Something Simple from the Garden for Lunch

10 years ago

What's your quick way to enjoy something simple from the garden for lunch?

cellphone photo

This is a real common way for me to have lunch (partly) from the garden here in the south window. The noodles are a little different from usual ("Phnom Penh style." ;o) but they are often instant rice noodles like these. No, I don't eat them with chopsticks - probably be a good way for me to lose weight, tho'!

Not long after ramen noodles showed up on the US market, I showed up in an Asian market and bought Korean instant noodles "Kimchi style!" Those fit my tastes and I've still reserved a kitchen self for those especially.

Where does the garden produce come in? I'm right back to early spring with snow pea pods, cilantro and scallions. Gotta be honest, the only onions I've got now are sweet onions. A quick saute of shallots would be the choice if the soopermarket scallions were not so quickly at hand.

Nearly peasant food but an Asian country person often has to "go to town" to enjoy noodles. Yes, rice is a real possibility in the south window, too! All I gotta do is have some rice cooked and put the rice with these veggies in a hot skillet with some broth and soy sauce close at hand! A couple minutes later, lunch!

Oh, the veggies came out of the garden after about 7 frosts; there's bok choy, too! These are the last of the snow peas and the bok choy in the greenhouse will have to do some quick growing to replace what's in the crisper drawer of the fridge!

Steve

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Comments (6)

digit
Original Author
10 years ago
Okay.

I'll admit it . . .

I only posted this because I was jealous of David's bruchetta!

Steve
digit
Original Author
10 years ago
I decided that Jaques Pepin's series that I mostly watched ("Fast Food My Way") has a good starting point for me. Seeing something on the teevee isn't my preferred way of learning much, however. It is hard to read the captioning while watching the "action" so I decided to go off to the library and find Pepin's two books on the subject.

In the first pages of the first book, he introduces to what he calls "Instant Vegetable Soup!" "Elegant enough to serve guests" in about 10 minutes of prep and cooking time? Well, I guess but, still, this is one fast & easy way to make use of fresh veggies.

I've even got some fresh veggies! I don't know how many light frosts we've had (weeks?!) but the bok choy, which can toughen with frosts, seems to have adjusted to them this year! I had a bag full to bring home from garden clean-up on Friday. Maybe I will make this soup with bok choy this afternoon. It is raining now and the wind will build thru the day! Really getting to hard freezing overnight Monday!

Yep, no doubt about it: We've reached soup season.

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Jauques Pepin's recipe
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digit
Original Author
10 years ago
Instead of zucchini, which I don't really care about - despite growing so much of it, I used grated pumpkin. What?!! Yeah, I've got aaallllll these pumpkins!

Instead of grating the sweet onion, I diced it and sauteed in the olive oil.

"Salad greens" was the bok choy!

Instead of a teaspoon of salt, I used 2 teaspoons of Maggi sauce!

Instead of Swiss cheese, which I didn't have, I used grated cheddar and Parmesan, which I did have!

It was ssooo good! Even reheated. May not have taken only 10 minutes but I tried! Simple, vegetable soup (with cheese ;o).

Steve
low hills covered with a dusting of snow, 35mph gusts all day. WS claimed it was 45o sometime today, i'd like to know when that happened!
digit
Original Author
10 years ago
It's the shadows in that picture of the noodles, isn't it?

Makes it look like I'm pulling the noodles out of a dark pool of soysauce, right?

You know, it's tuff taking a picture indoors. Flash goes off and everything looks 2- dimensional and washed out :o( with glare).

photography-challenged digitSteve
treebarb Z5 Denver
10 years ago
Yummy stuff, digit!

It's feeling like soup weather here, too. Foggy, misty, light rain but not too cold, it's 38 degrees here this am.

I've started recording Julia Child and Jaques Pepin's series on PBS, the name is escaping me right now.

I'm jealous of your garden goodies. I decided the garden produce wasn't safe after the flood and pulled most everything out. I have 30 trees healed in the raised veggie beds now. They were a gift from a friend in Michigan and unlabeled, so till I id them and have more time they'll be occupying the space.

You're making me hungry! It's soup, stew and chili weather!

Barb
digit
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks Barb!

I got up and watched a PBS show on cooking in India . . !

Stopped at the green grocer the other day. Then, made a drive out to the local orchards - 2nd trip, yesterday.

As a Great Food Guru must have once said: "Eat like your life depends on it!"

Steve
starting the mornings again with 3 servings of fruit, now that there may be a little less bok choy in his day

Something Simple from the Garden for Lunch

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Something Simple from the Garden for Lunch

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