Websites explaining produce seasons totally exist. I don’t know where you live, but I’m sure you can find the info.
If you leave soapy water standing in your dishes, the soap should cut down on slime growing on them.
Spinach is available canned! Get it that way and season doesn’t matter.
Kale is not like cabbage. It’s a leafy green, sort of like turnip greens or mustard greens.
Celeriac is good roasted and then put in soup. Find smaller roots of it, and when you cut the ugly off, cut a little deeper; if you don’t put much in the soup besides celeriac you should be able to eat it in as little as two sittings.
Turnips don’t look anything like carrots; do you mean parsnips? Wikipedia says you can eat parsnips raw.
Yellow squash comes small. I usually have it with fish, and use half of one in a meal; if I’m having only squash for a meal I can definitely eat a whole one. I like to slice them up thin and then roast them (line pan with foil, coat with olive oil, pop in the oven at 425º for 15-20 minutes).
Leeks are not as much food as they look like. You can roast them (it’s wise to parboil first though), or put them in soup.
Broccoli is amazing roasted, in soup, or with pasta. Cauliflower is good in soups, curries, or casseroles. You really need to find out why your fridge won’t let you keep leftovers for a normal amount of time and fix that; I can easily eat a batch of cream of cauliflower soup that contains an entire head of cauliflower over a few days, but if you can’t keep soup around for a few days you may be in trouble. Cauliflower and broccoli are also edible raw, optionally with dip.
Many but perhaps not most vegetables go well with others. My brain isn’t generating a useful algorithm here but I can give you my best guess/experience regarding any combinations you think look likely.
There is a lot of information available about substitutions online. I am an improvisational cook and can probably help you out if you’re missing something for a recipe (I have good instincts about when you can leave it out, when you can replace it with something else, and when you can’t make the recipe at all without the ingredient).
Many but perhaps not most vegetables go well with others. My brain isn’t generating a useful algorithm here but I can give you my best guess/experience regarding any combinations you think look likely.
There exists a book about this. I wouldn’t be surprised if there existed a genre of books about it, even.
googling “when is ripe” in hungarian gave me a site with a chart (but not all the fruits and veggies i could think of) as the first link. im sure further links down the google results page would include the missing ones.
i will try making the water soapier. also, evaporation plays a problem if i leave it too long. but i want to get in the habit of cooking often enough that i wont have to worry about that. i remember i used to wash any stray dishes while waiting for water to boil. i have lots of tricks like that i seem to have to rediscover again and again. a couple years ago, i had an epiphany that soapy water made things clean, not soapy, and that helped for a while, until i forgot again. i mean, i never stopped using soap, and i used soap before that point, but there was a moment when i understood at an intrinsic level that the soap applied to a dish could be removed from that dish, and the dirt would be removed along with it, through the application of water, and that all dirty things could be made clean, that nothing was dirty beyond repair. whereas othertimes i remember that i don’t like the taste of soap and i sink into a vague suspicion that i’m just adding soap to the dirt and making soapy dirt and wonder what makes me so sure that adding soap to a spoon will make the food that later comes onto that spoon more edible. The manner in which I wash dishes doesn’t really change, but by mental approach to it changes from disgust at the wrongness on the dishes to delight at the opportunity to right a wrong.
Spinach canned. Hm, so it does. I’ll keep an eye out for it. My mental image of the aisle in the store that sells canned food mostly contains corn, peas, and beans, along with a few types of soup (mostly goulash soup, the one i like best), but googling in hungarian tells me there is indeed such a thing as canned spinach. i’ve seen it frozen, too, in small enough quantities that it could conceivably be eaten in one sitting. and i think frozen spinach would keep for at least a day in the fridge as well.
oh, the english wikipedia page for turnip shows something completely different. the dictionary I was using was wrong. I’m not really familiar with turnips, I guess. What I call white carrot is, according to wikipedia, actually parsley root, which looks somewhat like parsnips, but doesn’t taste like them. it’s not really carroty in flavour either, just shape. you put it in soups and stews, and chicken noodle soup should have at least one of them and at least one carrot as well.
the roasted squash sounds easy and good. i think i have a vague memory involving squash, zucchini, tomato and pasta with a creamy sauce. which sounds easy to make.
i’ll give leek another chance. :)
cream of broccoli soup is wonderful. i tried to make it once, but it wasnt very creamy when i made it, and i used too much broccoli (and therefore too much water and too much of everything else), but it was good.
I remember finding a recipe once online that if I took out everything that I was confused by/didn’t think I could get here/didn’t like, I was left lentils and water. i didnt like lentils and water all by themselves, and realised that anything i could add to it would be something of my own creation, not resembling the original recipe at all. it’s not usually that bad. usually it’s something like “capers” (which seem to be something pickled, but i only like pickled cucumbers) or “cheese-whiz” or takes an english cookbook off the shelf and flips through randomly “parmigiano-reggiano (a small handful)”, “radicchio”, “swiss chard.” The book was a present from my mother, but almost every recipe contains something we don’t have here, or something i don’t like, or something expensive. I’ve mostly given up on the cookbook as useless. :)
Capers are pickled flowerbuds, and can probably be safely left out of virtually anything. Parmigiano-reggiano is a cheese; you can sub parmesan or another hard grated/shredded cheese if you can’t find it. Radicchio and swiss chard are both leaf vegetables and could probably be reasonably substituted for others in that reference class. Cheez whiz is an abomination.
Also, now I want to try parsley root, but Wikipedia indicates it will be hard to find here! Rar!
Thanks for the information. :) I suppose that in general, then, “unheard of leaf vegetable that’s being suggested for a salad” can be replaced with “regular salad leaves” and “unheard of vegetable being suggested for pasta” can be replaced with “vegetable i like in pasta” and “some cheese that i dont know what it tastes like” can be replaced with gouda, which is good on everything.
I wonder if leaf parsley’s roots taste the same as root parsley’s. Wikipedia says they are smaller, since they’re not being grown for the root, but I think since it’s pretty much the same plant, it should taste at least similar. I don’t know if you garden, but if so, you might plant some regular parsley and when the time comes to dig them up see how much root there is. Otherwise, if you shop at farmer’s markets, you might ask the parsley-seller about the roots. Types of carrots (in Hungarian anyway) are sugar beets (called sugar carrot), parsley (called white carrot), and carrot (called orange carrot)
I suppose that in general, then, “unheard of leaf vegetable that’s being suggested for a salad” can be replaced with “regular salad leaves” and “unheard of vegetable being suggested for pasta” can be replaced with “vegetable i like in pasta” and “some cheese that i dont know what it tastes like” can be replaced with gouda, which is good on everything.
Websites explaining produce seasons totally exist. I don’t know where you live, but I’m sure you can find the info.
If you leave soapy water standing in your dishes, the soap should cut down on slime growing on them.
Spinach is available canned! Get it that way and season doesn’t matter.
Kale is not like cabbage. It’s a leafy green, sort of like turnip greens or mustard greens.
Celeriac is good roasted and then put in soup. Find smaller roots of it, and when you cut the ugly off, cut a little deeper; if you don’t put much in the soup besides celeriac you should be able to eat it in as little as two sittings.
Turnips don’t look anything like carrots; do you mean parsnips? Wikipedia says you can eat parsnips raw.
Yellow squash comes small. I usually have it with fish, and use half of one in a meal; if I’m having only squash for a meal I can definitely eat a whole one. I like to slice them up thin and then roast them (line pan with foil, coat with olive oil, pop in the oven at 425º for 15-20 minutes).
Leeks are not as much food as they look like. You can roast them (it’s wise to parboil first though), or put them in soup.
Broccoli is amazing roasted, in soup, or with pasta. Cauliflower is good in soups, curries, or casseroles. You really need to find out why your fridge won’t let you keep leftovers for a normal amount of time and fix that; I can easily eat a batch of cream of cauliflower soup that contains an entire head of cauliflower over a few days, but if you can’t keep soup around for a few days you may be in trouble. Cauliflower and broccoli are also edible raw, optionally with dip.
Many but perhaps not most vegetables go well with others. My brain isn’t generating a useful algorithm here but I can give you my best guess/experience regarding any combinations you think look likely.
There is a lot of information available about substitutions online. I am an improvisational cook and can probably help you out if you’re missing something for a recipe (I have good instincts about when you can leave it out, when you can replace it with something else, and when you can’t make the recipe at all without the ingredient).
There exists a book about this. I wouldn’t be surprised if there existed a genre of books about it, even.
neat
googling “when is ripe” in hungarian gave me a site with a chart (but not all the fruits and veggies i could think of) as the first link. im sure further links down the google results page would include the missing ones.
i will try making the water soapier. also, evaporation plays a problem if i leave it too long. but i want to get in the habit of cooking often enough that i wont have to worry about that. i remember i used to wash any stray dishes while waiting for water to boil. i have lots of tricks like that i seem to have to rediscover again and again. a couple years ago, i had an epiphany that soapy water made things clean, not soapy, and that helped for a while, until i forgot again. i mean, i never stopped using soap, and i used soap before that point, but there was a moment when i understood at an intrinsic level that the soap applied to a dish could be removed from that dish, and the dirt would be removed along with it, through the application of water, and that all dirty things could be made clean, that nothing was dirty beyond repair. whereas othertimes i remember that i don’t like the taste of soap and i sink into a vague suspicion that i’m just adding soap to the dirt and making soapy dirt and wonder what makes me so sure that adding soap to a spoon will make the food that later comes onto that spoon more edible. The manner in which I wash dishes doesn’t really change, but by mental approach to it changes from disgust at the wrongness on the dishes to delight at the opportunity to right a wrong.
Spinach canned. Hm, so it does. I’ll keep an eye out for it. My mental image of the aisle in the store that sells canned food mostly contains corn, peas, and beans, along with a few types of soup (mostly goulash soup, the one i like best), but googling in hungarian tells me there is indeed such a thing as canned spinach. i’ve seen it frozen, too, in small enough quantities that it could conceivably be eaten in one sitting. and i think frozen spinach would keep for at least a day in the fridge as well.
oh, the english wikipedia page for turnip shows something completely different. the dictionary I was using was wrong. I’m not really familiar with turnips, I guess. What I call white carrot is, according to wikipedia, actually parsley root, which looks somewhat like parsnips, but doesn’t taste like them. it’s not really carroty in flavour either, just shape. you put it in soups and stews, and chicken noodle soup should have at least one of them and at least one carrot as well.
the roasted squash sounds easy and good. i think i have a vague memory involving squash, zucchini, tomato and pasta with a creamy sauce. which sounds easy to make.
i’ll give leek another chance. :)
cream of broccoli soup is wonderful. i tried to make it once, but it wasnt very creamy when i made it, and i used too much broccoli (and therefore too much water and too much of everything else), but it was good.
I remember finding a recipe once online that if I took out everything that I was confused by/didn’t think I could get here/didn’t like, I was left lentils and water. i didnt like lentils and water all by themselves, and realised that anything i could add to it would be something of my own creation, not resembling the original recipe at all. it’s not usually that bad. usually it’s something like “capers” (which seem to be something pickled, but i only like pickled cucumbers) or “cheese-whiz” or takes an english cookbook off the shelf and flips through randomly “parmigiano-reggiano (a small handful)”, “radicchio”, “swiss chard.” The book was a present from my mother, but almost every recipe contains something we don’t have here, or something i don’t like, or something expensive. I’ve mostly given up on the cookbook as useless. :)
Capers are pickled flowerbuds, and can probably be safely left out of virtually anything. Parmigiano-reggiano is a cheese; you can sub parmesan or another hard grated/shredded cheese if you can’t find it. Radicchio and swiss chard are both leaf vegetables and could probably be reasonably substituted for others in that reference class. Cheez whiz is an abomination.
Also, now I want to try parsley root, but Wikipedia indicates it will be hard to find here! Rar!
Thanks for the information. :) I suppose that in general, then, “unheard of leaf vegetable that’s being suggested for a salad” can be replaced with “regular salad leaves” and “unheard of vegetable being suggested for pasta” can be replaced with “vegetable i like in pasta” and “some cheese that i dont know what it tastes like” can be replaced with gouda, which is good on everything.
I wonder if leaf parsley’s roots taste the same as root parsley’s. Wikipedia says they are smaller, since they’re not being grown for the root, but I think since it’s pretty much the same plant, it should taste at least similar. I don’t know if you garden, but if so, you might plant some regular parsley and when the time comes to dig them up see how much root there is. Otherwise, if you shop at farmer’s markets, you might ask the parsley-seller about the roots. Types of carrots (in Hungarian anyway) are sugar beets (called sugar carrot), parsley (called white carrot), and carrot (called orange carrot)
Yes, this.