Planning

[sam_t]

This week's vegbox contains:

carrots
parsnips
celeriac
sweet potatoes
calabrese
leeks
mixed peppers
mushrooms


I think there might well be a stir-fry in there, probably with some cashew nuts if I've still got some in the cupboard. That means either a Ken Hom recipe or a couple of spoonfuls of a bought chilli bean sauce, depending on how tired I feel. Probably the sauce, to be honest, given that it's just past four and I'm not exactly bursting with energy.

The sweet potato might well get used in a recipe from an American cookbook I was given for Christmas: Simply in Season. It's a Mennonite (about whom I know next to nothing) publication, designed to help people to cook with seasonal, local produce. It's an admirable goal, but the fact that (despite metric measurements) it's really designed for a different continent does produce a few oddities: venison listed in the 'all year round' section, and fresh (bell) peppers used in a lot of the winter recipes, for instance. The recipes I've looked at seem interesting, although I can't help thinking that there's a lot of cheese around - and I speak as someone whose first cookbook was The Dairy Book of Home Cookery.

At least some of the celeriac will be made into celeriac remoulade, I think: I'm feeling in need of something raw and slightly crunchy. Some of the carrot may well be eaten raw, too.

The leeks may be a bit of a problem. I like leeks, but I bought some last week and I haven't finished them yet. Leek and potato soup would make sense if it weren't for the fact that I just don't eat soup that much.

Not very main meal ideas in there, at the moment. Hm.

Comments

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

If your veg box is anything like mine used to be, you will become an expert at using leeks. I think they turned up in my boxes every other week, on average. You can do a lot more with them than you'd expect, starting with stir-frys. They're also lovely combined with a couple of other green veg (courgettes, broccoli, frozen peas and so on), garlic, raisins and pine nuts, sautéd in olive oil and shoved on pasta, which is my version of pasta primavera. And if you're into basic miso soup, the sort where you bung in a vegetable or two, diced tofu, fresh noodles, and optionally wakame seaweed and/or sesame seeds, leeks are great in that.

Roasted root veg for the rest?

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

I solved the problem by making Pasta With All The Leeks In The World - in other words, lots and lots of leeks, chopped and braised with olive oil, garlic and vermouth (would have used wine if there had been a bottle open), stirred into a small portion of pasta and a small handful of cheese.

I've still got some roasted veg from last week (butternut squash, shallots and beetroot), so I sort of need things to do with roast veg once I've made it! I do like it but have trouble incorporating it into a meal (I've already done 'as a side dish' and 'in an omelette': I'll probably do 'add beans and tomatoes', and then my ingenuity runs out.

I haven't tried miso soup. What sort do I need?

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

Fresh stuff, it should be in the fridge at a Chinese or Japanese shop. I prefer white miso, which is actually a yellowy colour but is definitely lighter than other misos. For a single serving, I use a heaped cutlery spoonful. Mix it in the bowl with a little water to make the paste thinner. Put your veggies (e.g. one carrot in matchsticks and a section of sliced leek) in a pan with just enough water to cover, add fresh udon or ramen noodles when the veg are nearly cooked, and put the whole lot into the bowl with the miso (which is why you don't want too much water). Add some diced tofu and sesame seeds, make sure the miso is mixed in, and there we are. The reason you're not boiling the miso is because apparently it destroys its little enzymes or something, and boiling the tofu makes it rubbery whereas if you add it in at that stage it's enough to heat it through. I get lovely fresh tofu from my local Chinese supermarket. You can also put a bit of wakame on to soak at the start and add that in at the end too. The whole thing takes a few minutes. That's how I do it, anyway; there are loads of recipes online.

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

I hadn't seen any in fridges: there's a corner shop near where I work that has a small Chinese/Japanese corner, presumably because of international students, and they have packets on a shelf at room temperature. There is apparently a Chinese supermarket somewhere in the area, though, so I'll investigate that when I have a chance. Thanks!

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

You can get dried stuff in little packets, but I hear it's dire. I ended up getting some for my mother (including freeze-dried blocks of tofu) when she was in hospital up here the other year, but in her situation she was desperate, and anything will taste good next to hospital food!

My local Japanese restaurant tends to serve miso soup with diced tofu and spring onion along with most of its meals. Since I'm not usually making it as a side dish, I put more in there.