Do you eat “In Season”
Eating more according to the seasons is something many want to do more. But it’s not always easy.
First, with fruits and vegetables always available in the average supermarket it can be very confusing to establish what is really in season.
Second problem is that eating in season can become boring very quickly.
This does NOT have to be.
So I decided to do a new series, about what fruits and veggies are in season and of course offer you plenty of cooking inspiration too.
Let’s start and the good thing is that summer of course is the plentiful season for vegetables and fruits, so more than enough to choose from.
Let’s first tackle the challenge of knowing what is in season. There are two ways to solve this issue.
The “boring” way is getting a seasonal calendar that tells you exactly what’s in season when. And if you join my GESHMAK Movement Facebook Group, you get my a bit more fun seasonal calendar for free.
WAY MORE FUN is to grow (some of) your own vegetables, And of course you can’t immediately grow all your vegetables, but it is an amazingly effective way to get a good feeling with the seasonal pattern where you live.
And growing your own does not need to be difficult, time consuming or space intensive. With my Easy Urban Gardening system, which you learn in the GESHMAK Program you can start a vegetable garden on a space as tiny as 60x60 or 120x60 cm, which equals 2x2ft or 4x2ft. Without hard work as we make our gardens in raised beds and with my easy system it only takes 5 minutes per day to maintain your garden.
Okay on to the second challenge of getting bored with what’s available in season. I understand this fear, especially when it comes to winter, but honestly food only gets boring if you cook boring. Sorry for being so direct with you (I am Dutch remember…😉), but it is true.
If you become more adventurous in your cooking techniques, and a bit more extravagant in the use of herbs and spices, those same green beans (which are very much in season at the moment), carrots or even lettuce can be very exciting and different every day!
So let me give you some inspiration for this times vegetable: GREEN BEANS as that’s what I am harvesting from my balcony garden a lot at the moment.
First, some different ways of preparing green beans.
Of course the traditional way is to blanche or steam them, just make sure they keep bite.
But green beans are actually also really nice slow cooked or roasted. And of course you can pickle them.
Now let me give you some cooking inspiration like you would learn in my GESHMAK Program where we have special modules on how to use herbs and spices in an exciting and more adventurous way.
Simply blanched beans can you of course very traditionally serve with a red onion, sauteed in some butter or olive oil. From the moment you add the onion to the oil or butter you start being creative by adding herbs and spices.
- freshly ground black pepper with nutmeg for some earthiness or cinnamon for a sweet warming fragrance and oregano
- cardamom, lemon grass for floral notes or fresh ginger for more sweet citrus notes and sage
- Turmeric, cumin for warming earthiness or coriander for those zesty fruit & floral aromas and dill
When you tried any of these combinations let me know what you think.
On to your green beans roasted and cooked low and slow. Put a cast iron pan with lid on the stove on high until it starts to smoke. Add your beans, put the lid on and roast for about 5 minutes. Shake from time to time until the beans are blackened here and there.
Take the beans out, and roast some garlic cloves and 1 or two (green) chilli peppers for 3 minutes in the same way.
Take the pan aside to cool down a bit before you add a generous amount of olive oil in which you saute an onion with some cinnamon and freshly ground ginger before adding the beans, garlic and pepper plus some bouillon and freshly ground pepper. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes until butter-soft. Add some lemon zest and juice.
Serve with a mixture of olive oil, coarsely chopped parsley, dill and tarragon, sea salt and pepper.
Finally I have an Indonesian suggestion for you to pickle your beans.
Sautee 5 chopped garlic cloves with 2 tsp ginger powder and 2 tsp ground cumin without colouring the garlic. Add 2 bay leaves, 1 bruised stalk fresh lemongrass, 1 tsp laos powder, 1 tsp mustard, ½ cup vinegar and ⅔ cup water. Bring to the boil and once boiling add 2 red and 2 green chilli peppers without seeds cut in rings, 10 chopped red onions, 5 kemiri nuts, a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar. Bring to the boil and add 400 gram green beans and 50 gr mung beans sprouts.
Add a little dash of extra water if necessary. Cook until the beans are just al dente. They should still be half raw with a real crunch. Remove the bay leaves and lemongrass stalk and leave to cool before serving.
Bon Appetit and if there is any vegetable that’s in season where you live and you’d love some inspiration, let me know in the comments.
