Posted on 11/08/2013 12:23:38 PM PST by greeneyes
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. There is no telling where it will go and... that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!
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I love Brussels Sprouts if property roasted or browned. I won't eat boiled ones as they are disgusting. A month of so ago, I looked for recipes and found these two which are easy, especially the Tuscan one:
TWO RECIPES: Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Pistachio and Lemon, and Tuscan Type Recipe
There is no end to recipes claiming to be the one that makes people like Brussels sprouts—the operating assumption here being that most people hate them. With good reason: when made poorly—which seems to be frequently—they can be sulfurous, bitter, and vile. Done well, however, they can be sublime.
BA’s top Brussels sprouts recipe presents a very good method. But through one twists of fate that only seem to arise when… well, when one is cooking Brussels sprouts, I happened on another method less than a week earlier that is equally good.
How to Pick Brussels Sprouts
What’s the secret to coaxing the charm from a brussels sprout? It starts with the sprout itself. They have to be fresh&mdash’that’s a given. And if you can get them on the stalk, which looks like something a dinosaur would snack on, so much the better (this is a great way to interest otherwise-reluctant kids to approach them; it’s so cool-looking, it has to be good, right?). If you can’t find them on the stalk, you’re better off going with the smallest ones you can find. A big sprout is an older sprout, and an older sprout runs the risk of being nasty.
How to Cook ‘Em
Once you’ve got the ideal sprouts, you can still ruin them (if you’re determined) by cooking them the wrong way. Boiling or steaming, while not defective in themselves, risk overcooking and should be avoided. As most of the “you’re going to love ‘em” recipes (including this one) reveal, the surprise is the delicious, nutty flavor the sprouts take on when they’re slightly browned.
The Bon Appetit approach requires you to deconstruct the sprouts to gain as much surface area as possible. If I understood the instructions (and the picture) properly, that means coring each little green guy as if it were a full-sized cabbage, then pulling the unanchored leaves apart and separating them. If you have larger sprouts (which the recipe calls for) you’ll be working with about a dozen. If you have smaller sprouts (see paragraph two) you’re tackling possibly three dozen. That’s a lot of prep work, especially if you have other dishes to work on.
Luckily, it’s the only prep work required. The leaves (it seems like an awful lot of them at first, but they wilt) are tossed in hot grapeseed oil (in which a little shallot has softened) with shelled pistachio nuts until lightly toasted, and dressed with a few dashes of lemon juice. The result is simple, lovely to look at, and a revelation for anyone who thinks of Brussels sprouts as those evil little grey-green globes.
A note about the pistachios: The recipe calls for unsalted natural pistachios, which is good, since most nuts seem to be a subsidy for the salt industry. But I wonder if this dish could have used the intense saltiness of regular pistachios. As good as it was, that might have brought the flavor into tighter focus. If anyone tries it, please let me know.
Another recipe
As I mentioned, I came across another excellent Brussels sprout recipe less than a week ago. This one is from the estimable food writer John Thorne, (who got it from Janet Ross), and whose collected essays prove that thinking and eating are not mutually exclusive. It’s a Tuscan approach, and there’s nothing to it: Trim the stems on the sprouts and cut them in half, steam them for about six minutes until they’re bright green and slightly tender, then saute them over medium-high in a generous amount of olive oil (grapeseed would be nice as well) until the cut sides and the rounded sides are lightly browned and fragrant. Lower the heat a little, toss in a handful of freshly toasted breadcrumbs and a handful of Parmesan cheese, stir things around until the cheese is melted, and serve. Mmmmmm. You can never have too many good recipes for brussels sprouts.
/johnny
Soil is not my specialty, but I would start by planting a winter cover crop or crop mix. Hairy Vetch, Rye, and Red Clover come to mind. That should help to stop the leaching, and will provide some good green manure in spring.
I would also say that a soil test to see what nutrients are needed would be helpful. Then when you plant in the spring, you can incorporate some slow release granules and liquid plant food and/or fertilizer into your gardening plans based on what you really need.
In case you missed my experiment earlier this spring, Mushroom compost won hands down for growing the leafy vegetables like lettuce and spinach. Just dumped it on top of the ground and planted the seeds directly in it.
Hope this helps, and hope some other more experienced gardners can help out with additional comments.
PS - forgot to mention, that planting the same veggie in the same place each year will deplete the soil of the nutrietnts that veggie needs, and also helps diseases and pests for that plant to grow better leading to decreased yields.
My Chinese kale, collards and beets have all come up (planted Tuesday before last)! They’re teeny tiny right now, but at least they’ve sprouted .... it’s great to see something growing in the garden. I also have figured out a tarp system so I can cover the garden and keep the frost off of them .... VERY excited about this because I can see (in my mind’s eye) a spring ‘greenhouse’, using the same concept, so I can start some plants early! Now I can’t wait for early spring planting season ..... got a few months to go and the weather guys are throwing the “s” word around .... sneux!
Thanks for the leaf advice. And please add me to the gardening ping list.
We trap them and release them far away. The one’s that don’t get trapped, I just take satisfaction in knowing that they could be part of our food supply, if they become too bothersome.LOL
Will do.
“I’m gonna go all Marcella on them but probably going to buy a BB/pellet gun and take some target practice at those bushy tailed daytime tree rats.”
“all Marcella on them” - if you do that, the freaking squirrels will be conquered one way or another. I simply will not let a freaking animal destroy my food. I’m not playing games in my small garden, I’m “dead” serious about growing food and if that means “dead” squirrels, so be it.
RE: brussels sprouts - check this out:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/12/brussels-sprouts-with-balsamic-and-cranberries/
Also, there are recipes for brussels sprouts, bacon & basamic glaze, just ‘google/bing’ or whatever .... anything is good with bacon!
Squirrel and dumplings with a side of green peas.
Don’t get much better than that.
That’s one of the reasons that I like to plant winter wheat. All winter long the garden is green, and when the sun shines it looks like spring.LOL
Tarps are great. I like the row covers the best. They let in enough sunshine, air, and rain that I don’t have to remove them every day. Course they only give you about 4 extra degrees, so when it gets too cold, I throw some straw, blanket, or plastic on top too.
Getting ready for a mild freeze Wed night, only about 31, but gunna bring in the containers to the back porch to avoid the frost. So that means this weekend I need to hang the grow light fixtures and their timer, and put up the plastic over the openings to winterize the porch. Actually, I shoulda done that today, but I wanted to play in the shop instead. Bringing the plants in is always a big deal because we have 4 containers 24” with 9 or 10ft tall plants, plus many smaller ones 12”-20” I may buy another heater to put out there with them. We added a new patio area this year, so that means a bunch more plants this time. I suspect I will have to buy another fixture and 2 more plants bulbs and put a number of them in my shop.
Still have one(my only) lemon that doesn’t want to ripen. Ghost Peppers are still covered in peppers. I brought them inside a week ago because I didn’t think they would like mid 40’s nightly.
I have 4 patios, but not a single porch, and I really really love porches.
I have come to realize that my garden has spoiled me. Fresh picked food is just so much tastier, I hate having to eat veggies from the grocery store!
The tomatoes I picked before the first frost here in Connecticut are still ripening. Had a few just rot on me, but most of them did well, especially the cherokee purples and little yellow cherry tomatoes. Still have two brown paper bags with ripening tomatoes. Planning on BLT’s tomorrow for lunch for the family. Hubby bought me a dehydrator and I dried a whole bunch. Oh, are they good!! I also frozen a good number of the heirlooms. I just have to figure out the best way to use them. LOL!
Is it my imagination or do Fall carrots taste better?? I planted some back the end of August and they are just so good!! The ones I pick haven’t all made it back to the house. Radishes seem to taste better too.
Same for for my lettuce, but that’s growing on a small popup green house. I started it in several window boxes late summer-early fall and moved them under cover before the first frost. We had a salad last night that was out of this world. Son #3 stopped by (and this is kid who doesn’t notice anything, especially vegetable things) and even he said that the lettuce looked so bright and fresh.
Tonight I picked a big mess of greens, collards, 3 kinds of kale, beet greens, and few mustard greens, and have them simmering with some smoked turkey legs for dinner. Have corn bread and hot sauce to go with them. Life is good.
After the first frost, my Russian kale turned the most wonderful color of purple. I saved some of the kale for chips and they were so good!! Wish I’d picked more.
They’re predicting snow for next Thursday. Do you think I should cover the kale and collards?
Good to see you again, MissMagnolia. My wife, MsMagnolia, roast spouts with something on them like Olive Oil with herbs along with BACON bits on them. Pretty good stuff, but I love sprouts anyway. I can make a meal of steamed sprouts and garlic toast.
Take your Brussels sprouts, trim the ends and cut them in half. Dice up some bacon, throw it in a fry pan over medium heat, and cook it until the fat is mostly rendered. Throw in some onions and cook over low heat till the onion start to caramelize.
Now toss in the sprouts and cook until they just get tender. Then add in a tablespoon of butter. Soon as the butter melts, take them off the heat, season with salt and pepper, and chow down.
I also like to roast sprouts in the oven. 450 degrees, halved, tossed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and fresh ground nutmeg. Cook until they are just starting to brown.
Most people cook them way to long which is why they start to stink LOL
I’ve heard you can shred them and eat them raw, but I haven’t tried that yet.
I need to make a list of people on the gardening thread because I can’t remember all the names when I post so I leave out people and I don’t mean to do that. “All” just doesn’t do it for me.
MomwithHope: I didn’t know there were that many tomatoes from Russia and those parts of the world. I read about some of them and there is one I might could plant while it is still cold in the south here, I mean really early spring, and have ripe tomatoes earlier than any other kind. Then, before they are over, plant another kind for the hot weather, then plant another kind for the fall/colder weather. I’ll have to think about that and put some plan together.
I’m so proud of my carrot and turnip plants. I did a lousy job when I first transplanted them from under the grow lamp into limp plastic grow bags, then transplanted them into two really good hard plastic containers. If I had been them, I would have died just to show me what a lousy job I did before I got them in good containers. They are growing so fast and fine, I think I will actually have food.
At least one of the two or three Brussels Sprouts plants is really growing tall so it might produce and it’s really healthy looking. If I manage to get a stalk of food off that one, I’ll plant more next year for the fall garden.
All the strawberry plants look fine. If they all produce in the spring, I’ll have to CAN SOME. Can you believe I wrote that? I still don’t have any jars or lids and anything else I would need to put in them to can them. I’ll wait until I see if I really have grown strawberries.
I’m looking forward to starting seeds under the grow lamp for early spring. Did you get that? I can grow seeds - me, the novice, can do that since I really did it.
I may only get one squash off the big squash plant as one is all that has developed so far. There are other blossoms to open but it may be too cool for it now. That one squash tells me I can grow those squash and not lose the plant to months/borers or other deadly creatures in ground dirt. A container works for this plant. The one squash is so long you won’t believe it - haven’t measured it but I know it’s easily over 12 inches long. If every blossom had set a squash as long as they are, one could live completely on this squash and nothing else - what I’m saying is it would provide a huge amount of food and if you leave some of the squash on there, it becomes a winter squash.
The sweet potato plant still has luscious green leaves - doesn’t even suggest the leaves might die and what I read said leave it alone until the leaves die, then dig up the potatoes.
I haven’t found any dead squirrels that committed suicide because they can’t get in the net room. That is the only way I could keep those plants from the squirrels without strangling them or shooting them or catching them. They cannot get my plants.
RE: brussels sprouts - check this out:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/12/brussels-sprouts-with-balsamic-and-cranberries/
Oh my - does that look good!!
I’ve got to try that. Thank you.
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