These lemons are quite large, measuring 4 inches (10 cm) long by 3 inches (7 cm) wide. Now, this wouldn’t be weird in itself, but the tree that they’re growing on is only 40 inches (1 m) tall! These are destined to be used in my favorite lemon bar recipe in about a week.
Really! Since we are trying to flex our power this summer, we don’t run the air conditioner. And instead of lighting the oven in a warm house, we have been cooking outdoors a lot. We can do much of what we used to do in the oven in our outdoor BBQ.
A pizza stone with a layer or two of aluminum foil under it heats up quite nicely in the BBQ with the lid closed. We prepared our pizza dough and transferred to the stone. We then added the rest of the toppings and cheese, lowered the heat and the BBQ hood and cooked the pizza to a bubbly perfection.
Not really — the produce from this vine is called Yard Long Beans — also known as Asparagus bean, dow gauk, Chinese long beans, Peru bean, and Snake bean. The flowers are pale, delicate little things about the size of a thumbnail or just a little bigger. This photo was snapped in our garden this morning. The little beans rising on the left are about an inch long (~3cm), but they will be as long as your forearm (Cap’n says a cubit??) in a couple of weeks when they get picked.
I found this on Farm and Garden:
ASPARAGUS BEAN
History, definition & classification
The asparagus or yard long bean originated in southern Asia and is now grown extensively in Asia, Europe, and most recently, the United States. These unique beans grow on twining, delicate stems with a tenacious root system. The plants bloom in mid-summer with a pair of large white or purple flowers. Once pollinated, the flowers are followed by tiny dark green beans that reach a foot long in only a few days. The beans can grow up to three feet long, ripening to pale green and inflating as the red or black seeds ripen.
Although they resemble pole snap beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), asparagus beans are more closely related to southern cowpeas, Vigna unguiculata. Asparagus bean, Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis, is called dow gauk in China, sasage in Japan, and Chinese long bean or yardlong bean in Europe and the United States.
Now is the time of year that our backyard starts producing fruit and veggies, most of which reach our table one way or another. Among the beans, peas, squash and melons, none are more colorful as they ripen on their vines as the strawberries. They look so tempting that sometimes I’ll wash one and split it with the Cap’n right in the garden! This one was particularly sweet and delicious.
This is how we are celebrating the day: roast corned beef with cabbage and potato bake (and carrots and parsnips). A special horseradish sauce spiced up the beef and a frosty mug of Killian’s Irish Red beer to cool it off. MMMM MMMM! This is adapted from an Emeril Lagasse recipe which you can find on the Food Network cable channel.
Today’s special meal included this great recipe for stuffed potatoes (twice baked). What was really cool is that we substituted Danish Havarti cheese for the French Gruyere originally called out. We’re supporting Denmark in the wake of the insane Islamic reaction to the Danish Muhammad cartoons. And, we’ve been avoiding French stuff ever since their attitude about operation Iraqi Freedom turned out to be connected to oil-for-food scams. And there was no sacrifice to the end product since the Havarti was excellent!!
Damsel’s Danish Style Stuffed Potatoes
Ingredients:
4 medium to large baking potatoes, like russets, washed
Filling:
1 shallot, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
4 strips bacon chopped into small pieces
4 oz. Danish Havarti cheese, shredded, about 1 cup
1/2 cup evaporated milk
6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only, chopped to about 2 tablespoons
Salt and pepperPreparation:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pierce potato skins with the tines of a fork. Wrap individually in aluminum foil. Bake for 1 1/2 hours.
About 20 minutes before the potatoes are done, heat a skillet and add the bacon pieces. Cook the bacon until crisp. Remove from the skillet with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
Add chopped shallots and garlic and saute in bacon renderings for 2 to 3 minutes or until bits are just tender. Set aside.When done, cool potatoes for 5 minutes and remove foil. Slice the potatoes 1/2 inch from a side. Scrape the potato flesh from the removed side into a mixing bowl. Discard the side skin. Being careful to keep at least 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the skins, remove most of the remaining potato flesh and place into the mixing bowl. Set hollowed out potatoes aside on a non-stick baking sheet or in a lightly oiled baking pan.
To the cooked potato in the mixing bowl, add shallots and garlic, bacon, grated cheese, evaporated milk, thyme, and season with salt and pepper. Mash mixture with a potato masher or dinner fork until mixture is combined, but not entirely lump-free.
Scoop mixture in even amounts into hollowed potatoes and bake for 15 to 20 more minutes, or until lightly browned.
Serving suggestion – Stuffed potatoes, grilled bone-in rib eye steaks with fresh blanched asparagus.
After a few chores in the morning and a run to the local discount goods outlet, Damsel and I settled in to watch NFL Wildcard Sunday. As an adjunct to that, we also decided to prepare Mexican-style grilled chicken breasts, Mexican rice and (of course) Mexican-style pinto beans. All this enhanced by salsa and tortilla chips. The chicken is sliced and served in rolled-up tortillas with rice and beans (salsa optional).
The secret to this great meal is the marinade prepared the previous day; the chicken breasts are marinated overnight, turned over in the morning and prepared in the afternoon.
These are the ingredients in the marinade:
Marinate 3-4 chicken breasts in a large plastic bag and refrigerate overnight.
Transfer the chicken breasts to a shallow baking pan. Reserve the marinade for basting later. Bake the chicken for 30 – 40 minutes at 400°, turning once about halfway through. Crank up the gas BBQ to high when you turn the chicken. Remove the chicken from the oven and place on the grill. Be sure to spray or otherwise apply oil or a non-stick product to the grill first. Baste the chicken breasts on the grill, and turn basted side down. Baste the top side after. In about five minutes or so, turn the chicken breasts one more time. The idea is to get the basted marinade to infuse and get those nice grill marks on the chicken breasts. Damsel snapped the shot of the chicken during the last stages of cooking. Click to enlarge.
This is quite a delicious and healthy meal. I keep a couple of Coronas or Pacificos in the little fridge to enjoy with this sumptuous treat.
Football, grilling, eating and lifting a brew (or 2) makes for a very enjoyable Sunday Football afternoon!
I almost pity PETA and the vegetarian and vegan loonies who never get to enjoy the magnificence of meals like these.