I just spent an utterly blissful morning cooking vegetables from my father's garden. If, like me, you have too much shade to grow a vegetable garden (and you don't want to get into all the craziness of using artificial light) get thee to a farmer's market or make friends with a gardener NOW. The summer harvest is upon us!
I couldn't have done so well without Mark Bittman's book How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food (published by Macmillan, 1998.)
Here's a sampling of the riches:
- Slow-cooked pole beans boiled (yes BOILED, you snobs!) in olive oil and water with fresh scallions and chopped yellow tomato (based on the recipe on pages 577-578.)
- Steamed (there, is that better?) green beans, tiny and fresh off the bush (no recipe needed!)
- Yellow squash medallions sauteed in butter (NOT olive oil) with salt & pepper, finished off with a dollop of honey and a handful of fresh chopped parsley (based on the recipe on page 607.)
- Steamed beet greens (verified my steaming instincts on page 540-basic information about beets; page 557-did you know that Swiss Chard is a beet green?; and page 604-the basic directions for steaming spinach.)
- Baked (BAKED!) beets, wrapped individually in foil and baked at 400F degrees for over one hour (page 541-these were so good that I had three of them for breakfast, and if Julia is reading this, I know that the gag reflex is making her head pop off!)
There you have it, folks! Food, real food, fresh from the garden of a Master Gardener (I hope he's having fun kayaking right now...)
10 years ago
