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You are here: Home / Food & Recipes / Crops Harvested (Open Thread)

Reader Interactions

159Comments

  1. 1.

    Elizabelle

    Enjoy!!  I love that we are into Caprese salad season. Never tired of that.

  2. 2.

    jimmiraybob

    Wow, so that’s where emojis come from.

    Thank you ladies and germs. Tip the wait staff generously.

  3. 3.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Elizabelle: You mean there’s a non-Caprese salad season? We have it pretty much all year.

    We’ll do our harvesting at the farmers’ market in the morning. 😁😋

  7. 7.

    scav

    @John S.: Potatoes go a loooong way towards redeeming, if not justifying the very existence of, the entire nightshade family.

  10. 10.

    Salty Sam

    I’ve been harvesting peppers and tomatoes from our “salsa garden”.  Been attacked by several tomato hornworms, they do a LOT of damage in a short time!

    Not a big fan of eggplants however.  Got a running joke with my brother (who loves them)- he asked why I don’t like them, I answered “they have very little flavor, a nasty texture, and are pale and watery.  They are the Mike Pence of the vegetable world.”

  12. 12.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Nice harvest! When do you start your planting? My tomatoes have just begun flowering. Didn’t do eggplant this year, but I have a bumper crop of French radishes and it looks like I might do well in the summer squash department. The neighbors better watch out!

  15. 15.

    Jeffro

    one more vote for Team Caprese here!

    (eggplant is a hard NO, though)

    @HumboldtBlue: MTG is also a hard NO…get out of my district, you wackaloon!

  16. 16.

    CaseyL

    Those are big enough to contain galaxies.

    “My god; it’s full of …. baba.”

  17. 17.

    Jay C

    Well, regardless of taste (both personal and literal), those are certainly some beaux aubergines: hope you can convert them to a wonderful meal

    “Imam bayeldi“?? or are these the wrong eggplants?

  18. 18.

    FastEdD

    Tomatoes are weird. Sometimes they grow like crazy, sometimes not so much. And beware of sneaky squash. The things hide under other plants and you don’t notice them. Then bammo. They are huge.

  20. 20.

    Anoniminous

    @Salty Sam:

    We’ve given up trying to raise tomatoes.  We buy from a lady down the block who is successful because she has a flock of chickens and they think the worms are yummy delicious.

  21. 21.

    M31

    look at those purple beauties!

    though I will admit that making baba ghanoush, which is wonderful, has some moments where it’s just stringy translucent glistening brown/grey pulp that makes you wonder if it’s edible after all

    but some garlic, olive oil, and lemon fixes takes care of that

  22. 22.

    Bupalos

    @jimmiraybob: I was introduced to the very weird idea of eggplants as you-know-what in a Chinese language and literature class in undergrad with a visiting scholar that must have been someone the CCP expelled to America. In retrospect I realize the dude was kinda filthy, and thought he was coming to America for a kind of freedom that really went beyond the norm for American liberal arts college trying to compete with Oberlin c. 1990 which….I mean…

    He very specifically had us reading ancient Chinese literature that had been banned by multiple dynasties… eggplants abounded, and it seemed odd enough to someone raised on Italian eggplant that I looked into it and discovered the chinese version is indeed rather… appropriate.

    Also just wanna say, anyone who thinks going back to the past gets you further from ‘sexual perversion’… well…. I’m not going to repeat it here…but… suffice to say some of the images there stuck with me and keep me open to the idea that in grand historical terms, maybe I AM a prude.

  23. 23.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Anoniminous:

    “they have very little flavor, a nasty texture, and are pale and watery. They are the Mike Pence of the vegetable world.”

    SaltySam speaks for a few of here, I believe.

  24. 24.

    Gretchen

    I’ve read that you can freeze eggplant Parm – true? That’s a lot of eggplant for two people to eat in the next couple of weeks.

  26. 26.

    Bupalos

    Now moving on from the sexual innuendo…

    Someone explain to me how Chinese eggplant isn’t simply better than Italian in every way. You want eggplant parmigiana? Still use the Chinese, cut in cubes and coat and fry, top pasta, sprinkle with cheese… toast…. that’s better than those big seedy slices fried –  fight me.

  27. 27.

    cain

    @Anoniminous:

    I make a really simple version – the part I hate most about eggplant parm is having to salt them and draw the liquid out.

    Once that is done, I flour both sides and lightly fry both sides.

    Get a baking dish, open a can of italian crushed tomatoes, spread, salt, pepper, take a garlic press, two cloves spread it add the eggplant, next tomato – do it two more times and parmesan and mozz and then bake.

    It comes out surprisingly delicious. Is it like actual eggplant parm? IDGF.

  28. 28.

    Bupalos

    @Gretchen: yeah no doubt. Fry just a little short of the browning you want, freeze. Pop em in the not-preheated air fryer whenever you want.

  29. 29.

    Scout211

    @Salty Sam: Been attacked by several tomato hornworms, they do a LOT of damage in a short time!

    Ugh. I despise those creepy crawling tomato plant eaters!  I haven’t found any in my tomatoes yet this season but it’s just a matter of time.  I pick them off and drop them in a bucket of water that has been heated in the hot sun.  I typically don’t get bothered by garden pests but they are way too destructive so they must go.

  31. 31.

    Scout211

    I was giving my garden extra water yesterday because of our heat wave and discovered a bunch of nice looking zucchinis.  So I defrosted some marinara sauce from last year’s tomato crop and made yummy stuffed zucchini boats.

  34. 34.

    Eyeroller

    @scav: Don’t forget capsicum peppers (hot and sweet, same species).  Also goji berries.  Oh, and tomatillos.  And groundcherries (not common here, but popular where they are native).  Groundcherries and tomatillos are basal nightshades. And if you like flowers, petunias and calibrachoas are nightshades.

  35. 35.

    Bupalos

    Anyone who is in range of the wavy orange trumpets that emerge from the forrest floor in August through October, commonly called Chanterelles….

    I want to report that it is absolutely viable to collect as many of these as you want (43lbs for me this past year), cut them up and cook them to where the water has been released and cooked off, add butter, add garlic if you like… fully cook… then freeze…. in whatever quantities you can thaw and use in 4 days.

    They lose shockingly little of their fresh quality. Develop a little more of the apricot aroma, maybe just slightly more “meatiness”…but, such a high quality product for something you froze for 6 months. Mushrooms are just different yo. Not a plant, not an animal…

  38. 38.

    Eyeroller

    @scav: Well, thistles, which it’s true are in the Composite family like daisies, but that family is huuuuge.  Either largest or second largest by number of species of all flowering plants.

  39. 39.

    Bupalos

    @Scout211: Maybe not after they are established, I don’t know. Haven’t seen one since I started nuking the entire area in diatoms every 3 weeks, starting at planting. Used to be a problem.  When I do diatomaceous, I kind of throw it down and let it “smoke” up, it kind of dusts stems and leaves up to maybe 10″?

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    A favorite is a big honkin’ pot of curried eggplant. Served over rice, to die for.

    Alternative to traditional eggplant parm: Eggplant Rollatini.

    Buried somewhere in the recipe files is one for a sweet treat: Eggplant Halvah.

  45. 45.

    bjacques

    I dunno man, those are big enough I’d be wary of falling asleep next to them. Looks like one for you and two for the doggos.

  46. 46.

    TBone

    My recipe for torta di melanzane differs from this one.  No tart crust, just layers of (salted and drained) eggplant slices placed in an oiled casserole or pie plate, each layer covered with a layer of thinly sliced fresh tomato sprinkled with a mix of RAW minced onion, green pepper, and basil.  Then salt & pepper, and begin next eggplant layer.  Parmesan is grated and mixed with the custard (beaten eggs & milk) and poured over the torta before baking.  The vegetables speak for themselves without pastry IMO.  My recipe turns out more like a cross between veggie lasagne & souffle than quiche. But I’m sure both are good

    https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/torta-di-melanzane-386201

    A good way to enjoy fresh eggplants and tomatoes!

  47. 47.

    Elizabelle

    I love whoever came up with “Rachel Maddowing” (overexplaining; answering questions that have not even been asked; overguiding the listener) in this morning’s thread.

    Think it was Kay; might have been Ms. Cracker.

  48. 48.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @M31: You forgot the sesame tahini! Baba is my favorite way to consume eggplant. Also like eggplant Parm and I’ve done an air fryer version that was pretty good. But there are a lot of ways I’ve had eggplant where I was like meh, edible but not exactly enjoyable.

  50. 50.

    VeniceRiley

    @Salty Sam: Mike Pence of vegetables.

    That’s genius.

    Too bad I live in a “who is that?” Country.

    I am having a sad that my wife dislikes tomato and bell pepper and pickle and cilantro and celery and all sorts of what I consider essential ingredients. She’s so very English.

  51. 51.

    Gloria DryGarden

    Not a fan of eggplant. Do those skinny Asian ones taste any different? I have dehydrated eggplant slices to use as a base for pizza.
    my favorite nightshade is pineapple tomatillo, a small sweet yellow fruit, that can get its co- tomatillo pollination needs met by a regular tomatillo.  Super delicious. The plant stores haven’t had them in a few years. I discovered it at Al’s, our local el cheapo nursery, and tried it for a lark one year. But they didn’t succeed in germinating it.
    I cut way back on my tomatoes to make space for it, too. Phooey.

    there’s a little sun berry, tiny black round fruits, slightly sweet, that’s also a nightshade. Once I get my bed planted and start watering, they germinate and come back every year.

    I’ve also become a fan of shishito peppers.

    I don’t know many people who succeed w bells here in Denver. You’d have to water everyday. That’s just not gonna happen.

  56. 56.

    Bupalos

    I’ll take this garden chat space to also recommend, in a general way, any recipe that combines kale and parsnips. These are two killer ingredients that kill four times as hard when you put them together, and they like garlic. Parsnips are lightly sweet, kale is lightly bitter, they rock.

    Here’s a rough recipe. Stem and boil some fucking kale for 5 minutes**. drain it, squeeze it, chop it up, like chiffonade-style. Roll up big fat spliffs and slice then down to shreds

    ** chop up parsnips into little baby french-fries. Coat in oil (hickory is best and also completely unobtainable if you’re not insane). Salt, light pepper, spread on baking sheet, bake 15 minutes, flip/stir, 15 more, done when they are little french fries like I said. Kitchen smells like an electrical fire, because parsnips are weird little fuckers.

    Giant fry pan or wok, bunch of oil (again hickory, again you can’t source this unless you’re insane….so whatever oil…you could buy walnut I guess, rapeseed is fine, olive is too low temp…) toss in thin sliced garlic and sauté to crisp without browning, toss in chopped kale, fry (high as possible) to just sear-toast some edges. Make sure garlic slices get lifted off pan and mixed in kale or they will burn. Toss in parsnips. Heat through while tossing and seasoning out with salt to taste.

  57. 57.

    Elizabelle

    Got to hit the pool in a minute, but did want to share a FTF NY Times gift link with you.  (Yes, I know.)

    Mainly because you will revel in all the pushback the writer gets from the readers.   Peter Baker, trying to slam Biden for not being Ronald Reagan.  NY Times readers say:  uh Peter, that’s actually a GOOD thing.

    Hit reader comments, and sort them for “Reader Picks.”  You will miss a lot of trolls that way.

    The Peter Effing Baker opus:  gift link:

    Forty Years Later, Biden Seeks to Echo Reagan’s Legacy of American Leadership

    At Pointe du Hoc in Normandy, President Biden plans to follow one of the former president’s most iconic speeches with his own testimonial to democracy and the need to resist isolationism.

    It’s a world of jackals out there, and they see through the FTF NY Times spin too.

  58. 58.

    Mike E

    @M31: baba ghanouj is delicious, our local Mediterranean place does it right (w/stuffed grape leaves, hummus, tabouli and pita)

  61. 61.

    Elizabelle

    There was another article I wanted to share but … pool.  Check in later.

  62. 62.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @TBone: if I can’t have dairy, how will I make this interesting? It sounds amazing. Maybe coconut milk and eggs? Onions and peppers are good on anything…

  63. 63.

    Bupalos

    @Gloria DryGarden:

    Do those skinny Asian ones taste any different?

    Basically just a bit denser and less seeds, but to me the seeds and area around the seeds carries the “eggplanty” slight…bitterness? that isn’t always helpful. I like italian eggplant recipes that are basically stuffed (seedy bit scooped and replaced…the middle eastern recipe that translates as “the Imam fainted” comes to mind) but otherwise asian is just superior I feel.

  64. 64.

    MomSense

    Try making Imam Baldi – best eggplant dish ever.  Have with some feta and some wine – perfection.

  65. 65.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Bupalos: we don’t have these here, sounds amazing. I wonder if the store has them.
    I replied to your comment on the last thread, because it was interesting to me.

  66. 66.

    Sure Lurkalot

    My unscientific tally says that more people will not go near an eggplant dish than who will, most common reason is the texture. My spouse likes it now but as a kid, even the cheesiest, crispiest version made him gag.

    Baba Ghanoush is delicious and I ordered it all over where we traveled in Greece…there are myriads of preparations. Pasta alla Norma is also yummy using roasted or grilled eggplant for that deep smoky flavor (lighter and much easier than parm).

  68. 68.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @mrmoshpotato: My spouse regularly gave me cookbooks by Yasmine Khan during the pandemic to assist us in eating well.  Her cookbook on Palestinian cuisine — Zaitoun – has an easy and fabulous recipe for stuffed peppers.  I also recommend Saffron Tales, which taught me how to make a proper Persian Saffron Rice Cake.

  71. 71.

    Bupalos

    @TBone: This sounds solid. I’m going to try it it. Feel like it would finish a little wet? So I need a crispy baguette on hand?

  72. 72.

    Scout211

    When I grow eggplant in my garden (every few years), my favorite dish is ratatouille with all the fresh garden veggies thrown into the pot.

  74. 74.

    Salty Sam

    I started off the “Eggplant Haterz Club” upthread, but I have to fess up that I do like it as Tbone suggests (“Caponata”), and yes, as Bupalos pointed out, the Chinese eggplants are better.  Less watery, more flavor.

    But these suggestions for Imam Bayildi are piquing my interest now.  Yes, a little feta, some wine…

  75. 75.

    TBone

    @Gloria DryGarden: eggs and any nut milk or soy milk should be fine – not all that much milk is necessary.  I’ma go haul out my cookbook and see what measurements my recipe call for.  Will update.

  76. 76.

    mrmoshpotato

    @scav:

    Potatoes go a loooong way towards redeeming, if not justifying the very existence of, the entire nightshade family. 

    Thank you, even though I’m not a big eggplant fan.

  78. 78.

    eversor

    Roast em all, blend with tahini and garlic.  Serve later with lemon.  Thank me then.

  80. 80.

    Bupalos

    @Salty Sam: I mean it basically doesn’t exist. There is one dude selling it I know of in the U.S.

    I process it by collecting all the bitternut hickory nuts that fall in my yard and at the college, and put them through a Piteba oil press and make more or less than 2 quarts a year. In a better world (especially environmentally) Bitternut hickory tree plantations would replace rapeseed monocropping.

    Bitternut hickory is completely inedible as a nut, but the oil contains no trace of the bitterness of the nut. It’s a miracle that stems from “water soluble” versus “oil soluble.” The oil is light with a fairly high smoke point and a nutty crispness. Walnut oil is pretty close but a little… heavier? Darker-tasting?

  82. 82.

    Scamp Dog

    My favorite vegetable dish at Chinese restaurants is garlic sauce eggplant. It’s best done with Asian eggplant, of course. I’ve worked up a good recipe so I can make it at home.

     

    edit: I see that Gretchen has a different recipe. I have to try that one out!

  83. 83.

    TBone

    @Gloria DryGarden: I forgot to say lightly brown eggplant slices before building torta, everything else is raw.  3 egg yolks are beaten into 1 1/2 cups milk for the custard, which custard you can creatively season with anything you like, and with or without cheese before pouring over the layers.

    Bake at 325 for 30 mins.

  84. 84.

    Bupalos

    @TBone: I think I saw a little moisture leave with browning the eggplant slices. I also feel like I want the cheese in that custard.

  85. 85.

    TBone

    @Bupalos: it can finish wet but you can cut down on that by properly salting, draining and frying the eggplant slices AND squeezing extra liquid out of the tomatoes before slicing.  If adding mozz layers, use part skim.

    Grated parm can be added to custard (always fresh cracked black pepper and salt at least) and/or sprinkled on top.

    3 egg yolks beaten into 1 and 1/2 cups milk, bake at 325 for 30 minutes.

  86. 86.

    Gretchen

    @Scamp Dog: I’d love to see your recipe. The trick mine uses is to roll the eggplant in cornstarch before cooking. Helps it turn out crispy and brown.

  88. 88.

    eversor

    @Gretchen:

    Cause close to DC.  One of the funniest VA moments was Palin coming to my area of NOVA (which hosts the Pentagon, DARPA, INR, FBI training, SPAWAR,  NRO, SOCOM side office, and CIA) and calling us a bunch of Goodless Communist Pinko Faggots… which you know, where do you think you are?  The cemetary is like a mile from where you are.  Shit bitch read the fucking room.  “They won’t let you own guns” again, like everyone here is armed to the gills.

    It’s always oddly women they send here as well.  Nobody cares about tits and pussy sorry.  But you are now hip deep in the “Deep State” land and people here take foreign policy seriously.  It’s one of the reasons I was shocked Alito’s flying a flag Naval distress style was hushed up.  We all know what that fucking means here.  We have METRO subway stops called Pentagon and Navy Yard.

    These fuckers can’t stop stepping on rakes and their own dicks.  I also know where the Alito’s live.  But unlike General McChrystal he doesn’t live in the Old Town area of Alexandria.  He lives off in the burbs.  Where you know, no fast METRO to.  I know they moved out of there.  But seriously, the dangerous hood of NOVA, fucking spare me!

  89. 89.

    PST

    I came across an astonishingly easy way of preparing eggplant on this  website by a woman in Australia named Nagi. The long and the short of it is that you cube the eggplant with no salting, draining, or other preparation (peeling is optional), season with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then roast for half an hour at 450° F, which is a lot of heat. I was very dubious about this, but the heat dries out the pieces and caramelizes the edges. It is delicious as is, but one can easily sploosh on some tomato sauce and melt some grated parmesan and mozzarella over the cubes for 80 percent of the goodness of eggplant parm with 20 percent of the effort. Good food for lazy people.

  90. 90.

    zhena gogolia

    @Elizabelle: That thing on the front page of my paper paper this morning gave me a stomach ache. But top comment gives a shoutout to DougJ:

    The President’s speech was great, and should be judged for its inspiring words and, above all, its success in reaching out to other nations to join in defending Democracy. But Baker, instead, begins with the assumption that Biden will fade in the shadow of Reagan, and Americans will therefore ignore it. There’s a classic “pitchbot” that declares “here’s why that’s bad for Joe Biden.” Once again, Peter Baker has chosen that route, instead of fairly judging this President’s call to our duty to one another and to democracy.

  91. 91.

    eversor

    @Scamp Dog:

    One can buy Asian eggplant seeds.   And if I grock where you are going it’s a flash fry/saute with garlic, soy, bit of sugar, deglaze with with sweet vinegar.

  92. 92.

    Bupalos

    I’m thinking about the responses here that are like “eggplant, yuk, no can do…” and also people can be like that with kale and brussels sprouts. As someone who has cooked for a lot of people (not professionally) it brings this thought to mind,

    People really process bitterness differently. Kids almost always are overly sensitive to bitter, but I think everyone even as an adult has their own zone. Whenever I’m serving something that is playing off bitterness, I consider having something like balsamic reduction on hand for people to season, of if I know that person’s taste, I’ll go ahead before hand and drizzle. Sweet-tang is the antidote to bitter-aversion. In classic chinese garlic eggplant (mentioned here,) that can be by sweet-n-souring up the garlic sauce a little. Tastes can be different and I think especially with bitter there are tighter tolerances than say salty or sweet.

  93. 93.

    bk

    Eggplant parm was the first dish that I ever made for my then bride-to-be in 1972.  While we are no longer together, we DID just celebrate the birth of our first grandchild!

  94. 94.

    Bupalos

    @eversor: Yeah, I hear that. But also, remember that is what is playing out in peoria. I mean, they can’t read that room you’re in because that is a much more particular room than maybe you’re thinking. You’re at the beating heart of the state there, but there’s a whole lot of gangrene happening out where you’re not.

    I think it would be really good for the United States to decentralize some of these operations that were only centralized for reasons of historical limitation. It’s frankly fucking weird at this point that our capital is on the mid Atlantic.

  95. 95.

    Salty Sam

    @Bupalos: Wow- nice info.  My cousin in western North Carolina has loads of those trees on his property, but never heard of processing them for oil.  Thanks for the 411.

  96. 96.

    Bupalos

    @Gloria DryGarden: You don’t have parsnips? Where are you that there are no parsnips? Gotta have parsnips. Look harder! Parsnips are an essential thing.

    In a bowl, toss carrots, onions, parsnips, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and potatoes in olive oil, salt, garlic powder, sweet paprika. Arrange in single layer on a baking sheet and roast at 400+ for 30+ minutes or however long… I’m not a recipe person…. An absolute must. But without parsnips? Without that weird, earthy volatility???

    Without the parsnips…No! find the parsnips!!

  98. 98.

    TBone

    @PST: that’s a great shortcut, thanks for sharing.  I’ma roast my slices thusly for torta when I next make it.  A real time and trouble saver.

  99. 99.

    Jay

    @Bupalos:

    As many of the Federal Departments have overlapping responsibilities, etc,

    It makes sense to have them all in the same time zones and where a face to face can happen easily, rather than trying to do a zoom call across 4 different time zones.

    There is also that little issue of “employee” satisfaction. Remember when TCFG tried to move Space Camp  out of the DC area and nobody wanted to move out into the regions of hell?

  100. 100.

    Elizabelle

    @zhena gogolia:   I loved that. The pitchbot rules!

    it seemed the majority of top commenters wrote that Reagan set us on the path inequality we are on now, and he reminded many of them of an actor reading his lines.  Lot of positive observations about Biden, too.

  101. 101.

    Bupalos

    @Salty Sam: Oh it’s a weird fucking thing to do. Don’t think I’ve just told you something that anyone is going to think is normal.

    But yeah. Bitternut hickory is an absolutely beautiful oil, the nuts are just pure oil with little shell, there’s no care to the crop, and the only reason it isn’t a commercial thing is that there’s a 35 year period before the plantation yields and that is not what our world is geared for.

    The actual reason we can’t have nice things is the nice things come from the generation before you deciding it matters if you have nice things.

    Like seriously, this would be THE OIL if we could calm down and wait 35 years.

  102. 102.

    Salty Sam

    @Bupalos: …and also people can be like that with kale…

    Pro cooking tip:  sauté kale in plenty of coconut oil so it easily slides off your plate into the trash can.

    ETA- OR USE HICKORY OIL!

  106. 106.

    Bupalos

    @Jay: Fuck “employee satisfaction,” that’s a self-reinforcing argument for segregationist decline. The reason “the sticks” are “the sticks” is because y’all be segregating on the coast over there.

    The Eastern time zone extends out to what, Missouri? But it makes a great argument for centering government in maybe Knoxville?

    I mean, how can we seriously do this “we all need to be on one time zone, and that center needs to be…. where everyone lived 175years ago, not the center now?

  107. 107.

    Salty Sam

    @Bupalos: Bitternut hickory is an absolutely beautiful oil,

    I have shifted my diet (keto) to low carb/healthy oils, so this really is intriguing to me.  I’ll be visiting my cousin in NC soon, maybe I should grab a few nuts?
    Umm, how many nuts do you process for that two quarts of oil?

  109. 109.

    Jay

    There are only 4 things I can’t stand, food wise.

    Green peppers, (allergic),

    Face blistering heat/hot sauce, just for the sake of the heat,

    Cilantro, (part of that 20% that only tastes soap.

    Celeriac, just because there was one in the so called “garden” when we moved to the hills, and with just a little water, it was out of control.

    Not a big fan of zucchini, but that because one year, just one year, my Mom planted an entire packet of seeds in the garden. People stopped answering their doors, started locking their cars, and a year after she died, (20 years after The Planting) there were still bags of frozen, shredded zucchini in the deep freezer.

  110. 110.

    NotMax

    @Kristine

    For a big pot:

    2 medium size eggplants
    3 large onions, coarsely chopped
    (optional) 1 tsp. minced garlic
    6 tbl. oil
    2 (or 3 for extra spicy) tbl. curry powder
    1½ tsp. lemon juice
    2 28-oz. cans crushed tomatoes (optional: add a third can if desired and pot is capacious enough)
    .
    Eggplants can be used peeled or not.
    Cut eggplants into 1 inch or so cubes, put into a colander and toss with kosher salt
    Meantime, fry the onions in the oil until golden brown in a pot big enough for the finished dish.
    Lower heat, add the curry powder and garlic (if using it) and gently stir for a few minutes
    Rinse eggplant, drain well and add to the pot. Add lemon juice. Stir frequently for around five minutes so eggplants cubes are well coated with the oil/onion.
    Add the tomatoes. Place lid on pot, and let simmer for at least 15 minutes (IMHO the longer it gently simmers, the better). If becomes too thick, add a little water. Add salt/pepper to taste.
    Serve over rice.
    .
    Note: sliced or coarsely chopped mushrooms can also be stirred in while it simmers. Same goes for diced carrots

  112. 112.

    Bupalos

    @Salty Sam: I feel like it’s qty2 5 gallon buckets? Maybe 3? It happens in stages and I’ve not counted.

    Take off the thin leathery skins as you collect or soon after. If they dry to brown hardness it’s harder. Pulse whole nuts (VERY thin shell) into something like 1/8″ bits. Crank that mix through a Piteba or I’m probably going to try one of the electric chinese oil presses you can get on Amazon now. It seems to me you basically treat the pulsed whole nuts as if they were whole sunflower seeds.

  114. 114.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … NPR.org All Things Considered:

    WASHINGTON — On the wide open, grassy space on the National Mall, halfway between the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument, a temporary village has sprouted up in recent days. Several tiny houses line the paths, and workers assemble what looks like an instant log cabin. A few manufactured homes are clustered near the Smithsonian Castle.

    This is the Innovative Housing Showcase, staged by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), a public event running June 7-9.

    […]

    Further along the Mall stands a two-story, traditional-looking house that wasn’t here two days ago. The framing is done, and it’s ready for siding and a roof.

    It’s here to demonstrate how using prefabricated materials can speed the construction of a home. Mark Cyrus, who’s in sales with 84 Lumber, says once the materials were trucked in, the house was fully framed in a little under six hours.

    […]

    Good, good.

    Worth a click and a read.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  115. 115.

    karen gail

    I had a large garden and the only reason I grew eggplant was for bug attraction; no one in family liked to actually eat eggplant except the chickens and goats. I did discover that they worked for thickening tomato-based sauces, and no one knew I had used a “healthy” vegetable to add extra zip to sauce.  I also gave them away to neighbor whose family loved them and managed to eat all I gave them and suggested rather than feeding any to my goats they would take them.

  116. 116.

    Scamp Dog

    @Gretchen: Here goes!

    • Vegetables to Prepare
      • 3 Chinese eggplants, cut into disks
      • 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
      • ginger to match garlic, finely minced
      • 2 red chile peppers, finely diced, or red pepper flakes to taste
      • 3 stalks green onion, chopped
    • The Sauce
      • 1 tablespoon sugar or 1 tablespoon of black soy sauce
      • 1½ teaspoons salt (½ tablespoon) (I sometimes forget this, but it makes a difference)
      • ¼ cup soy sauce
      • ¼ cup black vinegar
      • 2 tablespoons water
      • 1 tablespoon corn starch

    Mince garlic, then an equivalent amount of ginger. Mince the chili peppers as well. Cut the white part of the green onions into disks and mix with the other aromatics and put aside. Cut the green part of the onions into inch-long pieces. Finally, cut the eggplant into disks, perhaps ½ inches thick.

    Mix salt, black soy sauce (or sugar), soy sauce and black vinegar in a small bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix corn starch and water. Don’t mix both in the same bowl, it’s important for making a translucent sauce.

    In a wok or saucepan over high heat, add cooking oil and swirl to coat wok. When wok is hot, add eggplant in a single layer. Cook 1 minute and flip over each piece so they cook evenly. Cook another 2–3 minutes, flipping occasionally.

    Push eggplant aside in wok and add 1 tablespoon cooking oil. Add garlic, red chile peppers, ginger and green onion. Stir these aromatics until they become fragrant. Combine aromatics with eggplant and stir fry for one minute. Add the dark liquids and bring to a boil, and only then add in the corn starch mixture. Adding the corn starch to boiling liquid gives the sauce its glossy, translucent texture. The sauce will gel quickly. Serve immediately.

  117. 117.

    NotMax

    @WaterGirl

    There are very few foods I won’t let within a yard of the mouth.

    Zucchini is at the top of the list. Cannot abide it in any form.

  119. 119.

    Ruckus

    @Bupalos:

    Never had kale that I know of but mom and dad liked brussels sprouts and we had them somewhat regularly and I HATE them.

    They taste to me what I imagine battery acid tastes like.

  122. 122.

    RaflW

    @Bupalos: I got a little diatomaceous earth bellows/duster for less than 10 bucks for our yard last year. Makes the ‘smoke’ to spread around. Ultimately, I also ended up using some nasty chemicals on a bad case of aphids in the landscape, but on the shore-side of our cabin I just won’t use the skull n crossbones stuff, so DE is it.

  123. 123.

    RaflW

    @Ruckus: Its fine if you never eat another Brussels sprout, of course. But, if you’re confronted with them, say at a dinner party, you could give ’em a try.

    I despised them as a kid. But the ones sold now have literally had some of the bitterness and sulphury stink selectively bread out of them, and had the sugar content boosted.

    I now quite enjoy ’em roasted if they get a nice caramelization. Those tricky smart farmers! Making veggies more tasty!

  124. 124.

    Jay

    @Bupalos:

    I am in BC, West Coast, Canada. 80% of all our Provincial jobs, the high end ones, are in Victoria, a quaint little town on the south end of Vancouver Island, populated mostly by the newly wed and almost dead. High teas are pretty good.

    When TCFG tried to move that HQ out to Flyover Country, 2% of the staff, of the whole agency, agreed with the move, (mostly, same salary, massively lower real estate costs, Fed Benefits in a place where duct tape and windex counts as medical treatment). And that was before Red States started banning healthcare for women and children.

    Turns out, that the #1 reason why people “noped out”, is that  for many Fed Employees, the way up, is out. You transfer to a different Fed Agency in a higher position, via networking, reputations, etc, and keep doing that every 4 to 5 years, and you can’t “network” with DC from Possum Holler.

    When the Libs here, (our Cons) transferred the OLA, ( our online, remote, learning University) from Vancouver, BC, our biggest city and a tech hub, to Kamloops, a regional fast food, gas and go town, 1% of the staff took the opportunity. T and I did, and we regret it deeply. OLA imploded in less than 2 years, and neither of us could finds jobs, while being tied to a property we could not sell.

    After 20 years of  barely scraping by, exhausting our savings, we moved back to Vancouver, foreclosed, bankrupt and homeless.

  126. 126.

    Geminid

    @Gretchen: Rep. Greene made three stops in Virginia’s 5th CD on Wednesday, rallying with state Senator John McGuire. He’s challenging Rep. Bob No-Good in the June 18 primary. The video here is from Charlottesville (or as we say in Greene County, “Bougietown”). It’s a liberal island in a ~R+9 District.

    Greene’s Good-grudge stems in part from his being one of the 8 Republicans who helped topple her ally Kraven McCarthy. McGuire isn’t pounding that issue, but McCarthy’s revenge PAC is putting a lot of money on McGuire.

    The issue McGuire and Greene are pounding is Good’s early endorsement of Ron DeSantis for President. Good jumped on the Trump Train as soon as DeSantis folded but it was too late. “Good’s a traitor to the MAGA Movement,” say Greene and McGuire, and so does Trump.

  127. 127.

    Jay

    @RaflW:

    Onions. Wazz a bunch up in a blender with water, strain, put in a spray bottle, mist the aphids. The oxalic acid kills the little buggers on contact. The mix is good for a day as UV breaks it down, but the onion smell lasts for a while, (3-4 days). The onion smell keeps them away for a while as well.

  129. 129.

    Miki

    Make yourself some Fresh Corn Eggplant Sauce. (4 ears fresh corn, shucked and corn kernels cut from ears

    3 to 4 tbsp unsalted butter

    Salt and pepper to taste

    Add corn kernels to blender and puree until smooth.

     

    Set skillet over medium heat. Add butter. When butter is melted, add corn puree and cook, stirring constantly, until it reaches desired thickness. Remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste. (It will thicken as it cools.) Serve with cut up chives over top

    Then add a nice

  130. 130.

    Ruckus

    @RaflW:

    It wasn’t so much the bitterness but the overall taste. My parents loved them. My sisters tolerated them. To me they just tasted WRONG.

  134. 134.

    cain

    @Another Scott:

    That’s a big deal, because for developers, the time before a project’s completed costs big money — and that gets passed along to the homebuyer.

    Everytime I see shit like this .. I think the savings doesn’t get passed on to the buyer but for higher compensation for execs.

  135. 135.

    thruppence

    @Miki: Then add a nice … ? Okay, I’ll add a nice. Thanks for the link, I’ll check it out and sign off like J. Kenji Lopez-Alt sez, thanks to all the guys, gals, and non-binary pals, summer veggie season is here. See you at the farmer’s market!

  136. 136.

    Bupalos

    @Jay: I hear you. That’s a cautionary tale, but not one that overlaps fully onto the basic idea of dispersing the high end jobs of the Nation-State from a particular center throughout the physical territory of the nation-state….and particularly not relevant to a situation where the nation-state in question is imploding due to constitutional power sharing arrangements that were made 100 years before the physical boundaries of the nation state were digested.

    The United States, in it’s currently constituted situation, where we all agree THERE WILL BE NO MORE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS EVER (from this particular point of view)… It absolutely has to devolve it’s center away from DC in a way that reinvigorates the periphery.

    Pose it this way: What do national electoral politics look like right now if you move 100K federal employees to Cleveland? And Detroit? And Milwaukee. And Rapid City. And KC?

    I hear your experience though. But this is so obvious it’s sick. No one from outside could look at this country without remarking on how weird this is, that the capital and center of governance is on the east coast. There’s no other country in the world where this imbalance between population and power center exists. It’s much more distortive than people recognize. These physical factors matter a great deal.

  138. 138.

    Jay

    @Ruckus:

    Learned, before they bred the new varietals, that every member of the cabbage family, is high in sulphides.

    If you cook them in a 316ss pot, the sulphides don’t react and cooked cabbage tastes like raw cabbage, etc.

  140. 140.

    BQuimby

    Open thread question:  Will Trump get a NYC mugshot and will it feature the requisite height chart ruler and officially recorded weight?  Just wondering…

  141. 141.

    Geminid

    @Bupalos: Look on the bright side. If Virginia hadn’t ceded Ohio in 1787, under the Northwest Ordinance, you’d be sending your state Delegates and Senators to Richmond.

  142. 142.

    Gretchen

    @Bupalos: Trump and his minions decided that a good way to cut the federal workforce is to force them all to move. They moved the department of agriculture to Kansas City, and 40% of the workforce quit, losing all that institutional knowledge. People who work for the government in DC have spouses who also have jobs, kids in schools, mortgages, and they don’t stand for getting ripped up and moved somewhere else.

  143. 143.

    Jay

    @Bupalos:

    I hear your experience though. But this is so obvious it’s sick. No one from outside could look at this country without remarking on how weird this is, that the capital and center of governance is on the east coast. There’s no other country in the world where this imbalance between population and power center exists.

    Britain, France, Germany, Canada, ruZZia, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, Austria, the list goes on and on, all disagree.

    And as many, many trials and proposals have shown, in multiple countries over the years, “devolution” does not result in 100,000 Fed Employee’s moving to Possum Holler, it result’s in 99% to 98% of the Fed Employees quitting.

    Alberta is in the process of destroying the University of Athabasca doing the same “MAGA” crap.

    I was a Tech/Manufacturing buyer/planner who agreed to the move because the “bump” in position and pay, meant that we could buy acreage, build a net 0 off grid house, and I wouldn’t have to work, ( there was/is no work there for me) and when that was done, I could fish, hunt, etc.

    But the brain drain, and “rural” politics killed her position and the whole Division in under two years.

  144. 144.

    Jay

    @Bupalos:

    Sulphides react to the composition of the container they are cooked in.

    316ss is non-reactive, which is why it’s used in Marine, Nuclear, Space, etc applications.

    Easy test, take a low sulphide Cabbage like Savoy, steam it in different containers, plastic, teflon, copper, 308 stainless, cast iron, 316ss if you have it, do a taste test.

  146. 146.

    thruppence

    @pluky: Ratatouille is one of the ultimate summer veg recipes, so many ways to make it and they all come out good even if you’re not a genius rat under a chef’s hat

  147. 147.

    Jay

    @Bupalos:

    The “libs”, (not liberals at all, our Cons), thought that if they “regionalized” Provincial jobs out to the boonies, they would get more rural votes.

    In reality, they crippled over a dozen Ministries, destroyed tens of thousands of careers, lost votes and ridings, and got kicked out of office and are now extinct as a political party. The Province ministries are still trying to recover, but have a “hiring” issue, because nobody want’s to work under the threat that if another Con government get’s elected, their jobs will  get “moved” and their career in BC is over.

    1/3rd of the Ministry of Forests, took jobs in Singapore, another 1/3rd went into the Forestry Companies, and 1/4 relocated to Atlantic Canada and Quebec.

  148. 148.

    sab

    @Bupalos: That’s interesting. We have a big old bitternut hickory growing in our little neighborhood park. The nuts are considered a nuisance by everyone around here.

  150. 150.

    LanceThruster

    Eggplant Parmesean is the bomb. A vegetarian dish that tastes incredibly meaty (at least the way my dad made it).

    Happy butchering of your haul.

  151. 151.

    Regine Touchon

    Betty we’re behind you with the eggplant, and just our cherry tomatoes are starting to come in. Looking forward to the first Parmesan of the season. I make a mean fire roasted tomato sauce I use in it. Bon appetit!

  152. 152.

    catclub

    @Salty Sam: ​
     

    “they have very little flavor, a nasty texture, and are pale and watery.

    You will get none of my wonderful baba ghanoush.
    best still warm

  154. 154.

    catclub

    @Scout211: ​
     

    my favorite dish is ratatouille with all the fresh garden veggies thrown into the pot.

    including some pickled jalapenos.

  156. 156.

    Barbara

    @Salty Sam: ​Two words: air fryer.

    Eggplant plus olive oil and roasted tomato confit +/- red pepper flakes = pasta alla norma.

  157. 157.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @PST: sploosh tomato sauce on baked/ grilled eggplant cubes.

    this is my kind of lazy food prep. Quick, few steps.

  158. 158.

    Anne Laurie

    @Anoniminous: Try it sliced thin, fried in olive oil, topped with Parmesan cheese and fresh cracked pepper.

    Let’s be honest, though:  A leather boot would be tasty prepped that way!

  159. 159.

    Bupalos

    @Jay: That I can see, those countries have off-center administration but are either comparatively tiny such that it doesn’t even make sense to talk about regional imbalance; or else they  have similarly off-cantered populations. Maybe excepting The Aggressor State, but their centralization of power in the west (which has increased) is similarly disastrous and a big part of why they are at then top of inequality rankings (along with us.) It’s frankly likely to lead to the federation’s dissolution. And people continue to short-sell how true that is becoming in the U.S.

    I hear the “but people don’t want to do that” angle, and I agree that the right-wing version of this can be and has been essentially just a kind of attack. The right way to do this is over the course of 30-50 years, just adding regional administration centers and gradually weighting more responsibilities in those places. And it doesn’t need to be Possum Lick. Milwaukee and Cedar City and Albuquerque will do just fine. Probably should be near state flagship Unis. I honestly think we can’t keep brain-draining 90% of the country and remain a democracy under this constitution.

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