week 4

Cooking in Season
Week 4
I try not to complain about the weather. I don’t like it when people complain that it’s too hot and can’t wait for winter or too cold and wish summer would hurry up and get here. I like the seasons. I like Ohio. It’s hot, cool, rainy, frigid, sweltering, hailstorms, thunder, and a few perfect 70 degree days in there somewhere. The weather is what it is. The problem comes when the vegetables go on strike along with the chickens. The pig is wallowing in the cool water that’s being pumped out of the pool. The sheep are grazing only in the shade and then coming out to eat at night. The gardens are stalling. We’ll water and then there will be a little growth spurt for a bit, but then once it gets over 90, things stop growing. They look stressed. They want more water, but the roots need to breathe, but it’s too hot to breathe. Even the warm weather loving tomatoes and peppers are on strike from growing while the temps climb over what they like.
So here we are, mid-July in Ohio and pulling up what we can. There’s some squash, some cucumbers, and I can’t believe it… still some broccoli that’s not bitter and I’m watering the lettuce to see if I can pull some of that up as well.
Also, there’s an odd shaped veggie creeping in season now that old time Ohioans love – kohlrabi. It reminds me of a flying saucer or a seed pod that would slowly float around finding for a new spot to plant itself. I use the leaves like kale and slice the bulb up, really thin works in salads like water chestnuts, or I like to sauté it and throw it in squash.Today I cooked up some baby onions in a skillet with some olive oil. Then once they were clear I threw in sliced zucchini, yellow squash and peeled and sliced beets with some water, put the lid on and steamed for about ten minutes. I put them over egg noodles with a little bit of butter and garlic salt and that was lunch. In hindsight, I probably should have done a cold salad as cooking in a hot kitchen is… um, hot.
Here is the best cucumber recipe from member Linda Chen. This is the recipe for the Taiwanese cucumbers - I'll give my mother-in-law credit & call them 'Betty Chen's (Taiwanese) Pickled Cucumbers'!
~ 1 cucumber, cut into 2 inch sticks or cut to your preference (but not too thin)~ 1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt ~ 1 TBsp apple cider vinegar~ 1/2 - 3/4 tsp brown sugar~ garlic, 2 cloves minced or to taste~ 1 tsp sesame oil~ tiny bit of hot chili bean paste (doe ban jan) - you can probably substitute with chili oil, dash hot sauce, or red pepper flakescut cucumbers & sprinkle with salt - let sit for 15 min - mix vinegar, sugar, garlic, sesame oil, & chili bean paste - pour over cucumbers, toss & eat!It tastes just as good if the cukes don't sit for 15 min.
*sesame oil* - Not all sesame oil is created equal, I've tried several. My & husband I agree that Kadoya is the best! - thumbs down on Ty Ling brand - I always refrigerate my sesame oil since it's not used quickly. This will retain freshness & prevent rancidity.
Stay cool and enjoy your veggies this week. Looking forward to eggplant that are the size of baseballs now, tomatoes that are starting to turn already, giant Marconi peppers that are still green but getting huge, and ground cherries that are getting eaten by us as soon as they get ripe. But for now, we’re off to go swimming. - Janee