Sunday, August 30, 2009

fresh from a southern garden...

i went to visit my folks last week and, like always, they sent me home with fresh vegetables from their gardens. their okra plants are like small trees and the squash is so plentiful there is plenty to freeze for the winter. they have two really large gardens going most of the time. this will be the first year they are letting the lower one lay fallow for the winter with a cover crop of vetch growing to turn in early next spring. the upper garden is already planted with fall crops like the kale, more squash, fall tomatoes, spinach, and lettuce. every time i'm out there i have plans to take some photos of how pretty it all is and then time gets away from me and i get home sans pictures but with loads of food. the chard in this picture was bought at the market and i should have known better. it wasn't good at all and won't be until the weather cools off.


i love sauteing the squash with onions and a bit of cumin and lemon pepper and topping it with some parmesan. i know that spice concoction might seem odd, but that's how my dad did it and, trust me, it's worth a hot kitchen in august.


and everyone know there is nothing like cornmeal battered fried okra. i soaked it in whole milk for 15 minutes before dredging it in the cornmeal and it was fantastic. still crisp and fresh....not greasy at all.

3 comments:

  1. That okra needs to be in my belly immediately. And I'm really behind anything that has cumin in it!

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  2. Oooh, I'm going to try making squash that way sometime.

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  3. yum! i wish my garden flourished like your parents... i know it's a lot of hard work. we bought some local okra the other day. i need to figure out a way to fry it up vegan style. right now i'm on my boyfriend's computer. for some reason my computer never lets me post comments on your blog :( please know i visit it regularly! i hope all is well and that we'll run into each other sometime soon :)

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