In My Harvest Bowl
This time of year it’s really nice to head out to the garden instead of the grocery store. Since we have a freezer full of pork and venison, I don’t even need to go for meat. One of our meals is stir fry. It’s easily adaptable to whatever vegetables you have on hand and can be made vegetarian or with any kind of meat. In the winter we enjoy stir fries with carrots, parsnips, onions and mushrooms. In summer it’s filled with squash, cabbage, peas and broccoli. My basic recipe has a ginger sauce and can be found over on Eat Outside the Bag.
This week some of my broccoli was ready to harvest as are my golden peas. Garlic scales are coming on by what seems to be the hundreds as well. The onions in the garden are bulbing up enough to start using them as well. I also had an orange in the pantry so I added orange zest and orange juice to the stir fry sauce – a delicious addition that I might put in the recipe. It’s certainly not a bad way to eat vegetables from the garden!
What’s your favorite adaptable meal to use your garden or CSA produce?
Filed under Around the Garden, Edible, harvest | Comments (10)
I love stir fries, but equally easy are Thai style curries. They have a coconut milk base, and we keep small cans of authentic Thai curry paste in the pantry. One little can flavors 3 curries, my favorite is Massaman.
Pasta primavera is also easy, blanch the vegetables and toss with olive oil and some Parmesan. So fresh!
to Marina's comment
Oh yes – I usually do a Thai style curry when I have seafood – SO GOOD!!!
to Susy's comment
I like putting vegetables into egg and cheese pies. My recipe used to include a crust, but I don’t enjoy crusts enough for it to be worth the time. In a buttered or oiled 9″ glass pie plate I put 1 to 3 cups vegetables, sauteed if necessary, and I pour over them a mixture of four eggs, roughly a half cup of cottage cheese or homemade yogurt, and roughly a half to a whole cup of whatever cheese I have (shredded, shaved, or crumbled; often some is reserved to go on top). Thirty minutes at 350°F and it’s done. If I have fresh, or think of dry, herbs that go with the day’s flavor palette, those go in the egg mixture. A wedge of the pie is nice with a green salad.
to Karla's comment
I picked broccoli last night too. Cooked some to eat and froze a couple of heads. One of my favorite summer meals is Patty Pan squash sauteed in a little EVO and water, seasoned with salt, pepper, and either curry powder or Emeril’s Southwest. I have frozen this but it really doesn’t freeze very well.
to Jennifer Fisk's comment
Susy, you will probably remember that my favorite thing to do is make soup. Soup is what cleans up the fridge at the end of the week. It’s my creative area of cooking.
I’m not harvesting any thing yet from the garden probably won’t until August. The plants that made it through the tough spring are now experiencing 50 degree weather at night. That’s not the best for maturing tomato fruits. The cabbages are loving it though and soon will become kraut. The onions are finally putting on some bulb flesh. I haven’t checked on the corn and beans at Terra Nova Gardens for a week because of the rain and a concrete step repair for a friend.
Have a great July 4th weekend. I’ll be out of town visiting friends that live about two hours away.
Have a great harvest in you bowl day.
to Nebraska Dave's comment
Definitely stirfry and curry. Salads, too, and soups. Steamed or sauteed as side dishes, sliced up raw and eaten on or with sandwiches, toppings for pizza… We are determined to eat every bite that comes from our garden (the ones that the bugs and the birds don’t get first!)
to DebbieB's comment
That’s pretty much what we had last night too, though your picture reminds me I forgot to add the pea pods, darnit! I’d say pasta and pizza nights are the easiest for using up all kinds of vegetables. I’m not very good at traditional stir fries (though I keep trying!), I have better luck with Indian and middle eastern dishes.
to Sara's comment
I also love stir fries. I could eat a different stir fry every day and not get sick of them. Perhaps I will do a stir fry series with all the different ‘recipes’ I like. I put recipes in quotes because I never really follow a recipe per say, just use what I have on hand and make it work.
to Bacon Brown's comment
We just tried your ginger stir fry (using venison) the other night and enjoyed it! The orange sounds like a nice addition.
to Wendy's comment
Love stir-fry for garden things, whatever the season. Our other favorite go-to meals are omelets, quiche and pizza. Love to do soup form the winter garden, it is just too hot for me in the summer to enjoy soup.
to Sincerely, Emily's comment