Roasting Veggies

This spring weather in Kansas has been hormonal, at best. It spiked to the high 90s for a few days, then dropped to the mid-30s, confusing both the cool and warm weather crops. On the bright side, this cool snap has made it more reasonable to fire up the oven. Thus, oven-roasted veggies.

We don't sell asparagus but I do have my little patch of 9 plants that provides just enough for our family. My new favorite way to prepare the asparagus is so, so simple.

1. Preheat the oven to 415 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. Wash the asparagus, and cut off any woody ends. 
3. Place the asparagus whole into a 13x9 casserole dish or a baking sheet. 
4. Drizzle olive oil lightly over the asparagus.
5. Bake for 8 minutes. Flip the asparagus (so bottom side is on top).
6. Bake another 7 to 10 minutes, until asparagus is crisp-tender.

Last weekend, I started experimenting with carrots, since our carrot crop this year is just coming on. Since I was already baking some asparagus, I made up this recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 415 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Wash carrots and cut off the stems and the end of the root.
3. Cut wide carrots length-wise, so the carrots are all of equal thickness.
4. Add 4-5 tablespoons butter into a 13x9 casserole dish, and preheat in the oven until butter is melted. 
5. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon ground ginger over butter. 
6. Add carrots to casserole dish, turning to coat.
7. Bake for 8 minutes. Flip the carrots.
8. Bake another 7-10 minutes, until carrots are crisp tender and starting to carmelize.

I bet I could do the same with all these radishes, but without the ginger. Any suggestions on what could spice up the roasted radishes?

Roasting Veggies

Friday's Featured Food: Fried!

I have a confession to make. I have a weakness for fried foods. Fried cheese, fried chicken, fried ice cream... you fry it, I'll try it and probably love it. My love of fried foods combines with my love of veggies quite often. Jay jokes that I have learned how to make every veggie a little less healthy.

It's true that cooking veggies can decrease their nutritional aspect. Fried foods are less healthy because the foods absorb the oil while they are cooking and because of the added fat from the breading. I try to minimize the negatives of frying food by by using a thin, light batter, such as tempura. I also prefer to fry in canola oil, which has a lower amount of trans and saturated fat compared to other cooking oils. Now, the nutritionists out there will tell you that it is still bad. I know this. But, a girl's got to have some bad habits, right?

Back to the batter. As I mentioned, I like to cook the veggies tempura-style, which is defined as deep fried veggies or seafood often eaten in Japan. Tempura batter is super-easy:

1. Beat one egg in a bowl. 
2. Add 1 cup ice water in the bowl. Be sure to use very cold water. 
3. Add 1 cup sifted flour in the bowl and mix lightly. Be careful not to overmix the batter.

See? Easy! The difficult part is deciding what to fry. We have fried fresh broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, yellow squash, asparagus, onions, carrots, green beans, pickles, radishes, green tomatoes, and just about anything else that pops up in our garden.  Now the rest of the process:

1. Wash and cut the veggies and set them in a bowl of ice water until ready to cook. 
2. Heat oil to 340-350 degrees Fahrenheit.  
3. Dip the prepped veggies in the tempura and set them into the hot oil. Watch out for splashes of the hot oil!
4. Fry for 2-3 minutes, or until batter turns golden.

Fried Squash Blossoms is another delicious fried treat we made last year. It truly has very little nutritious value, but it was such a delicacy and oddity that the entire family had fun eating it.

Squash Blossoms can be stuffed with whatever you wish, then dipped in batter and fried. Our favorite recipe had a mixture of cream cheese, cheddar cheese and spices inside. You can go all out, with Emeril's crab stuffed squash blossoms, or keep it simple, with no stuffing. They are a heavy food, in that you won't need to eat many to be full. We budget 2-4 per person when making them for our family or friends.

And while you have the oil heated up for the squash blossoms, why not throw in a few other veggies... just for fun. Or, do the right thing and balance all that fried stuff with a fresh garden salad. Either way, yum!

Edited to add: I love that, once I posted this, Google changed my ads on the right to "cut down on belly fat" and "Fried Cinnamon Rolls". It cracks me up!

Friday's Featured Food: Fried!

Friday's Featured Food: Asparagus

Asparagus is such a funny vegetable. Its stout little spikes pushing through the soil have come to signify the start of spring. It's one of the earliest vegetables to harvest, as a perennial that appears in April.

It's also my crop. Of all the vegetables in our garden, this is the one vegetable that was my choice to plant, my responsibility to maintain. It also brings me bragging rights, as in, "MY crop was ready to eat before YOURS! ha!" That is, until Jay started growing spinach and hanging baskets of tomatoes year round.

Asparagus is a very hardy vegetable, handling the extreme climate of Kansas with no problem. The trick to a good stand is to not pick it the entire first year after you plant it. I recently read that, by not picking it the first year, the roots get all the nutrients they need to set and flourish.

 Asparagus just pushing through

The key to good asparagus is to pick it at the right time. From the time you first see the little bud pushing through the soil until it is ready to harvest is, on average, 3 days. Asparagus is ready to pick when it reaches 7-9 inches tall.

This one is ready to harvest

To pick it, simply snap it off at the base. If you want, you can use a knife, but don't try to cut deeper than the soil. In fact, leaving a little bit of the stem in the ground is better for the plant.

If you wait too long to harvest it, though, the plant gets woody and tasteless. It always surprises me how quickly it grows too tall. Already this spring, it got away from me:

Oops!

Now that you have the right asparagus stalk, what do you want to do with it? First off, cook it right away. If you wait to prepare the asparagus, not only does it lose crispness and flavor, it also loses vitamins and nutrients. (Asparagus is a great source of folic acid, Vitamin A, and Potassium.)

My preferred cooking method is:

1. Wash about 6 to 8 asparagus stalk thoroughly, then cut into 2- to 3-inch long pieces. Separate the end pieces from the tips.
2. Add the lower stalk pieces to a saucepan filled with boiling water. Boil uncovered for 6 minutes.
3. Add the tips. Boil 5-8 more minutes.
4. Drain most of the water. Add about 3 tablespoons butter. 
5. Serve!

Now, that's the basic method, but asparagus is more versatile than most people think.  This Betty Crocker site has so many asparagus recipes. I think because it is the first fresh vegetable of the season, people tend to get even more creative with it. The most creative use I've tried is the Faux Guacamole recipe from Weight Watchers. It may take some courage on your part to try it, but I promise that I have made it and it is tasty... and fat free.

Friday's Featured Food: Asparagus