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August 18, 2006
the perils of excessive produce
On Wednesday, I picked up my latest produce bin from Sun Gold Farm. It contained:
A bunch of colorful fresh-cut flowers.
A big purple eggplant.
A big yellow melon.
Six ears of corn.
A lot of yellow squash.
Four red beets.
Three yellow lemon cucumbers.
A big bunch of cilantro.
A bagged "salsa kit" -- four big tomatoes, a medium sized onion, a green bell pepper and some smaller green peppers; directions to chop in a food processor, removing seeds from the small peppers first if you don't like spicey foods, and adding cilantro if you like it.
A recipe for eggplant parmesan.
I still had a bunch of food left over from the last produce delivery:
3 potatoes
2 jalapenos
half a huge head of cabbage
basil
1 incredibly yummy tomato
1/2 cantelope
And I had other perishables on hand: apples, pears, lots of cheeses (brie, cheddar, port salut, fresh parmesan, asiago, blue stilton*), garlic, ginger.
So I've been trying pretty hard to cook lunches and dinners every night that use up as many of these ingredients as possible. I had a huge hunk of melon and an ear of corn for lunch every day this week. I made a big old stir fry for dinner a couple of nights ago.
Tonight, I made my first ever batch of eggplant parmesan. I've always had a weird aversion to eggplant, but I actually had a pretty good eggplant dish a few weeks ago when a friend was visiting from out of town. So I approached the meal with hope and trepidation.
I went the simple route, battering the eggplant in flour and crackers, deep frying, then drenching in marinara sauce and sprinkling with parmesan. Some of the recipes call for lots of other ingredients, many call for mozzarella or pasta or both. I skipped all that.
I think it came out pretty well.
I still have a lot of food left, though:
Four ears of corn.
A lot of yellow squash.
Four red beets.
Three yellow lemon cucumbers.
A big bunch of cilantro.
A bagged "salsa kit."
3 potatoes (1 baked and ready to eat)
2 jalapenos
half a huge head of cabbage
basil
I think I'll have to make some kind of scrambled eggs and veggies for breakfast tomorrow, probably with the basil, which is starting to wilt. And maybe I'll make salsa to eat with chips as a light lunch. I doubt we'll need much more to eat than that, since Ben and I tend to take it pretty easy on the weekends.
Sunday we won't have time to consume any of this stuff. We're spending the whole day white water rafting.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at August 18, 2006 07:45 PM
Comments
Chopped up (not chopped fine) cabbage stir fried in oil and salted when it's done it really good. Good over rice or whatever else you cook it with. Cucumbers can be left in a "marinade" makes into a great salad. My mom used to just use salad oil, sliced cukes and sliced onions. There are a great variety of recipes for cucumber salad at Google.
Basil on French bread with olive oil and anything else you have- cheese, tomato, cilantro, you name it, would be great. Cook it in the toaster oven if you use cheese to melt the cheese. Yummy!
You can freeze the ears of corn (shuck it first).
I wish I could be there to cook for/with you!
Posted by: Mom at August 18, 2006 10:23 PM
Yum...I wish I had your problem! All I've got in my fridge is a bag of wilting green beans (from a Farmer's Market), a pot of pasta sauce, and a drawer full of chocolate (my excuse is that my fridge/freezer needs to be defrosted). Anyways, if you get more eggplant in the future, a recipe my mother uses is:
2 eggplants, chopped into chunks
Soy sauce
Sugar
Ginger
Garlic
Onion powder
Hot sauce (optional)
Stir fry the garlic and ginger in oil (I prefer Canola)...then add the eggplants, sugar, soy sauce, hot sauce, and onion powder. Let it cook briefly with the lid on (until soft), the stir the mixture around until the sauce is evenly spread.
Posted by: - Your friend who likes eggplants! :P at August 21, 2006 07:56 AM