Eating the same ingredient over and over, day after day, meal after meal can be boring. Such is life when one has a garden. Whichever veggies and fruits are coming in fast and furious are the ones most frequently on the menu. If long term storage isn’t convenient there is a need for alternate methods of preparation to avoid boredom and waste.
When I was growing up in India I heard tell of a school whose cafeteria served dal in one form or another for every meal. Students were frequently heard in the dining hall chanting:
“Eating dal and drinking dal,
Stomach rolling like a ball.”
Frequent consumption of yellow summer squash is not known to cause stomach upset, but one can certainly tire of the same old thing time after time. This dish was sufficiently different from recent yellow squash experiences to be truly enjoyable.
Purslane is a weed I deliberately allow to grow amongst the cultivated plants because it is delicious and nutritionally superior to most domesticated vegetables. I frequently see purslane for sale as a fresh vegetable in ethnic markets, and purslane seeds are widely available in seed catalogues. This morning I harvested a large amount, leaving the rooted ends in the ground for future production and harvest. I only used a small portion of the amount harvested and should have/could have used a lot more than I did in this dish. I intended purslane to be a major component, but it shrank more than anticipated and was barely evident in the finished dish. The bulk of what I had harvested ended up in the compost.
It began by roasting the corn kernels in a lightly greased skillet until they started to darken. Then I added chopped onion and garlic which were sautéed with the addition of more olive oil and kosher salt.
Next I added purslane branch tips and leaves, followed by yellow squash chopped into small pieces.
Small cubes of extra firm tofu were then added into the skillet.
When all was thoroughly heated I mixed in chopped fresh basil leaves.
Some might wonder why I would “ruin” a perfectly good vegan meal by serving it with an extra thick slice of whole wheat bread generously spread with Kerry Gold Pure Irish Butter™ from grass fed cows, let alone serve it on a paper plate. All I can say is, it really tasted good and I hate doing dishes!
Pleasant Peasant Cuisine 
We have the Kerrygold available here, and I tried it (YUM! BUTTER!!!), but couldn’t really tell any difference in use. I can get the nearly-organic Challenge Butter on sale frequently enough at $2.50 a pound to always have a good supply in the freezer.
Finished off the yellow squash, and now onto the Mexican grey squash. I can’t really tell the difference once it is cooked. Both are good. Sautéed with sweet onions, roasted red pepper, and mushrooms – num!
Virtual hugs,
Judie
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I never thought of freezing butter. We don’t use much butter so don’t need a lot on hand. I do have a 2 lb 4 oz can of butter powder which I have yet to open.
I haven’t compared yellow squash to Mexican grey squash. I prefer yellow squash to zucchini and I prefer yellow crookneck to yellow straight neck squash. The variety of crookneck with the bumpy exterior has a nuttier texture and flavor.
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Our yellow ones come both straight and crooknecked. I didn’t know they were two different varieties.
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Even the straight neck variety have a slight bend to them but not as pronounced and narrow as the crookneck. I only know from having grown the different varieties.
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I get purslane in my CSA share! I like how you grow your own. 🙂
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That is interesting that you get purslane in your CSA share. I once purchased purslane seed hoping it would go wild in the garden, but no such luck. Many years later I brought in a truckload of soil and it has been coming up wild every year since.
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