As I mentioned in my last post, we came back from two weeks away to a relatively empty fridge. Three dinners loomed between us and the Sunday Hollywood Farmers Market where we would replenish our vegetables with produce from our favorite farmers.
I couldn't manage lunches, so we ate those out. But thanks to our garden, the dinners were pretty good.
Thursday night I made pesto with basil from the garden, garlic and olive oil from the pantry, and walnuts from the freezer. Tossed over pasta from the pantry, it was a great dinner.
Friday night my jet lag had lessened and I was more inspired. I pulled some cooked brown rice from the freezer before I went to work. In the evening, I whisked it with an egg and a few chard leaves from our garden. First I steamed them and chopped them coarsely then stirred them into the rice along with some salt and pepper. It went into a small casserole dish and a few slivers of old cheddar cheese were scattered on top. It was great.
Steamed carrots alongside. (Carrots last well in the fridge.)
And our out-of-control garden provided the final dish: stewed wax beans.
As you can see in the picture, the wax beans were prolific and large. (They're the green tower to the right of the blue agapanthus flowers.) The beans were too tough to steam, but excellent braised for 30 minutes until they softened and took on some additional flavor.
I trimmed them and cut them in 2-inch lengths. Then I put them in a pot with a 14-oz can of diced tomatoes and a little salt and pepper. I covered the pot and put it over medium-low heat to simmer until the beans were tender, stirring occasionally so it wouldn't stick. Just before serving I tossed in some fresh shredded basil from the garden. The slightly saucy beans were great with the rice, and you couldn't tell that they had started off tough.
That was the end of my inspiration. Saturday night we ate pizza in front of the hockey game. And then Sunday morning we replenished our fridge at the Hollywood Farmers Market.
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