Winter Week 5 Veggie List & Menu

Stirring Persimmons into Batter

I’m a couple days late posting my weekly menu, as we spent some time in San Francisco this weekend. Our walk through Golden Gate Park this afternoon was decidedly un-winterlike, even for San Fran. Magnolias and early rhododendrons are blooming, and even I was too warm in a jacket. Sweet as this weather is, central coasters are longing for the windy wet stuff, nostalgic for stormy 2011. The water table and our local crops need it.

Our veggies, unlike our weather, are wintery. The cruciferous veggies, potatoes, onions, hardy greens, and lemons tell us clearly where the sun is in our annual cycle.

The last 26 Hachiya persimmons from December’s harvest are at last ripe to perfection, so I’ll make my final round of persimmon recipes for the year soon. I’m trying to recall a recipe I made with the first persimmons I ever saw: lentils with sweet and sour sauce. Since this was over 30 years ago now, there are some gaps in this memory.  I’m also going to make some muffins for our realtor, who gave us the huge box of persimmons from his tree last month—thanks, Bill! Bill’s daughter recently blogged her great grandma’s recipe for persimmon chocolate chip cookies (substituting the chips for raisins). They look good!

This week’s veggies:

Broccolini
Romanesco cauliflower
Chard
Meyer Lemons
Lettuce
Potatoes
Onions, yellow
Strawberry Lemon Mix Master

Leftovers: lettuce, red onions, cranberries, daikon, cabbage, persimmons, African pumpkin mash, cooked millet, Accra banana cake, spinach, pumpkin pulp

Thursday

leftover turkey

leftover African pumpkin mash

leftover millet

steamed broccolini

Friday

baked chicken

steamed chard

oven braised parsnips

microwaved mini-butternut squash

raisin date persimmon muffins

Saturday

meals out in San Francisco

Sunday

Lunch:

in San Francisco

Dinner:

leftover baked chicken

leftover pumpkin mash (the last of it??)

steamed spinach

small lettuce & preserved tomato salad

Monday

pumpkin soup

leftover veggies

Romanesco cauliflower with tomato and mustard seed

baked chicken with butternut squash (leftovers for lunches)

Tuesday

baked turkey-stuffed cabbage (Weight Watchers)

Wednesday

veggie burgers

leftover veggies