Bolting Vegetable Night
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Every once and a while, Michael and I go rummaging hungrily through the vegetable drawer, only to find that things have been neglected for a little bit too long. You know how it is. The broccoli gets a tinge of yellow. The mushrooms begin to shrivel. The carrots start to go limp. And the onions want to start setting down roots.Well, not to worry, because at our house, this is not necessarily a bad scenario. It simply means: Time for Rotting Vegetable Night!
Yes, Rotting Vegetable Night is when we salvage what we can and cook it into something good -- usually a stir-fry. Of course, we don't actually use any rotten stuff, just the things that are on the way out, but can still be cooked. It usually turns out good because Michael has a knack for inventing things on the fly and making them taste really good with the right mix of herbs and spices. (Me? No way. You would actually get something that tasted like, well, ... rotting vegetables.)
Anyway, I was out at the garden this afternoon and I noticed that all the hot weather has brought on a definite change. The basil and tomatoes are really starting to take off, but the spring vegetables are rapidly beginning to bolt. So in honor of this occasion, I've initiated a new dining event called Bolting Vegetable Night.
My bok choy appears to be in a big hurry to go to seed, so I'm on a quest now to figure out how many ways I can eat bolting bok choy this week. Tonight I fried it with garlic and mushrooms (Ha! Fresh ones, not wrinkly ones!), and I stirred in some cooked chicken.
Tomorrow night? I don't know. But I have about seven bok choys to figure out uses for, and I have a fair amount of rhubarb chard that's looking to claim a recipe, too. I guess I could freeze some, but I'm on a mission to figure out something more interesting. Stay tuned.
7 Comments:
I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with! I just bought some locally grown bok choy at our co-op today, and realized that I've actually never bought it before...I've eaten it plenty of times, but never cooked it. I'm looking forward to giving it a whirl.
Genie
The Inadvertent Gardener
i don't know if you like schnapps but there is a good and wildly exotic rhubarb schnapps recipe done by nigella lawson in her how to be a domestic goddess book.
Rotting Vegetable night here means Fritatta. Enough eggs and cheese will disguise even the mangiest broccoli.
I don't think there's any hope for the bolting rapini I have.
I just planted my pak choy and it is already bolting. :( I think it started bolting the ady after I planted it.
Genie, the recipe I posted on 5/31 worked out really well. If you don't like tofu, I'm sure it would work with meat, too.
Rachelle, I'll have to see if I can track down that recipe. Anything exotic that contains rhubarb and schnapps sounds good to me. Is it for rhubarb chard or rhubarb the fruit?
Steven, good idea about making a fritatta. Cheese makes everything good!
Hanna, too bad to hear your pak choy is bolting already. We'll get another chance in the fall. I think it does better then anyway.
wanderful veggies.have fun eating them and coming up with new recipies
Bok choy is wonderful blanched, then added to soups or congee. The chard is great in lentil soup, too.
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