What are You Eating from the Garden?

[SPedigrees]

Yesterday I discovered one last tomato in the pocket of my vest. It must have been there, forgotten, for a week after I plucked it from the vine. A final homegrown gift from the garden in my salad, along with garlic pickled green beans from the last farmers market.

Now it will be grocery store fare for the rest of fall, winter, and spring.

(note for British gardeners: by "vest" I mean the American version, aka a sleeveless winter jacket, as opposed to the British term meaning a men's undershirt!)

 

[Branching Out]

Yesterday I tried my hand at making Banh Mi sandwiches for the first time. I made it with a large gherkin-type cucumber as well as lettuce from the garden, pickled onions, avacado, and some leftover chicken. Not exactly the traditional version of this Vietnamese street food but a good start just the same. Next time I might try it with pork, chilis, and cilantro as it should be. They also recommend adding a dash of a salty sauce and that definitely would have been a good idea. The price of fresh buns from the bakery are getting kind of expensive and I like to bake, so I might just try baking the buns myself. That would be a good winter project.

How To Make Bánh Mì (Vietnamese Baguette)

Make your own Vietnamese baguettes! These bánh mì have a light and cottony crumb with a super crispy crust! An authentic recipe!

fullofplants.com

Bánh Mì Recipe - Vietnamese Sandwiches w/ Pork Belly - Hungry Huy

This traditional bánh mì recipe has savory pork belly, fatty & salty spreads, crunchy pickles and fresh veggies for a delicious Vietnamese sandwich.

www.hungryhuy.com

 

[Branching Out]

Not sure what got into me, but it would appear I made Bahn Mi baguettes. I followed the recipe that's linked above, but doubled it and added extra yeast (1 1/2 tsp for 500g flour); it made six nice sized little hoagie-type rolls. As this bread is new to me I was unsure how to score them before baking, so I watched a video that used two short slashes across each bread. I tried that as well as one lengthwise slash, and I must say I prefer the single slash. The final product turned out great, far exceeding my expectation. I filled a couple of them with tuna and egg salad for our lunch, adding fresh lettuce and dill from the garden. Delicious!

 

[flowerbug]

they came out very well. congrats!