20 October 2015

No food pix today, but food thoughts

I won't post any pictures of food today, even though I have some showing things we've made using millet, which we can find at an organic food shop over in Montrichard, and field peas aka cow peas that I always bring back from North Carolina. Both are worth trying.


I planted some more greens yesterday — collards, chard, and kale — with hopes that we'll get a winter crop. I tilled up a small plot in the vegetable garden, sowed seeds directly in the ground, and covered them with a cold frame (une mini-serre). If they sprout and grow well, I'll transplant the healthiest seedlings to space them out on a bigger plot of ground.


While I was out there in the garden, I looked at my full-grown collard plants again and thought I ought to cut some more leaves and cook them. But how? What occurred to me was cooking the green leaves with tomatoes and garlic — pour varier un peu les plaisirs.


This morning I found a recipe posted by, of all people, Martha Stewart. She braises collard greens with tomatoes, smoked pork, garlic, and black-eyed peas. I have all those ingredients in the pantry or refrigerator. That's my project for today. It's the kind of thing you don't have to eat the day you make it. Left over it might be even better.

11 comments:

  1. Can't wait to see what the Martha Stewart's decoction will look like. Couldn't taste it on line, unfortunately.

    Beautufil wild chicory flower!

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    1. The two close-up shots are Canon. The sunset is Lumix (but I don remember whether it was the old or the new Lumix).

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    2. It is hard to tell which camera is better for what. The flower could be sharper or more contrasted. Wonder what Lumix would do with it. The best way would be to compare raw shots, before any treatment with Photoshop. Those two cameras seem to be almost equally good.

      For flower close-ups, I had great success with my old Lumix.

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    3. Have I already mentioned this? With the Canon, I don't bother with macro mode. I just shoot everything in "regular" mode and the results are better.

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  2. Great wild chick as chm says...
    We've got a whole front leg of lamb to get through...
    it was very nice hot Sunday as a roast...
    better yesterday as a sandwich with some fridge soup...
    it will be lovely today as a salad...
    and wonderful as a Shepherd's Pie on Wednesday or Thursday...
    or both, depending on size!!
    Personally, I prefer lamb cold with relishes or chutneys...
    but you can have too much cold lamb!!

    But some dishes really have to be made in advance...
    grated carrots with lemon juice...
    and beetroot salad with onion and french dressing....
    are two that spring into mind!

    And not being to taste food over the interweb...
    there's something for the geeks to get their minds round...
    perhaps a usb attached pot you can stick a finger into and it sprays the flavour onto your finger...
    or, if a wine... on a long enough lead that you can lift the pot to your nose and inhale.
    Then stick your finger in and taste!

    The other bit of kit, naturally, will be a probe that picks up the taste and smell...
    we've had Google Goggles...
    why not Google Gastro!

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    1. My latest cut and shredded collard green leaves are cooking right now in tomato sauce with onions, garlic, and spices. Martha S. says to cook them for 2 to 2½ hours, but I'm not convinced they will be done after that much time. I'm tasting them; they are going to be delicious. I'm trying to write down my recipe, based on Martha's and others' that I have looked at. Recipe tomorrow.

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  3. The collard dish sounds lovely, may have to try it myself! Autumn and food thoughts seem to go hand in hand.

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  4. I grew up in North Carolina. I refused to eat collard greens or black eye peas .. but now that I live in NY and various other parts of the world ... I love grits.
    Go figure :)

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  5. In general, I have been Martha-resistant, but I have to admit that every recipe I've tried that has her name on it has been very good or even excellent.

    How long do you like to cook collards?

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  6. Collards need a lot of cooking. I like all kids of peas which are excellent with greens.

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  7. Evelyn and Carolyn, the collards today have cooked for five or six hours, and they are not over-cooked. I'll post my recipe tomorrow. M.S. made hers with black-eyed peas, but I used chickpeas.

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