Almost Summer Food

Kentucky Wonder has reached the top of the trellis

The abundance of spring is finally winding down. The greens are getting more scarce. Other things are starting to take their place, but the summer crops really haven't started yet. The signs are there. I have flowers on my melons and cukes. One of my butternut squashes has started to run. The zucchini have put out female blossoms that I've had to pick due to lack of males. But today the first males opened. There are small tomatoes covering the vines. The onions are getting bigger. The sunflowers are showing the first signs of buds. The carrots are sizing up.

But there aren't huge harvests (except pounds and pounds of peas). Lots of little harvests of other things, but not huge. Not "oh my god how am I going to eat all this" kinds of harvests. Which in a way is a relief. I've gotten close to using up my stockpile of greens. I've got mizuna, a couple of baby choys, and a few stems of choy sum. Oh and one Chinese cabbage. OK so I still have a lot to eat, but I'm getting there.

I love to use up the odds and ends in one thing or another. I made another lemon scallop stir fry. Above are unfertilized zucchini (think gourmet baby zukes with the blossoms on), tatsoi, choy sum, snowpeas, Japanese turnips. and kohlrabi (and mushrooms from the store).

The finished product.

Then yesterday I made a quiche. Now a quiche can have just about anything in it, but most things are better cooked since what goes in can't be watery. This one had cooked chard and kohlrabi greens (squeeze out the water before adding to the pie shell), a good handful of chopped parsley, and some green onions. Then I sprinkled it with salt, pepper, thyme, and oregano. And no I don't measure anything here I just toss it in to fill up the shell.

Then I grate on some good Vermont cheddar. The custard part I mix it up in a ratio of one egg to 1/4c soy milk (regular milk is of course fine, but I'm lactose intolerant so we don't have real milk in the house). For a small pie pan I'll use three eggs, for a large one I'll use four. Or how many you need to fill it up. I like not having a real recipe because I can make them small, or large. Whatever I want. I don't even have to use a pie pan. My favorite topping is sliced Cherokee Purple tomatoes, but I had to settle for a quick grating of Parmesan cheese.

And the crust? Well it is a full butter crust. I don't even own shortening. I hate the stuff. It tastes bad to me and it is bad for me. If I'm going to eat something bad for me I'm going to do it with butter and indulge.

Now I thought I'd show you this meal. Not for its veggie content. But just for your amusement. I've half eaten it already, but it has my peas grilled with a small bit of melted butter, salt and pepper, home made rosemary and olive oil bread, and terriyaki roadkill. Yes you heard me. Roadkill. I got a couple of pounds of deer from my trusty farmer. She butchered the undamaged parts. I hope I get more. My townhouse mates and I were going to split it, but she has so many mouths to feed this summer that I had her keep most. I do love my venison. I partially grew up on it and miss eating it.