Gosh, I can’t believe how quickly the weeks fly by sometimes. Or, you know, how quickly the entire month of July flew by. I think I must have missed at least a fortnight somewhere in there. After a rather lackluster One Local Summer meal last week (in my opinion), I got it together for this go ’round:
This is my Fake All-American Meal. I made bean burgers and topped one with local cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and pickles. To round out the meal, I had coleslaw and zucchini ‘chips’. The coleslaw was made from local ingredients, with the exception of the vegan mayo, but the carrot and the broccoli stalk I added to the store-bought cabbage were actually from my garden — the first carrots I pulled up!
I had made the pickle slices just the day before. I had two cucumbers on my plant outside that were ready for picking, so I made a pickling brine with dill (fresh and seed) from the garden and popped them in the fridge. Even though the original recipe says to let them sit for a week, they were definitely ready the next day — the difference between cutting thick wedges and slim slices. I’m not so crazy about raw cucumbers, but I love pickles!
I’m kind of kicking myself about the bean burgers, because I made them in my usual slap-dash way, not bothering to write anything down as I threw stuff in the bowl. They’re made from local kidney beans (yes, I finally got around to soaking and cooking some beans!), mushrooms, onion (from the garden), an egg white, local flour. And a combination of my favourite spices. And some oil and balsamic vinegar. See? I’m never going to remember how I actually made these. Luckily, I stuck the extras in the freezer for another day.
I had made some bean patties using a recipe a while back, and I was so underwhelmed by them that I didn’t have high hopes for the ones I was recklessly creating. But I’ve realized that the thing I was most turned off by with the cookbook ones was the use of tamari — I just don’t like soy sauce in things that aren’t Asian/stir-fried/tofu. A lot of vegan chefs love to use the tamari, but to me the flavour is just too dominant. So I used salt in these and was much happier!
And that’s the story of my One Local Summer meal.
Did you make the zucchini chips? They look great and if you made them I’d love to know how!
I did make the zucchini chips — just cut very thin slices (a mandolin saves time), lay them flat on a towel and sprinkle with salt. After a few minutes, use another towel to soak up the liquid that’s come to the surface. Then you can either bake them until they’re crisp or cook in a cast iron pan with a small amount of olive oil.
I so envy you your local beans. I’ve pretty much given up my quest, it seems pretty much hopeless. I’ve never had zucchini chips, I’ll have to give them a try!
Wow- those look really delicious! Everything looks so good. Thanks for sharing!