Berries
At the turn of May-June, the first garden berry ripens – honeysuckle… You can buy it on the market. Incredibly vitamin honeysuckle can be eaten raw with fermented baked milk or cottage cheese, and if you cook it, it is advisable to be very careful so as not to deprive the berries of all useful properties. Honeysuckle makes wonderful compotes, jams, preserves and desserts.
In June, wonderful gifts of summer appear on sale – berries: Strawberry, Strawberries, merry, cherry… The situation with strawberries is as follows: at the beginning of June, the market offers berries from the Krasnodar Territory, and at the end of the month local strawberries appear. It is difficult to say how tasty and aromatic it will be now – it depends on the weather, but the jam from it always turns out to be exceptional.
The fragrant and bright star of June is wild strawberry. Unlike strawberries, some varieties of which can bear fruit almost before the first frost, strawberries are berries with a very short season. Therefore, as soon as you notice it on sale, buy it immediately! Don’t put it off until later; then it won’t. Eat it with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream if you want. Or bake a strawberry pie, smoothies, or strawberry ice cream. Strawberries can add charm and flavor to anything.
Pond fish
In ponds, creeks and other artificially created reservoirs, it begins to beat its tail pond fish… It is small because the fry rock, crucian carp, pikes They are launched on free grazing only in May or at the very beginning of June, but wildly tasty, and also not requiring much fuss – quickly peel, add a little salt and in a frying pan. In addition, unlike river fish, pond fish do not have such a fierce scent of mud; agree, this is great.
As mentioned above, preparing young pond fish is elementary. But even this simplicity allows for variation. You can brew it in salted wheat flour, or semolina, or fresh white bread crumbs with finely chopped herbs. Or you can not bread it at all, but wrap it in foil and cook it on the grill.
Vegetables
If you are not very fond of vegetables, June is the time to reconsider your views. Young carrot, young green peas, young zucchini, young beet and finally, cucumbers are delicious and very healthy food. And its preparation does not require a lot of time or heroic efforts.
For example, young carrots can be served with a cheese plate; it looks most impressive with brie and camembert, but it goes well with matured cheeses from classic gouda to classic parmesan. To complete the composition, add a handful of nuts and a cup melilot honey (by the way, he also has a season in June).
You can cook a lot of young, slightly larger than the palm of your hand, zucchini, but the fastest way is to marinate them with lemon juice. It is done this way: the zucchini must be cut into circles about 3 mm thick, put in a colander and placed over a saucepan with boiling water, covered with a lid. After 7-8 minutes, transfer the courgettes to a large bowl. In the same bowl and at the same minute, squeeze the juice from half a lemon, add a generous pinch of salt. Then the zucchini should be allowed to cool, stirring from time to time; it will take another five minutes at most – and that’s it, the snack is ready. You can serve it with a kebab or fried chicken. And it will be great.
Green leaf and herb
Speaking of June vegetables, one cannot fail to mention them. botvu… Beet and carrot tops, firstly, are no less useful than the vegetables themselves, and secondly, they are used in cold snacks, in first courses, and in baked goods. In particular, beet tops can be put in borscht and in a salad along with other herbs, or you can make a curd casserole with it, as the Bulgarians do.
Greens on the summer table take the same place as “Olivier” on New Year’s. Of course, you add it to all salads and appetizers, you sprinkle it on any hot and any soup. However, so that the greens do not become boring, we advise you to use them “in a different manner.” Chop the bunch green onions, a few leaves spinach and / or baking, bunch parsley and a few twigs dill, beat a few eggs with a fork with salt and a spoonful of milk. Toss the herbs with the egg mixture. Make an omelet. What, have you done that already? Fine! Keep going on and on!
Add chopped parsley to the chops. Equal breadcrumbs and parsley, 1 tablespoon of mustard, 1-2 egg whites, mix – and you’re done. Perfect for lamb on the bone, for a pork chop or even for a Kiev cutlet.
Cook pesto – and eat it as often as possible. And don’t get hung up on green basilica – try parsley, dill, mint, arugula, purple basil, and any other herbs you can find. Use good and tasty olive oil and nuts.
Undoubtedly, shoots also belong to greenery. young garlic… They are wonderful how good they are when fried. This appetizer tastes like fried mushrooms, and the recipe for its preparation is simple. Garlic shoots should be washed, chopped and fried in vegetable oil. Ideal as a side dish for meat dishes and baked or fried potatoes, and they are delicious in themselves.
Mint and basil add incredible freshness to summer drinks. Put a few mint leaves in homemade lemonade and refrigerate overnight. Add to iced tea with lemon on a sprig of basil and mint. Place the basil and mint in the cooled compote. Just do not forget to remove these twigs later, otherwise the drink will taste bitter.