recipes for using the stems uncooked, in salads among other things - but not for me.

Catch this early summer vegetable while you can in the markets, you likely won’t see it later in the summer.  And it supposedly has nutritional value similar to the garlic cloves! 

TUESDAY, 5 JUNE 2012

Shaved asparagus

After reading about the shaved asparagus in the Frank at the AGO post, a friend of mine said she’d try and make the shaved asparagus.  I never did hear back from her how it went but she had inspired me to try it myself.  I quickly discovered that the shaving was not as simple as one might think.  I only have to do eight spears for  two servings but it took a while.  I can imagine it could get a bit tedious if you have to prepare for, say, a dinner for six. 

I had initially held the asparagus in my hand and shaved it like I would a carrot.  But as the asparagus got thinner, it became harder to shave and the shavings became more uneven.  I subsequently looked it up on the internet and learned that a better way to shave it is to put it down on a board and shave sideways.  See below.  

The shaving also got a bit tricky.  The first few shaves were easy and quite neat.  But when I got down to the end, it got more difficult to create an even “shave”.  The last pieces were thicker and therefore would take longer to cook.

I didn’t look up any recipes but thought I’d just stir fry it.  Heated up some olive oil, threw in some minced garlic, then tossed in the asparagus shavings, dash of cooking wine, salt and pepper to taste when done.  This came out quite tasty and had more volume than I’d expect from eight stalks of asparagus.  It is the typical Chinese food phenomenon (akin to the five loaves and two fishes miracle?!) – when you cut things up into small slices, there always seemed to be more and you could serve more people with it.  So the eight spears provided a decent plateful, clearly too much for two.  So if you’re cooking for six, you probably wouldn’t need to do six times 8 spears.  I’d think if you’re just serving this as a side, 10 spears would be plenty for six.  And not a whole lot of work afterall - if you do it the right way!

THURSDAY, 31 MAY 2012

May Vegetables

One week in early May, I found ramps in two local markets.  Within days they were gone.  The season was over.  We also had the last of local fava beans and asparagus before the month was over.  Now I have to wait for next spring.  

Raw ramps have a garlicky aroma that disappears when cooked.  Their leaves are tender, stalks crunchy, and the flavor delicate.  Ramps are probably the best wild field greens (a.k.a. weeds) for eating.

–     ˜

Young fava beans less than a couple of weeks old can be eaten whole, pod and all.   But in May, I had to shell them and removed their skins before cooking them quickly in a large pot of boiling water.  The color of the cooked beans was an eye pleasing green.  Unfortunately some beans were broken into halves from the boiling.  I shall try steaming next year.

 

The fava beans were tender, nutty, buttery and almost sweet.  I ate a bowl of them.  Later I tossed angel hair pasta with fava beans, asparagus tips, Italian extra virgin olive oil – all the healthy things, and added crispy bacon.   Yum!