Veggie Ventures: Lettuce

Welcome to the Veggie Ventures series, where we'll take a glimpse

at veggies my husband and I want to grow but have never really eaten!

This is the last post of the Veggie Ventures series, as we'll soon be getting our spring garden up and going.  I suppose "Lettuce" as a Veggie Ventures topic is a bit misleading, since we have actually eaten lettuce before.  They're included here because we grew some varieties in our fall/winter garden that we're not used to eating (Iceberg and Romaine are as far as we usually go for our salads!).  Here are some pictures of the four varieties of lettuce we planted in October (pictures taken in January--we're lucky enough to have mild enough winters to grow veggies):

You wouldn't believe how excited I was to see the Butter Beauty actually forming little heads like it was supposed to!  We harvested one head and gave it to my grandmother, who was equally as excited.

 

Grand Rapids is a loose leaf lettuce--the benefit of which is you can continually harvest the leaves over the growing season.  We enjoyed this lettuce for quite a while, though the flavor is more pronounced (bitter vs. mild) as the plant ages.  We also had an unexpected result with this lettuce: instead of growing bigger and spreading out horizontally as the months passed, it started growing upwards.  By mid-February we had a 2 1/2 foot Tower of Lettuce.  No kidding!  I only wish we had snapped a photo before it got hacked down in preparation for spring planting.



I really can't explain what happened with our Iceberg Lettuce.  For some inexplicable reason it never formed heads.  We still harvested and ate the loose leaves, of course, but it left us scratching our heads for an explanation.  Any tips from you veteran gardeners out there?

This lettuce was advertised as a romaine-type lettuce, but as you can clearly see from the photo above, it formed little heads.  Not that we were complaining of course, since the Iceberg failed in that department.  We enjoyed the Little Gem Lettuce but did not find that it was very Romaine-y.

Veggie Verdict:

Yes!  We WILL be growing lettuce again in our garden.  It is a cooler weather crop, so we'll have to plant some NOW in order to get a good harvest in before the heat of a Louisiana summer sets in.  The Grand Rapids Lettuce was our best performer, so that variety definitely wins a spot in the spring garden.

Explore the Series:

Winter Squash

Acorn Squash

Butternut Squash

Spaghetti Squash

Radish

Beets

Swiss Chard

Rutabaga

Kohlrabi

Turnips

Lettuce

Veggie Ventures: Turnips

Welcome to the Veggie Ventures series, where we'll take a glimpse

at veggies my husband and I want to grow but have never really eaten!

Turnips.  Now before you go running for the hills, hear me out.  If you think you hate turnips, chances are you've never had a good one.  Believe me, I know--because I was almost turned away from this under appreciated veggie by a couple of really bad specimens!  See the big one on the left in the above picture?  Nasty.  Yuck.  Unbearably bitter and nose-burningly pungent.  Cooking could not tame it, so into the trash it went.  The three little cuties next to it though?  Tender, mild, and faintly sweet.  It turns out that when it comes to turnips (at least ones you can buy at the market), bigger is NOT always better. 

Turnip Lesson #1: Turnips are at their best when harvested young and small.

I prepared the turnips by cubing them, steaming them in a little water, and finishing them up with a bit of butter and parsley.  They kind of look like potatoes, and texture-wise they were pretty close as well.  In the taste department, there's no foolin' though.  Turnips taste like...turnips, I suppose.  But in a good way.

High off my victory in my first turnip venture, I armed myself with Turnip Lesson #1 (buy them small) and decided to seek out more specimens for kitchen experimentation.  What I came home with though, was a far cry from what I had previously experienced.  Though small, the second set of turnips I bought were just as pungent and bitter as the giant one I previously tried.  What went wrong?  Further reading led me to...

Turnip Lesson #2: Bitter increases with storage time.  Buy the freshest you can find.

The first set of small turnips came from Fresh Pickin's--so pretty much straight from the farm.  The second set?  Cello-bagged from Wal-Mart.  Age?  questionable.  Lesson learned.

Veggie Verdict:

Turnips could definitely have a place in our garden.  They're a "two-fer" veggie, because the tops as well as the bulbs are edible.  In fact, some people grow turnips specifically for the turnip greens!

Garden Update:

We planted some turnips back in October to see how they'd fare during the winter.  (Cold weather is supposed to improve their flavor).  As you can see in the picture below (taken in January), the turnips started pushing themselves out of the ground.  We don't know why this happened, but it happened to the other root veggies we were growing as well (beets & radishes).  They're supposed to grow underground!  In terms of size, we were a little disappointed in how things turned out...but this was our fault for not fertilizing the garden regularly.  Our turnips ended up being slightly bigger than golf ball size :(  They were tasty, but considering the 3 month wait we would've liked to have had a bigger harvest to show for it!

Explore the Series:

Winter Squash

Acorn Squash

Butternut Squash

Spaghetti Squash

Radish

Beets

Swiss Chard

Rutabaga

Kohlrabi

Turnips

Veggie Ventures: Kohlrabi

Welcome to the Veggie Ventures series, where we'll take a glimpse

at veggies my husband and I want to grow but have never really eaten!

Ok.  We are admittedly guilty of falling into the trap of growing something in our garden because "it looks so gosh darn cool."  That's what happened with kohlrabi, a member of the Brassica family.  The name "kohlrabi" comes from the German words for "cabbage" and "turnip," but its flavor and cooked texture resemble a very mild broccoli stem.  Even though it looks like a root vegetable, the bulbous part grows above ground--so cool! 

Anyway, did you know that in south Louisiana kohlrabi is terribly difficult to find in grocery stores/farmers markets/produce stands?  We searched high and low for a specimen to sample before taking the plunge and planting the seeds, but to no avail.  Luckily our gamble paid off because they ended up being pretty tasty!  We ended up planting two varieties, the purple and white:

Isn't the purple kohlrabi just stunning?  It's almost unreal how brilliant the color is!  I enjoyed admiring the purple kohlrabi growing in our garden from our kitchen window!

To prepare the kohlrabi harvest, we peeled them (a task which proved more difficult than anticipated), diced them, and steamed them in the microwave until tender.  Then we threw them into a rice and cheese casserole instead of broccoli.  Yumm!  As a sidenote, we were a little nervous after harvesting the kohlrabi.  The aroma that came from the kitchen sink where they were waiting to be washed was...pungent.  Very, very pungent.  Like cabbage times 1,000.  Luckily none of that carried over after cooking.  The cooked flesh was mild and sweet, as promised!

Veggie Verdict:

We liked this one and would probably grow it again with a couple of changes.  The kohlrabi plants had massive leaves that shaded out everything growing near it.  This will definitely be taken into consideration during the next planting.  Also, the kohlrabi is a heavy feeder.  I knew this.  It was right on the seed pack.  Did I fertilize?  No, not really.  The garden got a bit of plant food at the beginning, but other than some water we didn't feed the kohlrabi.  Some veggie food would've definitely helped some of the scrawnier bulbs fatten up. 

Explore the Series:
Winter Squash
Acorn Squash
Butternut Squash
Spaghetti Squash
Radish
Beets
Swiss Chard
Rutabaga
Kohlrabi

Veggie Ventures: Rutabaga

Welcome to the Veggie Ventures series, where we'll take a glimpse

at veggies my husband and I want to grow but have never really eaten!

Rutabaga.  Are you a fan? 

While thumbing through seed catalogs last spring, we came across the rutabaga.  It looked like an overgrown turnip--purple on top with a whitish bottom part, and in fact I've often seen them in stores right next to the turnips.  Feeling adventuresome, I picked one up during a grocery run (yes, just ONE...I wasn't feeling that adventurous!) to see what it would taste like. 

The descriptions I read online were pretty much spot-on.  The flesh was deeply golden, sweet, and could be served mashed like potatoes.  The only "warning" I've seen about rutabagas is that they can be pretty darned tough to cut open.  So be extra careful when cutting into one, or follow the suggestion I did:  prick it with a fork and microwave it for about 5 minutes to slightly soften if before trying to peel and cut it.  Once I extracted the rutabaga cubes, I put them back in the microwave to finish cooking.  Then I simply mashed them up a bit and served them with a little butter and salt.  Delicious!

Veggie Verdict: 

Yes!  This one definitely could be grown in our garden.  We planned for it last fall, but we got a late start on our planting and missed out on the proper planting dates for rutabaga. (It's a cold season veggie, but requires about about 90 days to mature.  We planted in October, which was too late!)

Explore the Series:

Winter Squash

Acorn Squash

Butternut Squash

Spaghetti Squash

Radish

Beets

Swiss Chard

Rutabaga

Veggie Ventures: Swiss Chard

Welcome to the Veggie Ventures series, where we'll take a glimpse

at veggies my husband and I want to grow but have never really eaten!

"Bright Lights" variety of Swiss Chard (ooh, pretty colors!)

Okay, so I'll admit we wanted to grow this variety of Swiss Chard based on looks alone.  My love of all things rainbow pretty much guaranteed this one as a shoe-in for our fall vegetable garden!  My father-in-law has some purple, gold, and green Swiss Chard growing in his garden, courtesy of one of the grandkids who wanted to give him the gift of a "Mardi Gras-den" :)  Still, we were inexperienced with this veggie and were anxious to give it a try! 

The Swiss Chard was prepared simply, so we could get a feel for its true taste before making a judgement.  I really wanted to make the Swiss Chard, Leek & Gruyere Quiche I found on Nutmeg Nanny, but that will have to wait for another day!

Remove leaves from stems.  Chop stems into 3/4" slices or so (they look like rainbow celery!).  Roughly chop the greens.  Swiss chard greens don't need long to cook at all, so you'll need to give the stems a head start in a tiny bit of water.  Let them steam a bit and allow the water to evaporate.  Add some olive oil and garlic to the pan and heat briefly.  Add the greens and sautee for a few minutes, until tender.  Season with salt and pepper.

Veggie Verdict:

YAY - we really enjoyed the Swiss Chard.  Like the beet greens, it tasted "green" and spinachy.  The stems reminded us of cooked celery in texture, but had a very mild flavor of its own.  We're both really happy that we liked Swiss Chard, because it's going to be a very nutritious and beautiful addition to the garden!

Explore the Series:
Winter Squash
Acorn Squash
Butternut Squash
Spaghetti Squash
Radish
Beets
Swiss Chard

Veggie Ventures: Beets

Welcome to the Veggie Ventures series, where we'll take a glimpse

at veggies my husband and I want to grow but have never really eaten!

There doesn't seem to be much middle ground when it comes to beets--it seems people either love 'em or hate 'em, end of story. I wanted to be in the "love 'em" camp, but since I've only ever eaten salad bar beets I couldn't say for sure I'd enjoy them any other way. And Mr. K? He couldn't recall ever eating beets. Meanwhile, I'd already purchased two varieties of beet seeds to try out in our fall garden. Since beets are really two veggies in one (beet greens and the root), I thought these were justified purchases indeed. Now all I had to do was convince Mr. K that we'd love growing and eating beets...

You wouldn't believe how difficult it was for me to find a nice looking bunch of beets that:

1) were fairly uniform in size--for even cookingBeets

2) had fresh and healthy looking greens still attached

I finally found some at our local Fresh Market, but only after some digging. Most of the beet greens were manhandled in their attempt to squeeze as many bunches of beets as possible into their allotted ice-filled area. The smell of dirty, earthy beets on the car ride home prompted me to wash & scrub them thoroughly when I got home. I dried them and stashed them in the fridge for couple of days before I used them. What I didn't know was that I was supposed to cut off the greens and store them separately! During storage, the beet roots sapped moisture from the leaves, leaving them sad and limp.

Needless to say, there weren't many greens left on the beets that weren't on the verge of rotting by the time I finally got around to cooking them. I prepared them simply, giving them a quick saute with a bit of garlic, salt, and pepper. They were delicious and mild, very similar to spinach or other greens.

Don't forget about the greens. Some people grow beets just to harvest the green tops.

To prepare the beet roots, I wrapped each beet in foil and baked them at 350°F for about an hour. I found sources online that listed anywhere from 325°F-400°F for the temps, with varying cook times based on beet size. There isn't a hard and fast rule when it comes to cooking beets; you'll know they're done when a knife slips in and out of the beet with little resistance. Once they cooled a bit I slipped on a pair of kitchen gloves and got to peeling and chopping them. We ate a few pieces as is to get an unbiased opinion on their flavor. They were sweet, with a bit of earthy, irony/metallic flavor (which didn't bother us).  

Did we like them? Sure did! So much so that a few days later we picked up another bunch of beets--this time the gorgeous golden beet, hailed for its sweetness and unlikelyhood of staining everything it comes into contact with. This time I remembered to cut off the greens from the root prior to storage and was rewarded with a nice bunch of greens that stayed healthy looking. I prepared the golden beets in the same manner as the standard (red) beets, but we ended up not liking them. Maybe it we picked up a bad bunch or something, but the goldens were inedibly bitter. Adding more sugar couldn't fix it. What went wrong?

Calling all beet lovers! What's been your experience with golden beets?

Veggie Verdict:

Red beets - YAY - Can't wait to grow these!

Golden beets - NAY - We really, really wanted to like these.  They're so pretty!

Explore the series:
Winter Squash
Acorn Squash
Butternut Squash
Spaghetti Squash
Radish
Beets

Veggie Ventures: Spaghetti Squash

Welcome to the Veggie Ventures series, where we'll take a glimpse

at veggies my husband and I would like to grow but have never really eaten!

My husband ♥s carbs.  Pasta, rice, potatoes, bread--you name it, he'll eat it (but only if the bread is white!)  If he could get away with eating a spaghetti sandwich with a side of garlic bread, he probably would.  Don't get me wrong--I love carbs too, but I know that we could both use a little (or a lot!) less refined starchiness in our diets.  Enter the spaghetti squash.  We knew about the cool little transformation this squash makes once cooked, but the question remained: would it be an acceptable stand-in for pasta in our little carb-loving family?

I prepped the squash as outlined HERE then threw together a quick skillet meal to see if we'd like it enough to warrant growing it.

Veggie Verdict:

This is one neat vegetable.  We both had lots of fun scraping the squash strands out of the cooked squash.  While we couldn't be fooled into thinking a spaghetti squash dish was actually made of "real" spaghetti, we enjoyed the taste and texture thoroughly.  This one is definitely going in the garden this fall.  Along with the acorn, butternut, buttercup, and golden health squash. Winter squash (or any squash, for that matter) is a space hogger in the garden, but we'll make it work somehow.

Have you ever grown winter squash?  How did it go?

Spaghetti Squash with Peas and Bacon

Yield: 2 very generous servings

1 spaghetti squash, cooked and strands removed

1 Tbl. butter

1 Tbl. flour

1 cup milk

4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 cup peas (fresh or thawed if frozen)

salt and pepper to taste

chopped parsley

Melt butter in a skillet.  Add flour and whisk to combine.  Cook over medium heat for a few minutes, whisking constantly.  Slowly whisk in milk.  Cook over medium heat until sauce has thickened.  Stir in bacon, peas, and spaghetti squash.  Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper (make sure to taste it, it will depend on how salty the bacon was).  Stir in chopped parsley before serving.

Explore the series:

Winter Squash

Acorn Squash

Butternut Squash

Spaghetti Squash

Veggie Ventures: Butternut Squash

Welcome to the Veggie Ventures series, where we'll take a glimpse

at veggies my husband and I would like to grow but have never really eaten!

Butternut Squash. This was one I knew we'd both like, even though my only experience with it has been in this form:

I know.  Shameful, isn't it?  When I was trying out vegetarianism, this Lean Cuisine meal was a lunchtime mainstay.  So I knew that I at least have tried butternut squash; I just didn't know how it would taste on its own, sans "creamy sauce with walnuts, snap peas, and carrots."  (sidenote: I wasn't very good at being a vegetarian, so it didn't stick unfortunately.)  Butternut squash is pretty common and wildly popular, so it must be good, right?  Well I'm happy to report that once I tried freshly baked butternut squash without any adornment, I was in love.  Mr. K stands in agreement.  Sweet, smooth, and rich--this is one tasty vegetable!

Speaking of rich, I recently came across a wonderful recipe for Butternut Squash Ziti on Macheesmo.  I had to try it out because it gave me the perfect excuse to seek out one of my "I gotta try that sometime" cheeses:

Gruyere.

(My other "must try one day" cheese is Fontina)

I've always read that you can swap out some Swiss cheese if Gruyere isn't available, so of course I've always done that when I came across a recipe calling for Gruyere.  Why?

$13.98 a pound, that's why.

While it's not the most budget-friendly cheese, I think it defintely has a place in the kitchen once in a while.  We both really enjoyed the flavor of the cheese by itself, despite my initial reservations.  Out of the package, I could detect a bit of aroma funkiness that I am especially sensitive to.  Once cooked, I could still smell le funk, but for some (lucky) reason I could not taste what I smelled.  Anyway, we both REALLY enjoyed the dish (see evidence below.  I made half the recipe, but we could have easily eaten a whole one).  It had a little kick to it from the cayenne, and even though the butternut squash was really sweet on its own, it worked out perfectly here.

Click HERE to visit Macheesmo and get the recipe!

Have you ever used a recipe as an excuse for buying fancy/pricey ingredients?

Explore the series:
Winter Squash
Acorn Squash
Butternut Squash

Veggie Ventures: Acorn Squash

Welcome to the Veggie Ventures series, where we'll take a glimpse
at veggies my husband and I would like to grow but have never really eaten!

If anybody could be accused of growing things in their garden simply because they look "fun", we'd be guilty, guilty, guilty.  Acorn squash is one of those fun looking vegetables that made it onto our fall gardening list by looks alone. But how would it taste?  Would we like it?  Many of the acorn squash recipes I've seen involve maple syrup, brown sugar, or the like to bring out the natural sweetness of the squash.  The particular acorn squash that we brought home, however, was anything but sweet.  It tasted very much like yellow summer squash with a bit of bitterness, so I decided to go the savory route with this one.

This is a simple soup that really highlights the flavor of acorn squash.  The hardest part is prepping the squash for the recipe.  Look HERE to see how I baked mine. I've also read that you can microwave the squash, but I haven't tried it yet.  Maybe next time though!

Acorn Squash Soup (adapted from this recipe)

Yield: About 3 cups

1 acorn squash, cooked

1 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup heavy cream

garlic powder, to taste

salt

1 Tbl. chopped chives

garlic croutons, for serving

Combine acorn squash, chicken stock, and heavy cream in a food processor or blender.  Puree until smooth.  Pour mixture into a small pan and season to taste with garlic powder and salt.  Heat over medium low heat until soup is hot.  Stir in chives and garnish soup with croutons.

Veggie Verdict:

Yay!  We like this one and will be planting some Fordhook Acorn Squash (surprise!  It's white instead of green. How fun!) at the end of summer. 

(Image source)


Explore the series:

Winter Squash

Acorn Squash

Veggie Ventures: Winter Squash

With our summer garden in full swing, our thoughts are turning to what vegetables we'll be planting in our fall garden.  We haven't planned out how we're going to arrange furniture when we move into our first house, but we sure have the backyard mapped out!  It was a difficult decision, but we're going to start 'small' and only build three 4x4 Square Foot Garden boxes.  Only three.  Sigh.

When it came time to select seeds, we did exactly what we were warned against in The Book.  Author Mel Bartholomew offers some sound advice: Don't go seed shopping by flipping through a seed catalog--you'll want to plant everything you see.  Instead, base your seed selections on what your family currently eats and purchases on a weekly basis.  Sounds simple enough, right?

Right... 

We're big dreamers over here, my husband and I.  We DO want to plant everything.  Only problem is, we haven't actually eaten everything we want to plant in our garden.  Solution?  Buy it and eat it, of course!  Over the next several weeks Kitchen Koala will be bringing you the Veggie Ventures series, which will take a look at the various veggies we were never exposed to but desperately want to grow. 

First up: Winter Squash.

I know, I know.  You're in disbelief that neither one of us is familiar with these beauties, but it's true.  I've had some exposure to butternut squash, but I've never bought any to cook at home.  Hubby on the other hand, can't recall if he's ever had any type of winter squash (pumpkin aside), so we thought it would be a good idea to pick up a variety of squash to try out.  To prep them for baking, you'll need a heavy, sharp knife to cut them in half.  It helps to hold your knife vertically rather than horizontally to start.  Stab straight down the middle and all the way down to the cutting board, then make your cut.  Repeat for the other side.

Use a spoon to scrape out the seeds and pulp.  If this were homegrown squash, I'd save the seeds for planting the next season.  Since these came from who knows where and could possibly be hybrid varieties, saving seeds to plant might not be the best idea.

Heat the oven to 350°F and line a baking pan with foil.  Place squash on the pan cut side down and pierce the skin with a fork to allow steam to escape.  Give the squash plenty of room on the baking pan.  Don't do what I did below.  I was determined to make them fit on one pan.  Mistake.  The 3 pieces in the middle weren't done at the same time as the others.

Bake at 350°F for 50-60 minutes, or until squash is tender.  (The middle pieces on my pan took an additional 20 minutes to finish baking)  Let cool at least 15 minutes, or until you can easily handle the squash halves.  Scoop out the flesh for use in recipes (more on that next week!)  Yields will vary depending on the size of your squash. 

Winter squash lovers:  What are your favorite recipes?

Baked Jalapeno Poppers

It's been hit or miss with our pepper plants.  The bell peppers were producing fruit and looking great, but it seems they've caught something that's causing them to rot instead of ripen :(  We are still investigating what's going on with them.  The jalapeños on the other hand, are a whole other story.  Each of the four plants is steadily churning out peppers for us!  What to do with all those peppers?  How about some jalapeño poppers!

First, you will need to gather some special equipment:


Yep, you'll need some protective hand gear.  When dealing with this many peppers gloves are not optional.

Baked Jalapeño Poppers (adapted from Emeril Lagasse)
Yield: 48 pieces

24 fresh jalapeño peppers
1/2 cup all-purpose flour 
10 tsp. Essence, divided use (recipe follows)
2 large eggs
2 Tbl. milk
4 cups panko bread crumbs
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
16 oz. grated cheddar cheese
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. cayenne, or less, to taste

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line 2 large baking sheets with foil; grease foil.

Set up 3-stage breading station:
Dry - In a small bowl or dish, combine flour and 2 teaspoons Essence.
Wet - In another small bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, and 2 teaspoons of Essence. 
Crunchy - In a pie pan or shallow dish combine panko and 6 teaspoons Essence.

Wearing gloves, remove stems from peppers and cut in half lengthwise.  Remove pepper seeds and membranes.

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, grated cheese, cumin, and cayenne until evenly mixed.  To keep things nice and even when stuffing the peppers, it helps to divide the cheese mixture up beforehand.  Scrape mixture onto a piece of waxed paper and form into a flat square or rectangle.  Use a butter knife or bench scraper to cut the cheese slab into 48 pieces.  Stuff jalapeño halves with cheese.

One at a time, dredge in flour, dip into egg mixture, then dredge in panko crumbs, pressing to coat.  Place the coated peppers, cut side up, on the prepared baking sheets.  Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes, or until cheese is melted and crust is golden.  Let cool slightly before serving.


Essence (Emeril's Creole Seasoning)
Yield: about 2/3 cup

2 1/2 Tbl. paprika
2 Tbl. salt
2 Tbl. garlic powder
1 Tbl. black pepper
1 Tbl. onion powder
1 Tbl. cayenne pepper
1 Tbl. dried oregano
1 Tbl. dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight jar or container.


Recipe notes:

•  I've adjusted this recipe from Emeril's to more accurately reflect the amount of coating ingredients you'll need.  When made according to the original, I found that I needed less than half the amount of flour and egg wash but at least double the amount of panko.
• The coating wouldn't stick very well to the jalapeño skin, no matter how hard we tried.  If these were store-bought peppers I would've blamed the wax coating that some suppliers like to put on them, but these were home grown.  Don't know what the problem was.
• The jalapeño portion stayed somewhat crisp, even after 30 minutes of baking.  They could have stayed in the oven for a bit longer, but cheese leakage was becoming an issue.