Jim Inman's (jinman) Garden - 2007

[txdon]

"My wife makes a great gumbo that only has veggies." -Jim

Jim does Cathy use bacon in her ALL veggie gumbo, or a substitute non-meat flavoring?

 

[Tdog]

Nope, not talking gumbo - - we have our own recipe for that, although we are not above experimenting with modificaitons. Jinman, yours is worth copying.
I was just talking okra & tomatoes. I've had some awful versions of that too, Bird, but my mother & her mother both made it pretty respectable. I'm just looking for other ways to have okra. My favorite is fried!
BTW my okra patch, two rows about 40' long has been pathetic this year. I usually am giving it away by this time of year. Oh well.

Jack

 

[Tdog]

Jinman - - that's a delicious looking recipe - - a little andouille sausage wouldn't hurt that gumbo either!

Jack

 

[Bird]

Jack, like I said, I don't care for the okra and tomato dish, but now I can eat a lot of that gumbo with all the other stuff along with the okra and tomato. My dad used to be rather fond of something mother fixed they called "breaded tomatoes" and I see on the Internet there are several recipes for breaded tomatoes, although I'm sure glad I don't have to eat any of it anymore.

 

[jinman]

"My wife makes a great gumbo that only has veggies." -Jim

Jim does Cathy use bacon in her ALL veggie gumbo, or a substitute non-meat flavoring?

Don: Kathy said the recipe she uses calls for using bacon for flavoring and she thinks she did use it. If I wanted to make a true vegetarian gumbo, I think I'd just try all the other ingredients and see how it tasted. There was certainly no stock with meat chunks added. Kathy hasn't made any lately because it is best in the fall or winter like chili. It really warms you up.

Jack[/]: Of course, that gumbo recipe was not mine. If you want a great recipe, my niece gave us one that is pretty darn good. My wife has it in an email and I can send it to you if you'd like to have it. I can't say that I've ever just had tomatoes and okra, but I've sure had a lot of plain boiled okra. It's not my favorite type of okra, but small pods are sure good when boiled. I dribble a little Tabasco on them. Everything is better with Tabasco.

BTW: I have never looked for it, but can you find file (pronounced: fee-lay) in stores? I asked my wife if she had ever heard of file gumbo. I had to sing a few bars of: crawfish pie...me oh my...file gumbo, before she even new what I was talking about.

Also, Don showed how his okra was doing great and both you and I are having some difficulty. I had problems last year with spots just dying off, but production on the live plants has been high this year even though I have the die-off again. It also effects my blackeye peas. The leaves just start to wilt and then they dry and fall off. The stalks become woody and dry and the roots rot. Whatever it is, it is sure thoroughly destructive.

We had so much rain there for awhile that I could not weed or till up the garden. Finally, I just gave up trying. The plants are pretty much fending for themselves. Even so, we still are getting buckets of tomatoes and squash. Our sweet potatoes aren't doing to bad either. In about a month, I'll know if they are making anything below the ground.

Here are pictures of my sad garden after a week of 100+ temperatures.

 

[Bird]

That's quite a jungle there, Jim. So you walk carefully watching for snakes before putting a foot down in it? Of course, it was productive enough earlier that it's probably about time to either let it go or mow it down.

 

[jinman]

That's quite a jungle there, Jim. So you walk carefully watching for snakes before putting a foot down in it? Of course, it was productive enough earlier that it's probably about time to either let it go or mow it down.

Bird, as Harvey can attest, it's not quite the jungle it appears to be. It is certainly grassy around the edges where the old plants have died off and the Johnson grass is clustered about. Yet, this morning we picked over 10 lb of tomatoes, several squash, and about 3 lb of okra. Tomorrow morning I expect to pick a half-bushel of peas. We aren't quite yet ready to mow it under. Next year I'm going back to wide-spaced rows. I can maintain those better.

...and now that you've said it, I'll probably see a bunch of snakes, but so far this year we have not even seen a lizard in the garden. Maybe the hawk that sits in a tree and squawks loudly every morning has something to do with that.

 

[Tdog]

Jinman - - I'm no expert on file' - - after all, I'm a renegade Texan, but have lived in the New Orleans area since the early 60's.

When my wife & I make gumbo, we don't use file' - - I think file' is a thickening agent & not usually used when you make okra gumbo, since okra does the trick. BTW - - as in many Creole dishes, when you make gumbo, first you make a roux - - make it a dark one for gumbo.

You are lucky to still be harvesting tomatoes, mine are mostly dried up. I do have a few planted for fall however. Two or three rows of contender snap beans too.

Jack

Jack

 

[Bird]

as in many Creole dishes, when you make gumbo, first you make a roux - - make it a dark one for gumbo

Now you're talking my language. In 1971, we got to be friends with some folks in Baton Rouge, and got her recipe for "Cajun Shrimp Stew". It's still one of my favorites and I do like to make my roux a very dark one. And we've never used file either although I remember him talking about file gumbo and catfish. Incidentally, when I make the Cajun Shrimp Stew, I usually make a big pot full of it and eat nothing else, morning, noon, and night for about 3 days.

 

[TBDonnelly]

This past Christmas we attended a gathering of about 40 cousins. Everyone brought a generic gift to put under the tree. Our gift was chosen by....who else but........one of the 'cousins' . The gift was a certificate, to be redeemed, for a 'bounty' of fresh vegetables from our 2007 garden.

The package was delivered today....

Don