6 Canned Produce I Like

Most of us would agree there's no comparison of taste between farm fresh fruits and vegetables and canned or even frozen produce. Living in a city, I buy plenty of frozen vegetables because food experts tell us they are frozen soon after picking and retain their nutrients. It's a compromise I make since frozen is more convenient though less scrumptious than farm fresh.

But guess what? There are canned foods I don't mind or like better than their fresh, or refrigerated, or frozen versions. I'll list 6 of them below.

6 Canned Produce I Like:

1) Sauerkraut - Canned sauerkraut isn't as raw as it is bagged and refrigerated at the supermarket. Still sufficiently sour yet not as intensely sour or crunchy as unblanched bagged sauerkraut.

2) Refried beans - I see little difference in taste or texture between canned beans and dried beans you soak and tenderize yourself. With refried beans, I like the convenience, and unless you cooked a huge amount, the extra cost of buying them canned is minor. For soups or sometimes chili, I will use either canned or dried beans depending on how much I'm making.

3) Pumpkin, puree - Who in their right mind would unseed, clean, cook, and scrape the flesh out of a fresh pumpkin to use in a dish? Oh, the many steps and mess!😳

4) Tomatoes, whole plum, diced, or crushed for cooking - Cheap and you have the same consistency every time when making sauces.

5) Pineapple, diced - Since pineapples don't grow outside of Hawaii or South America, it is doubtful I have ever eaten a fresh one, so I opt for the convenience of canned pineapple. I don't detect enough of a difference after cleaning and cutting up a whole pineapple that may (or may not) be fresh after it arrives at the supermarket.

6) Spinach - This one is debatable. I do prefer fresh spinach and buy it to use as a dip, pizza topping, part of a salad, or to add to soup, but since a 10-ounce bag of fresh spinach cooks down to nothing in seconds, I also buy canned spinach to eat as a side dish. The taste and texture of canned spinach is fine, plus there seems to be more of it in a can than in a bag. In Manhattan you can't buy a bushel of fresh spinach, or grow it sans a plot of soil, so it's another compromise I make.

So there you are, my list of 6 foods I buy and like canned. Often our sense of taste is subjective. Is there any produce you would add or subtract from my list as unedible? Let's discuss... it's all in fun.🌴

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Pimenton Roasted Chicken And Potatoes, A One Pan Meal

Photo by Tim Mazurek/Lottie and Doof 

On New Year's Day I made a dinner created by David Tanis in Bon Appetit.  The original recipe is here, and of course, I tweaked it a little bit.  Why not start a New Year by roasting chicken a new way?  It is a healthy meal using a few fresh ingredients without a lot of fuss ... or pans.  I love one pan, crispy, spicy food. The chicken is moist on the inside, crispy on the outside, and the roasted potatoes collect all the deliciousness that drips off the chicken.  It's perfect for a holiday, or any day.

Chicken

Ingredients:

4 garlic cloves, finely grated

1 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoons smoked paprika

½ tablespoon hot smoked Spanish paprika

One 4 pound whole chicken

1 large bunch fresh thyme or marjoram

Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 pounds potatoes, unpeeled (Eyeball it: a potato per person)

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 ½ tablespoons olive oil

¼ cup chopped parsley

¼ cup thinly sliced scallions

Smoked paprika (for dusting)

Optional: Roast carrots, onions, broccoli, or brussel sprouts at the same time as the potatoes.

Directions:

1. Make a paste by mixing the garlic, salt, olive oil and both paprikas in a bowl.

2. Using your hands, coat the entire outside of the chicken skin with the mixture.

3. Place the thyme bunch inside the bird.

4. Chill for at least 6 hours, or overnight.

5. Remove from the refrigerator and let the chicken stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

Meanwhile:

6. Cut the potatoes (and other vegetables) lengthwise into thick wedges.

7. Drop into a mixing bowl.  Drizzle the potato wedges (and vegetables) with olive oil and salt and pepper, then spread them out on a baking tray, or on the bottom of a roasting pan.

8. Place the chicken on top of the potatoes.

9. Roast in a 500 degree F oven for 30 minutes.

10. Reduce the oven heat to 425 degrees F and roast for 20 minutes more.  Let rest for 15 minutes.

11. Transfer to a serving platter if you wish (or don't and use the baking tray, rustic-style).  Sprinkle the potatoes with scallions and parsley, and sprinkle the roasted chicken (lightly) with smoked paprika.

I add a green salad with a vinaigrette dressing.  Thank you, David Tanis and Bon Appettit!  This new dish is a keeper.

On New Year's Day some cultures eat black-eye peas and sauerkraut for good luck.  Click on the words of each to find a tasty receipe.
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Happy New Year! 

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City Gardener Extraordinaire

I work for a magazine. In early May I brought home a tiny bell pepper plant from a photo shoot, transferred it into a big flower pot, began watering it, added a weekly fertilizer and sat it in my windowsill just to see what would happen.

Later I bought sweet basil because herbs are like weeds, easy to grow. Than I received two free tomato plants [which I know] require a lot of sun to produce tomatoes. Still nothing ventured, nothing gained. So I transplanted both -- a male and female -- into a single large pot and tended to them too.

Now I have enough basil to make a pesto sauce and three bell peppers that are getting surprisingly big, mature enough to pick soon. The tomato plants have tripled in size. A dozen little yellow flowers have blossomed on each one, and I understand those turn into tomatoes. Had they been outside receiving 6-8 hours of full sun each day, tomatoes would be falling off the vines already. Regardless, I'm thrilled they're doing so well indoors. And plants are pretty. Even without the produce, all the greenery spruces up the apartment. So my experiment of growing the unlikely in flower pots is paying off. With a minimum of time, effort and experience, I'll actually serve fresh picked “garden” peppers, tomatoes and basil for dinner. And straight from my windowsill, I'll savor the sweet taste of success.

Update: Other easy to grow herbs include: mint, oregano, chives, sage, parsley and lavender. The red peppers and tomatoes were delicious! Another way to pollenate tomato plants -- and as it turns out all plants like air -- is to turn a fan on them. Most herbs need 4 hours of direct sunlight to live, but you can use an inexpensive fluorescent light to make up for not having enough sun.