"recipe suggestions" news and stories

I learned long ago that, unless I wanted to be eating zucchini at ever meal for three months, it is best not to plant it at home. Besides, when they are in season they are so inexpensive that you can buy as many as you want for very little money - and if your neighbors decide to plant them, you'll probably have plenty of free ones anyway. But just because I don't plant zucchini doesn't mean that I don't have vegetable problems. While some people have problems with zucchini overrunning their gardens during the summer, I have a problem with cucumbers.

Over the past two days, I have accumulated roughly 30 pounds of cucumbers, both English and Japanese. Though I didn't try to pile them all into one photo, for reference, the cucumber in the center of this picture measures 11"x4" and weighs just over 2.5-pounds. And it's not the biggest that I have at the moment. The one in the fridge looks remarkably similar to a baseball bat.

Today, Ask Metafilter featured a question by someone named OmieWise (great handle, by the way) wondering what to do with a large tin of anchovies. As usual, the MeFites have no shortage of answers. Pizza, bagna cauda and pasta puttanesca come up, of course. Someone also suggested Heston Blumenthal's recipe for pan bagnat, and Jamie Oliver's anchovy pangratatto sounds like a good bet, too. There's also mention of a Jansson's frestelse, a Swedish potato and anchovy gratin. One of the best so far, in my opinion, is the recipe for Brussels sprouts fried with anchovies. Truly a love-it-or-hate-it dish. Personally, my favorite has always been to saute a few anchovy fillets with minced garlic and use that to dress some pasta, along with a squeeze of lemon juice and some fresh Italian parsley.