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Poll: If you could choose only one vegetable, (This really is more interesting than it seems) |
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  Apr 23 2008, 05:17 PM
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Leaky's Official Donut Maker and Mosquito Man
Posts: 9,420
Joined: 10:51am August 25, 2005
Location: Playing kal-toh with Professor Snape
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Picture the scene: you see an old boot silhouetted against the morning sun and think, what a wondrous sight. You run up the flower-filled meadow to pick up this beautiful old boot and suddenly you're stranded on a tropical island. 
Yes, it was a Portkey (beware innocent looking boots, they're rarely what they seem)
So here you are, stranded on a tropical island where only one kind of vegetable grows in abundance, so there is no food shortage but there is only one variety of vegetable. If you had a choice in the matter, what vegetable would you choose, and why? And, if you have any recipes for your chosen vegetable, please share
Fortunately the tropical island also has cooking utensils and appliances, and all the herbs and other necessary ingredients for your chosen vegetable, so you can cook it however you choose. However, you dont know when you'll find the next Portkey out of here so, choose your vegetable wisely 
 Personally, I would choose to find myself on Potato Island (although cabbage came a very close second). My island is very nice and densly populated with potatoes (all of whom I've named Wilson). I love the humble potato, it's so versatile and can be cooked in so many different ways that it would become difficult to tire of it. The simplest but in my opinion most delicious way of cooking potatoes is the traditional mash potato. There's just something deliciously comforting about it. My favorite way of cooking it is to boil the potatoes until soft (so no lumpy bits), drain almost all of the water but keep some back for making mashing them easier, add (non-dairy) margarine and (soy) milk, and mash them until smoooth and creamy.
Another easy recipe is oven roasted potatoes with garlic and rosemary. Take your potatoes, wash but dont peel them. You can use baby new potatoes whole or, cut up regular potatoes into very approximately 2-inch pieces. It doesnt really matter, so long as they're all of a similar size (so as some dont remain uncooked) Boil them for 20 minutes. Meanwhile in an oven-proof dish, pour in about 3 or 4 tbsp olive oil, chop about 6 (or more) pieces of garlic into thick chunks (so as they caramelize and dont go crispy) and throw in some fresh rosemary. Roll it around in the oil. Drain the potatoes when they're boiled and put them into the ovenproof dish. Add some freshly milled salt and pepper over them, roll them around in the olive oil until they're covered (add more oil if necessary) Put them in the oven, turn them once after they look golden on top, and leave to bake until the other side gets golden, too. These are so good 
A neat way of cooking potatoes is to make fun fries. Cut potatoes into fry-size thick round slices. Using fun-shape cookie cutters (stars, hearts, moons, anything) cut out shapes. You can use the cut-out pieces and the slices from which you cut them, for example you can have star shapes and round slices with a star-shape hole. Shallow fry them in olive oil until cooked.
There are so many other potato recipes and ideas, potato salad, parsley potatoes, potato cakes ... the list is endless. So what would you choose as your ideal vegetable?
This post has been edited by Moose_Starr: Apr 23 2008, 06:18 PM
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  I'm 1 of the 99.99% W.L.Y.J.  When I sleep I dream, and when I dream I can rise above the walls Remember Cameron Duncan |
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Apr 24 2008, 06:28 PM
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Sundae-Nut-Chopper at Florean Fortescue's
Posts: 925
Joined: 6:16pm June 18, 2007
Location: dying my hair *crosses out* being a brunette!
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yay, first post!
so. very hard poll. i agree with you on the potato idea, moose, that you can never get tired of it and also its very yummy
BUT... i had to go with... drum roll please... the carrot! *lip smack*
carrot is my all time favorite veggie, which is saying something bc i have never not liked any vegetable ive ever eaten (trust me, they have been many) except for the disgusting egg plant. uuuggh. hate it. anyway, back to the carrot.
there are not many ways to cook it, at least that i know of, but my fave way to eat it is raw, nice and crunchy. yum. also they can be cooked and cut in all types of pleasing shapes.  i know that is not going to be very useful if youre on a desert island, but its a small mercy i think, lol.
it was a hard choice tho. love tons of veggies. *cough* spinach *cough*
ETA: could we do a LEAST favorite veggie poll? i know which one i would choose (see above).
This post has been edited by tonksgirl: Apr 24 2008, 06:29 PM
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And this could be my night! This is what makes me feel alive! ~ Underoath
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Apr 24 2008, 06:40 PM
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Cauldron Bottom Measurer
Posts: 132
Joined: 6:38pm February 15, 2008
Location: The Grindylow Swamp
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I simply had to choose the potato, I simply love potato salad and also a type of grilled sliced potato (have not got a clue what it would be called)
QUOTE(tonksgirl @ Apr 24 2008, 07:28 PM)  yay, first post!
so. very hard poll. i agree with you on the potato idea, moose, that you can never get tired of it and also its very yummy eat.gif
BUT... i had to go with... drum roll please... the carrot! drool.gif *lip smack*
carrot is my all time favorite veggie, which is saying something bc i have never not liked any vegetable ive ever eaten (trust me, they have been many) except for the disgusting egg plant. uuuggh. hate it. anyway, back to the carrot.
there are not many ways to cook it, at least that i know of, but my fave way to eat it is raw, nice and crunchy. yum. also they can be cooked and cut in all types of pleasing shapes. lol.gif i know that is not going to be very useful if youre on a desert island, but its a small mercy i think, lol.
it was a hard choice tho. love tons of veggies. *cough* spinach *cough*
ETA: could we do a LEAST favorite veggie poll? i know which one i would choose (see above).
I also love carrots, though I can't think of many recipes for them. :S
How can you hate eggplant?  One of my favourite meals with eggplant consists of:
-Grilled Turkish Bread (starts drooling a little)
-Olive tapenade (starts to drool uncontrollably)
-Sun dried tomatoes, I don't like these much on their own, but in the sandwich they are divine  (drools even more)
-Lettuce, need I say more  (starts floating in drool)
-and..... grilled... EGGPLANT! -applause- (dies of hunger)
I don't mind eggplant on it's own, but in this little sandwich it is absolutely superlative!
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"You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in." -Professor McGonagall
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Apr 24 2008, 07:07 PM
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Property of the Half-Blood Prince
Posts: 2,835
Joined: 10:10pm February 23, 2007
Location: Paying my last respects to Severus Snape
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Ok, I'm a complete idiot and chose "other" because I didn't see tomato on the list, and now I see it there.  I could live on tomatoes...I love them so much I like to eat them like apples.
My favorite way to eat tomatoes is grilled over the fire...mmmmm. Just find yourself a nice roasting stick and cook, add a little salt and pepper...mmmm
My second favorite way to eat tomatoes is with fish. I'm going to assume on this island that there is water around it and I could do some spear fishing or something. If you open up a tomato and lay the fish fillet over the top and cook it the juices from the fish make the tomato taste wonderful.
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  Albus Severus...you were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew." Harry Potter My Brett Favre tribute has been removed from my signature due to his trade to the Jets...I'm just speechless Come visit me at my blog where we discuss the enigma that is Severus Snape |
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Apr 24 2008, 07:37 PM
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Transfiguration Today's Star Reporter
Posts: 2,004
Joined: 7:59am June 6, 2006
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I voted other. My favourite vegetable is Sweet Potato(actually very different to a normal potato and much tastier)
I like to eat them:
- Fried: Peel and then chop into slices. Heat olive oil in a wok, when oil is hot enough that the potatos sizzle on contact with it, chuck a load of them in. Fry until they're nice and brown and crispy at the edges, they're even nice slightly bunt.
- Mashed: Boil until soft then mash witha potato masher(same as regular potatos)
- Sweet Potato Nests: Use the mash method and then form the mix into little nest shapes spread out on tinfoil on a baking tray. Place in oven(timing depends on temperature) and roast until the exterior of the nests become brownish and crisp then fill the "empty nest" with the sauce of you choice.
- Sweet Potato Stirfry: Peel and chop into cubes, cook in olive oil in a wok with either minced or diced meat of your choice and whatever other herbs or vegetables you like.
Edit: They're actually yummy to eat in raw slices too, like you would carrot sticks.
This post has been edited by Azkaban's_Angel: Apr 24 2008, 07:38 PM
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Apr 25 2008, 10:26 AM
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Gringotts Goblin Translator
Posts: 1,242
Joined: 1:22am January 6, 2005
Location: In the Kitchen
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 Now I'm hungry!!!!
*sigh* I had to agree with the potato argument, but oh that is a tough call! I don't think I could live in a world without eggplant! Just simply grilled, or crumbed then shallow fried with some fresh mozzarella on top, served with a freshly made tomato sauce .....(drool) Or my eggplant torte - which is layers of grilled eggplant, cheese, a highly seasoned mix of meat, rice and spices, more eggplant. I haven't made that in so long!
Asparagus - yum! I have recently started just wrapping them in foil with some salt, a little drizzle of olive oil or butter, a splash of balsamic vinegar and roasted them in the oven for 15 minutes or so. I started it out of laziness and because I was using the entire stove cooking other things, and now it's the only way I like to cook it.
and tomatoes!! How could I possibly survive without tomatoes?? I have an arrangement with a friendly greengrocer who saves all the tomatoes he can't sell for me. (One day I got 5 crates!) Sometimes it's a bit icky sorting through them - it wasn't a problem when the kids were smaller, I'm a big believer in child labour in the kitchen  I slow roast a few trays in the oven, and just chop up the rest and throw them in my biggest pots and just cook them down for a day or so (along with some garlic, red wine, fresh herbs, maybe some roasted peppers and some chillies) - adding the roasted ones towards the end. It's a fantastic pasta sauce - sometimes it needs to be diluted a bit, but I find it's better to cook it down as much as possible so I can fit it all in the freezer! (not that it stays there for long, my friends generally list "Lilly's Freezer" as there favourite Take Away restaurant!)
Then there are things like sweet potato, as Azkaban's_Angel said, and fresh beets, and corn, and broccoli....
I don't think I have ever met a vegetable I didn't like! Can I just choose to not get stuck on a Desert Island?
Lilly
*wah*!! now I am hungry and I want to cook things!!! But it's almost 2 in the morning and very cold, so I should probably just turn off the computer and get some sleep.
This post has been edited by Lilly: Apr 25 2008, 10:35 AM
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