Nov 21, 2019
Micro kale!
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Micro kale!
Cucamelons!
In a pub we visited in Cornwall.
The healthier bar snack!
Vegetable of the week. Gilo
It's a bright green Brazilian pepper.
Gilo are easy to cook - just remove a bit from each end, chop in half, and put in a pot with some water and a sprinkle of salt.
Oscar's sister gave us these peppers. I don't know where you buy them. Um... they are not my favorite. The flavor is somewhat bitter. But maybe you'd like them??
Always good to try something new! Here's our list. What have you tried lately?
Try one new vegetable every week recap:
Week 1: Beets
Week 2: Baby kale
Week 3: Turnips
Week 4: Parsnips
Week 5: Purple varieties
Week 6: Artichoke
Week 7: Chayote squash
Week 8: Fiddlehead Ferns
Week 9: Jicama
Week 10: Fava Beans
Week 11: Canary Melon
Week 12: Gilo
So bright yellow it caught my eye from 10 feet away!
This is a canary melon... it is delicious and you should buy one. (I just wish they were local!)
At a cost of only $.99/lb, this oval specimen cost just $3 and brought me endless joy as I carted cubes around to work and family to encourage them to try this exotic food. It is sweet and soft - for me "just right" in both categories. Perhaps I lucked out because I have no idea to tell if it's ripe or not!
The one trick to this otherwise wonderful food is that the rind and the fruit are the same color so one must take care when cutting it.
OK OK! It's not a vegetable... but it is awesome... and given the 100 degree heat, you can perhaps forgive me for not firing up the oven for a new recipe.
And it has great nutritional benefits too. 50% of your daily Vitamin A and Vitamin C, fiber and only 80 calories in one cup.
Try one new vegetable every week recap:
Week 1: Beets
Week 2: Baby kale
Week 3: Turnips
Week 4: Parsnips
Week 5: Purple varieties
Week 6: Artichoke
Week 7: Chayote squash
Week 8: Fiddlehead Ferns
Week 9: Jicama
Week 10: Fava Beans
Week 11: Canary Melon
Vegetable of the week - Fava Beans!
For this week’s Whole Foods “Try one new vegetable every week” challenge, fava beans.
Fava beans look big when you buy them, but after removing the beans from the inedible pods and then again removing the beans from the inedible protective shells (done by quickly boiling then blanching them)... you're left with about 10% of what you started with... and 30 minutes less in your day.
What started out as a large handful of bean pods that I could hardly grasp became a small handful of cooked beans to serve with dinner. Thankfully I watched a video on how to prepare fava beans because I would NOT have gotten that right on my own.
The color is a nice green and the flavor is very bean like (more like edamame than chic peas). I sauteed the beans in olive oil and added a pinch of salt and squeeze of lemon juice after cooking.
All in all, nice food... probably not worth the effort on a regular basis unless you have child labor!
Try one new vegetable every week recap:
Week 1: Beets
Week 2: Baby kale
Week 3: Turnips
Week 4: Parsnips
Week 5: Purple varieties
Week 6: Artichoke
Week 7: Chayote squash
Week 8: Fiddlehead Ferns
Week 9: Jicama
Week 10: Fava Beans
New vegetable week 9 - unexpectedly... Jicama!
For this week’s Whole Foods “Try one new vegetable every week” challenge, jicama.
I had the opportunity to visit San Francisco with a friend this week. I was a lucky girl when my friend Danielle's mom served up jicama with hummus. Delicious. Here's a helpful hint, peel it, chop it, and store it in water in the fridge.... what? Apparently water is a good storage place for carrots, radishes, celery and jicama. Moms know the greatest tricks.
Honestly, I thought the trip might throw me off for a new veggie of the week. In combination with the heat on Boston and an active work-week, there hasn't been much cooking going on!
But today I made a quick trip to Whole Foods and voila!
Jicama is crunchy like an apple, white, and in my mind, a great substitute for chips with hummus or guacamole. It has a mild flavor and would probably be a nice addition to salads.
There you have it... new veggie!
Try one new vegetable every week recap:
Week 1: Beets
Week 2: Baby kale
Week 3: Turnips
Week 4: Parsnips
Week 5: Purple varieties
Week 6: Artichoke
Week 7: Chayote squash
Week 8: Fiddlehead Ferns
Week 9: Jicama
New vegetable week 8 - Fiddlehead Ferns!
For this week’s Whole Foods “Try one new vegetable every week” challenge, Fiddlehead Ferns! Fun name - tasty vegetable.
We went to a restaurant near us that was serving fried buffalo fiddlehead ferns (think buffalo chicken appetizer) with dipping sauce. They were blazing hot spicy but got us out of our comfort zone with a new vegetable. So, we tried them at home as our vegetable of the week.
At $7.99 a pound, Oscar made sure I didn't go overboard. Above you can see a picture of $1.50 of fiddle head ferns. Sautéed with olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes they are quite delicious. The texture is diverse with the tiny tender inner leaves contrasting with the meatier outer stalks. Oscar says he'll stick with broccoli. (wink)
This was an emotional challenge as much as a culinary one. Success all around though I'm not sure these will enter our regular routine unless the price comes down when they're in seasons... which is when??
Try one new vegetable every week recap:
Week 1: Beets
Week 2: Baby kale
Week 3: Turnips
Week 4: Parsnips
Week 5: Purple varieties
Week 6: Artichoke
Week 7: Chayote squash
Week 8: Fiddlehead Ferns
Week 7 - a vegetable so new I had to take a picture of the Whole Foods receipt to remember what it's called.
This, if you don't know is a Chayote squash.
Growing up in Brazil, Oscar ate this often since it grows naturally on trees there. He was pleased to find it at Whole Foods for an unusually reasonable price.... perhaps they are in season.
The chayote squash, if you do not know what it is, looks like a green pear. It is shiny and bright green and has thin skin (that you remove before cooking). I wish I had a better picture to show you the puckered lips it appears to have on its fatter end.
To prepare, peel, slice in half to remove pit, then chop into small cubes (1/4 inch perhaps) and cook over low heat with just a bit of liquid (and garlic if desired) until translucent. No salt needed until the end.
It has a mild flavor that I quite enjoyed. Other than that, really, I'm not quite sure how to describe it. You'll just have to try it for yourself!
Try one new vegetable every week recap:
Week 1: Beets
Week 2: Baby kale
Week 3: Turnips
Week 4: Parsnips
Week 5: Purple varieties
Week 6: Artichoke
Week 7: Chayote squash