Giving Those Underappreciated Vegetables Another Try

We’re entering the season of garden bounty when locally grown vegetables of all shapes and sizes are available from nearby farm stands and even from our own gardens. String beans, lettuce, cucumbers, and soon sweet corn will be ripe for the picking. My own garden has some spinach and raspberries that are ready, and my string beans are about a week away.

Now is the time to bask in a wealth of vegetable dishes. But what about trying those underappreciated vegetables – those you grew to dislike in your youth? You know, the brussels sprouts that smelled up the kitchen when cooking, the overcooked spinach, the beets drowned in gooey sweet sauce. It doesn’t have to be that way. All those vegetables pack a host of nutrients, and there are much better ways to prepare them. So why not take advantage of them at their peak?

Yes, even the lowly brussels sprout

A few years back, Mrs. Farmboy would wrinkle her nose at the mention of brussels sprouts, which she remembered as bitter and cooked down to a mush. Now she’s a fan of my recipe. I braise the cut sprouts in bacon grease until they begin to brown, then splash a little vegetable broth in the covered pan to steam them for a few minutes. I finish them with the juice of a lemon or lime.

My focus this week will be on harvesting and cooking my bok choy. This Chinese white cabbage is high in nutrients and low in carbohydrates, and you can stir fry it with noodles or meat, serve it in soups or braise it with shrimp, beef, and mushrooms. I love the crunch of the stems and the slightly bitter flavor of the leaves.

Chef Samin Nosrat suggests in her book Salt Fat Acid Heat that, if unsure how to prepare our greens, we should begin by blanching them in boiling salted water until tender, then remove them, spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet to cool, squeeze out the excess water, and chop them coarsely. She uses this process for bok choy, which she sautés with red pepper flakes and minced garlic. Mmmm.

Better bets for bok choy

Last night, it was an excellent oven-roasted cod with bok choi, cilantro and lime (Pictured above).  This week’s menu also includes grilled shrimp satay with peaches and bok choy as well as Lion’s Head meatballs with Chinese cabbage (bok choy).  In the past, I’ve done just a standard stir-fry of pork, bok choy and scallions, but I also have recipes for  sausage with sauerkraut, apples, and bok choy, though that sure sounds like an odd combo. I might even try them all. I have enough boy choy in the garden, and it needs to be used over the next few weeks.

Of course, I could also blanch and freeze some of the extra bok choy for use over the next six months, but it’s not quite the same. The farmer in me says to take advantage of the vegetable bounty while it’s fresh.

To comment, please click on “Read in Browser” or on the headline to view the blog on the website. You can log in and comment at the end of the blog to share your thoughts and start a discussion.

If you’d like to share the blog, click on the Facebook icon or one of the others. Thanks!