i hope you eat good food, grow beautiful things, and have more love than you know what to do with.
Every year, several flushes of Chicken of the Woods pop up on my lawn, and this year is no different. So I endeavored to make Japanese fried chicken (Karaage) with the one I found earlier today. I always tend to collect it young, before it …
It is shameful for me to admit that I had ever used Irish Butter before, and thus did not discover it’s greatness until the last month or so. It is deliciously creamy, fatty, full of buttery flavor, and I don’t know if I could ever …
I grow nagaimo (Dioscorea polystachya), also known as the cinnamon vine, Chinese yam, or Japanese yam here in my backyard—it’s a beautiful and funny perennial vine, growing little bulbils that you can stick into the ground or steam over rice. It is a pain to dig up though, so a lot of people will grow it in long boxes or pipes rather than in the ground (much like burdock root) to make it easier to harvest. I have it in the ground, where it will just grow bigger and bigger without losing quality for many years. It is an interesting yam in that it can be eaten raw without issue, compared to other yams. This is a traditional Japanese recipe that I absolutely adore that makes use of this wonderful root crop.
I admit, I love neba neba foods, that is, food that has a slimy, slippery, mucous-like texture such as natto (fermented soybeans), chopped okra, or raw egg and rice. Something about it just increases my appetite, especially when I have none and feel bloated. I understand those things might not be to everyone’s taste. I don’t like nagaimo cooked, as for whatever reason it develops a medicinal flavor (and takes on the texture of potato), but I’ll eat oodles of the stuff as tororo, where it’s grated and poured over hot rice or soba. The flavor I can only describe as crisp, with a slight sweetness, the closest cousin flavor would be jicama. Unassuming, but when paired with a few simple toppings, makes for a meal that gets me feeling refreshed and invigorated.
Be aware that some people have a reaction to the skin, so wear gloves when you peel it. I personally don’t react to it, but some people find it irritating. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Disclaimer: I’m out of cooking sherry and white wine so Armagnac tagged in. As the growing and foraging season gets underway, I’m looking to clear stuff out from my fridge and pantry. A young chicken of the woods has been sitting in the freezer all …
This is a fun recipe that can be modified to your taste. Seafood dynamite is usually some sort of baked seafood dish with mayo, the creaminess of the mayonnaise making it a decadent treat. You can often find it in the appetizer section of a …
First, let me just say yes, chickweed (Stellaria media) tastes good—like if butter lettuce and alfalfa sprouts had a baby… but it’s a pain to harvest and harvest enough of it to justify making a salad. However, if you have nothing to do and are watching little children so they do not accidentally murder themselves in the garden, it would be a time consuming activity that you can do to wile the minutes away.
I was watching my progeny today and found I had a rather large patch of them growing around my yard and garden bed. I don’t and haven’t sprayed weed killer in years so certain edible weeds are given free rein in areas I haven’t cultivated yet. I tend not to buy salad greens once the growing season starts because there are just so many edible things out there already.
Grabbed a bag and began pinching the tender, crisp segmented stems. I also collected some lovely young dandelion greens to mix in. Unlike a lot of other wild greens, chickweed is not bitter nor does it have any particular “special” flavor. As I told my husband, it tastes like a lettuce sprout hybrid and you won’t be able to tell the difference, even though he was slightly worried about it at first. Due to it’s rather blank flavor profile I made a quick and easy, but refreshingly delightful Cobb salad. I added a garbanzo bean salad (made with my preserved lemon puree and the basil I planted), a hardboiled duck egg, bacon bits, and gorgonzola. Alas, no avocados or cucumbers just yet.
It is, albeit unfairly, considered a weed in much of the US–unlike lettuce though, it grows happily from spring through the fall, regardless of the heat. I leave it alone to let it do its thing, since it doesn’t bother anybody, growing unassumingly in my garden. It can be found in sun and shade, and in many different growing zones. Poultry and birds love it, although it does contan a small level of saponins that can be toxic if you eat it in large quantities (we’re talking pounds.)
Chickweed is relatively easy to identify, with their creeping growth habits and lovely tiny white flowers. However, it is always best to be cautious and check with someone if you aren’t certain!
When we were little, my grandparents taught my sister and I how to make these origami boxes from the stacks of magazines they would get in the mail. We would sit at their country style dining table (which is now the kotatsu table in my …
Here’s something that’s a little bit more on the “normal” spectrum in terms of food since I know some of my creations might be difficult for the average homesteader to find use for. I dehydrate hot peppers and powder them to save space, and this …
As I scour the internet for recipes on Akebia shoots, the thin, curling new vines that sprout each spring from last year’s now woody growth, the only thing that I can find is anecdotal evidence of the Japanese eating it as fresh greens, especially in the Tohoku region. I know and have seen dishes with the bitter pod, have eaten the gelatinous and seedy interior, but none thus far on Akebia shoots.
It is a fast perennial grower and can be invasive in southern states, starting to sprout in even February. The attractive foliage and cute flowers give rise to these odd fruit that looks like something out of an alien movie. You can read my short excerpt on it in my garden here.
The texture and flavor is reminiscent of peashoots, with a slight bitterness (but far less bitter than dandelion or escarole.) While I’m picking them, I see a few spears of thick asparagus popping out of their bed, and my onion chives sending up scapes which would later bloom to become cute purple pink pom poms. The thought of either battering like tempura or making a pancake (okonomiyaki) with these now firmly planted itself in my head. You can use any veggie, including carrots, burdock root, cabbage (as is traditional) etc. with this—I just happened to use what I have on hand.
Evidently the bitterness didn’t bother anyone since my children and my husband readily ripped the piping hot pancake apart and downed them with very little fanfare (and now it makes me wonder if I imagined it). It’s nice to know this gorgeous ornamental is also a great veggie.
Shishito peppers are delightful little morsels that do beautifully blistered on the pan or in the air fryer. Mild, sweet, but packing with flavor, these peppers are a great little side or snacking dish. This recipe tosses the blistered peppers into a olive oil, feta, …