As I write this, I’m chowing down on mustard greens for the first time (for shame, as I live in the deep south and we lurve us some greens). Anyways . . . wow. They are spicy! They remind me of wasabi. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, but somehow I didn’t think the leaves of the mustard plant would taste like the seed.
So what’s been your biggest vegetable or fruit surprise? Ever bite into anything and have it totally not taste like what you expected? Ever discover that you like a vegetable prepared one way and not another?
As another example, I realized that I really dislike broccoli . . . except if it’s raw with ranch dip. Them’s good eatin’s.
I think the biggest vegetable surprise would have been if Terry Schiavo had awakened during that furor over her.
Seriously, though, I was surprised a few years ago when I discovered that okra, a slimy awful tasting thing if boiled and awful-tasting when fried as well, was delicious when pickled. Much more recently, I discovered that hoppin’ john was all kinds of delicious. I would never have thoguht to combine diced tomatoes and black eyed peas and add a little jalapeno, but damn, those peas and tomatoes really complement one another well.
I’m always surprised at how good cruciferous vegetables are when they are lightly browned. Especially with garlic. They change from somethink I eat because I’m supposed to to something I eat because I want to.
I grew up eating all kinds of fruits and veggies, and really thought there wasn’t one I didn’t like . . . until I tasted turnips and parsnips. They give veggies a bad name.
Gnocchi in a brown butter/hazelnut sauce, with sauteed greens, goat cheese, and diced pear. It was awesome. Perfect texture and flavor contrast with the rest of the dish. (I had this over the weekend at Bouchon in Las Vegas, mmm…)
panache45 - My husband thought he hated turnips, but he loved hakurei, aka “Japanese white turnips.” They’re actually lightly sweet. I sauteed thin slices of them in a curry sauce; my husband asked what this vegetable was, because he liked it. I told him, and he said with a surprised tone, “I like turnips!”
I misread the ‘t’ as an ‘f’ and that was going to be my biggest surprise. Does beef ravioli grow on trees or is it, perhaps, a root vegetable? I’m glad I reread your post before I wrote my own.
My biggest surprise has been how much I like vegetables. We usually had canned vegetables growing up and I loathed them. Fresh veggies and even many frozen varieties are so much yummier when cooked properly.
I’ve never actually eaten it, but those kooky frogs actually fry radishes in butter then eat them warm…
For me, the dissonance on that one is almost too great to overcome. I’m not knocking it, since I’ve never tasted , but everytime I try to imagine it… well, it just doesn’t quite plumb. I mean, I love fresh crispy sharp and hot radishes with some salt, but I don’t want them cooked…