Post your Veggie Recipes

[deluxestogie]

Roasted Delicata Squash Slices

SUMMARY: Slice, bake with olive oil, salt, pepper.

The selling point of this variety of winter squash is that the skin is just as edible as the flesh. I began by cutting off the two ends of the squash. This makes it easier to slice the squash in half lengthwise.

Seeds are scooped out.

For safety, I place the now flat side down, and slice into ½" sections.

After adding a small quantity of olive oil to my pan, I make sure to coat each slice. Half of my squash went into the fridge, half sliced and placed into the pan. Salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 425°F. For ½" thick slices that are all tender, bake for 20 minutes on one side, flip slices over, then bake an additional 20-25 minutes. If you cut ¼" slices and bake for the same time, you can get a crispy skin, and possibly squash chips. These can also be tossed onto a grill. The skin on Delicata is considerably more tender and less fibrous than that of acorn squash.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Delicata Squash Chips

These are simply thin slices fried in vegetable oil, then drained and salted. The soft-fried taste like potato fries, but with actual flavor. Fried a bit longer, the crunchy still have a slight softness to the interior. Crispy is similar to the texture of a tortilla chip. Salt alone is sufficient to make these an addictive snack.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Bobby's Baba Ganoush Burrito

Some eggplant, a Basque pepper (no seeds), black pepper, a bag of toasted sesame seeds, a lot of garlic cloves, salt, olive oil, lemon juice, basil.

Forget the black pepper (OR forget the Basque pepper). After tasting a seed-free snippet of the Basque pepper, and having to spit it out, and rinse my mouth to stop further damage, I decided that the additional black pepper would be unnecessary. I also noted that the Basque pepper was quite fibrous and tough (just like the Vascongadas!), even though fully ripened. [That fact, more than any other trait of this pima, suggests that it underwent very little further agronomic domestication after its arrival in Europe via the Conquistadores. They should make excellent ground chili pepper, once thoroughly dried.]

I chunked up the Basque pepper and eggplant, and simply peeled the garlic cloves. These all went into the food processor, and were minced to a coarse texture. This was added to a large sauce pan, along with a few tablespoons of olive oil, and a squirt of lemon juice. I generously salted it, added some crumbled, purple basil, a half-cup of boiling water, and (for grins) some cardamom powder. This simmered for hours, with occasional stirring, and the addition of more olive oil and boiling water along the way. [This is how I convert a can of beans into refried beans.] Eventually, it takes on a slightly toasty aroma, and is a thickened paste.

The wrap is a simple flour tortilla. For knife and fork eating, it is topped with diced tomato, olive oil, some lemon juice and diced onion. For finger food, the toppings can be wrapped inside.

After being cooked, the Basque pepper was completely tamed. The sprinkle of dill weed in the above photo is only to make it more photogenic, though it does add a nice taste.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

Sounds and looks delicious!

 

[deluxestogie]

I forgot to mention that if you just chill the baba ganoush, it makes a wonderful, firm dip for pita bread. It can also be used as a veggie base for making kofta (koefte, keftedes), by blending in some cooked bulgur or dry bread crumbs, and frying or baking it like meatballs or link sausage.

Bob

 

[Stogie]

Baba ganoush is a delicious dip with some fire chard pita bread. I live near a middle eastern part of town and the hummus and baba ganoush are incredible.

 

[deluxestogie]

Although baba ganoush always contains eggplant and garlic, the rest of the ingredients vary wildly by region and recipe.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Cold Winter Squash on a Hot Summer Night

One of my North Georgia Candy Roaster squash (a smallish one) had an issue at one end, that would dramatically shorten its storage. So I amputated the end, then sliced the rest into 2" thick wheels, and removed the seed. With skin still on, I boiled the squash until it was tender to a fork. Once cooled, the peel is easily separated from the flesh with a tablespoon. This was chilled overnight. I added salt, sugar and some vanilla, and blended it all by hand whisk.

Most marshmallows are made with gelatin, so if you are looking for vegan, you'll have to track down those few (expensive) brands without gelatin.

This yummy squash was served with well-chilled fruit salad.

North Georgia Candy Roaster will make spectacular pie when used in place of nasty, stringy, pumpkin.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

Is Okra the new Zucchini?

I planted 6 Okra plants in the garden this year. It's the same amount I plant every year. Usually they provide enough for 1 person (me) to cook a batch a week during the summer. Ho boy, not this year. This year's crop is some magical mutant alien variety. I was harvesting a huge bowl of okra every day!



The plants are now over 10 ft tall, and I've decided that they are now ornamentals and letting them go to seed. Needless to say I was cooking a lot more okra this year; so I give you Okra 3 ways!

Crispy baked strips: Cut in half lengthwise or leave whole. Drizzle with the vegetable oil of your choice, Salt & Pepper, (I added some Cajun seasoning) and bake in 350F oven until desired doneness / crispyness.



Traditional Fried: Cut either into rounds or strips. Dip in egg wash, then toss in a mixture of equal parts flour, corn starch, and corn meal. Mix in S&P and a dash of cayenne pepper. Fry in oil. Enjoy!



Battered & Fried: I made some chili rellenos the other day and had enough of the egg batter to dip some okra in and pan fry them along with the peppers. Egg batter: 3 eggs, separated. Beat whites to hard peak stage. Slowly beat in the yolks and a Tablespoon of flour, S&P to taste. Dip the whole okra in the batter and pan fry.

 

[deluxestogie]

If your alien okra is not an F1 hybrid, then the dried seed will be viable for at least several years.

Most of the bad press that okra receives is about it being sticky and slimy. When baked or fried or deep-fried, it's just crunchy goodness. Breaded and fried is an extra layer of deliciousness. And in gumbo (thick soup), you just keep simmering it until the okra vanishes--totally dissolved, except for the swollen, soft seeds.

I have to confess that I enjoy okra, but not every day all summer long.

Bob

 

[smallwanderings]

I'm fermenting some peppers from my garden. I don't remember the variety; they are a bit spicy if eaten with the seeds in.

 

[GreenDragon]

Pretty! Are you using salt water or vinegar for your ferment?

 

[smallwanderings]

Pretty! Are you using salt water or vinegar for your ferment?

Salt water, Himalayan salt.

 

[smallwanderings]

View attachment 38398

I'm fermenting some peppers from my garden. I don't remember the variety; they are a bit spicy if eaten with the seeds in.

View attachment 38399

Well... these fermented peppers did not turn out well, the taste was not at all enjoyable and they kept getting a thin layer of yeast or mold growing on the top of the water. Perhaps I didn't put enough salt in the water. I fermented habañeros in the past with which I made a hot sauce, that turned out quite nice.

 

[deluxestogie]

Lactic fermentation of cukes or peppers is always a tricky thing for me. More salt seems to improve the chances of microbe-free success, but with too much salt, I find I have to then "de-salt" the veggie before it can be eaten directly. When used in recipes, over-salted pickles simply count as salt.

Bob

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

I saw a video on you tube that a lady in an earthship home fermented peppers. Im not familiar but it is out there!

 

[deluxestogie]

Easy Applesauce

My one Winesap apple tree produced several bushels of apples. (I also invited my neighbor to please pick all that he could use.) The deer and their friends helped themselves as well. Many of these apples go into fruit salad. The rest are made into applesauce. I'm now on my 4th or 5th batch of applesauce. Major food group, side dish or condiment. The applesauce can also replace syrup on waffles and on cheese blintzes, or replace ketchup on a beef patty. And of course, sour cream and applesauce are perfect for topping potato pancakes.

It takes 3 tools: an apple corer, a small paring knife for peeling, a pot for cooking. I core the apples, peel them, then simply cut them into random chunks. Any ugly spots are just removed with the paring knife.

For applesauce, they don't have to be free of blemishes, and they can even be somewhat soft.

The skin will be peeled away, so they don't need to be beautiful.

INGREDIENTS:

• 8-12 apples
• 2-tablespoons up to a half-cup sugar
• a light sprinkle of salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Core, peel and chunk the apples (size of chunks doesn't matter)
2. Place apple chunks into a sauce pan with ¼ cup of water (to prevent scorching until the apples begin to fall apart)
3. Add sugar and salt
4. Simmer with lid on until as soft as you prefer (below was simmered about 1 hour), stirring occasionally [no critical timing involved]
5. Allow to cool, then refrigerate.

You can run a whisk through this to end up with no chunks. I don't bother.

If you keep on simmering and stirring with the lid removed, the applesauce will turn into apple butter. If you use a volume of sugar comparable to the volume of the chunked apples, and add a teaspoon of lemon juice, prolonged simmering will transform it into apple jam (will sheet from a spoon, instead of dripping). The lemon juice converts much of the table sugar into fructose (twice as sweet), and increases the viscosity. [Apple flesh contains up to 20% pectin.] If you want a transparent jelly, then you have to squeeze the jam through a cloth bag.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Applesauce chunk:

Bob

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

Fair trade mine craft?

 

[GIL]

PLUM DUMPLINGS

The name of this dish, in Romanian, translates as something round, spherical, lumps, lumps. I have heard people say that it is a traditional Romanian recipe, but I am convinced that these "dumplings" are popular all over the world.
Ingredient;
boiled potatoes, without shell
White flour
bread crumbs
vegetable oil
sugar
fresh plums
The potatoes are crushed with a fork, and kneaded with flour "as much as it contains". This is the crust, the dough. From this dough are shaped some spheres that contain a plum in the center.
(I made those "rolls" to finish faster.)
Boil for a few minutes (until they float on the surface of the water), then cover with breadcrumbs sweetened with sugar.
(the breadcrumbs are "hardened" in a little oil, then sweetened with sugar - preferably -)
It's a lot of work to prepare, but it's worth it. For me it's "childhood taste"