What to do with cabbage!

From Jenny Also Cooks

Sorry for posting two entries right after the other, but I've been doing a lot of new recipes lately because of all the garden produce. You see, I grew a few things that I wasn't sure I actually liked, cabbage topping that list. I just never really know what to DO with it. You can only eat coleslaw so many times, plus I'm not really sure I like it to begin with.

The last cookbook I purchased was Simply in Season, from the same group that did More With Less and Extending the Table. The cookbook is divided into four seasons, and the index is well done by recipe name as well as produce involved. The recipes are designed to address certain periods of abundance in the garden, and there was practically a cabbage section! I chose the cabbage au gratin since I had all the ingredients, including a few newly ripe carrots. It was a simple preparation but is a great comfort food, and I would probably make it again. I think it would be great sprinkled with bacon, which we don't eat, but I may try it with soy bacon bits.

Crowder Peas - a Southern Treat!

From Jenny Also Cooks

Crowder Peas are part of a category of southern field peas that I actually learned about from a cookbook, The Lee Bros' Simple Fresh Southern, which has had amazing recipes in it so far. I was curious, and randomly found them to be in season the next time we were at the state farmers market in my town. They were selling them already shelled or in the pod, and I thought it would be more of an experience to shell them first, so I bought them in their most unprocessed form.

For the recipe, all I had to do was boil them for 20 minutes or so. It was tempting to just slap some butter and salt on them and eat them as is, because they had so much flavor, and this indescribable richness for such a little pea. But I had this salad recipe that included beets, which I hadn't ever worked with in a fresh state, so I pushed forward.

From Jenny Also Cooks

The salad was lovely - Nathaniel, who thinks he hates beets, even enjoyed the flavors. I think if I made it again, I would play on the richness of the peas and add some fresh goat cheese. It was even better a few days later after the flavors had really marinated. Now that I know what crowder peas taste like, I'm going to see if they are something we can grow in the garden next year. And now that I know that beets are so easy, they will surely make another appearance in my kitchen.

Radish Feast

From Jenny Also Cooks

Tonight I ran out into the garden between thunderstorms and picked some of our radishes. The green parts had grown almost waist high, but I wasn't going to just throw them away! I made radish butter from The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern with the actual radishes, then baked eggs into a bed of wilted radish greens that I'd put in a pan with onion and garlic, based on a recipe from Olives & Oranges.

So simple and so delicious.

Stir-Fried Bok Choy, Pea Pods, and Tofu

From Jenny Also Cooks

Well, if nothing else, gardening gives us more greens we have to eat!

The bok choy and peas are from the garden, and the tofu is in an attempt to become more of a tofu master. The recipe is from This Can't Be Tofu and just wasn't great, but I'll keep trying. (Please pass any fail-safe tofu recipes my way!)

Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Red Onion Jam

From Jenny Also Cooks

What Would Brian Boitano Make is my newest guilty pleasure cooking show. I've been making a few of his recipes, and this one is good. I hadn't had Tallegio before, so this was a great excuse. I'm undecided about including blue cheese, but it did help with the direct richness of the Tallegio. The red onion jam is full of flavor and might have done it on its own, and the recipe is on the Food Network site.

Fugly Favas

From Jenny Also Cooks

I have wanted to cook with fresh fava beans for a few years, and finally came across them when they were in season. They are fugly little pod creatures that take a little preparation before you can actually eat them. You don't eat these furry fibrous pods, but open them up and remove the beans inside.

From Jenny Also Cooks

Still can't eat them. The husks are too hard here, but they look like lima beans. At this point I boiled them for 6 minutes.

From Jenny Also Cooks

6 minutes was 1-2 minutes too long. Several got mashed as I removed them from their skins, but I was also in the weeds, my garlic was burning, and my pasta was already cooked. Next time I'd completely prepared the fava beans before doing the other steps on my recipe.

From Jenny Also Cooks

I didn't really have a recipe for this. I had mustard greens growing in the garden that I wanted to use, as well as some basil I needed to thin down. I sauteed some garlic in olive oil and cooked the greens, added the favas, added some lemon juice and the pasta, and tossed with some parmesan and thin ribbons of basil.

Garlic Bok Choy

From Jenny Also Cooks

I know, I know, it has been a while. I have some posts I need to make! But this year, we have been gardening a bunch and tonight was the first time we've made a meal from something we grew!

I watched a few YouTube videos on how to harvest lettuce and cabbages, because I wanted the things I planted to have as long of a life as they were supposed to, and one of them linked to this recipe. I feel like it was too oily, but my pan may not have been quite high enough. Still, we'll have more bok choy to eat, and the flavor of the leaves was delicious!