Another Woman’s Compost – Vegetable Stock

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Liz

As I mentioned in my Monday Harvest post this week, much in my garden is bolting making it fairly inedible.  Fairly but not completely and that’s where this week’s Kitchen Cupboard post comes in.  Today faced with a forest of flowers (parsley that is), an abundance on non hearting cabbage leaves, some celery heading rapidly skyward I cut it all down and made vegetable stock for the freezer.

I make stock about once a week, using some straight away and freezing the rest for those weeks when I really can’t be bothered.  Usually its either chicken or vegetable stock I am making – and to be honest the basic ingredients don’t vary that much (except for the chicken) its just that I add more vegetables to the vegetable version.  I use the stock for soups, sauces, pilafs and risotto in the main so tend to freeze it in a variety of different size containers ranging from a cup to a couple of litres.

This following recipe makes a well flavoured vegetable stock.  The recipe is fairly fluid and can easily be varied according to what you have on hand, for instance I commonly add fennel and/or leeks, but I always include aromatics, celery, carrots and onions in the mix.

Vegetable Stock (makes about 1.5 litres of stock)

*Note you want to have about 800g – 1kg of vegetables to 3 litres of water. The below is a rough guide of the quantities of each type but please vary it to suit what you have.

  • 3 large onions
  • 3 large carrots
  • 4 celery stalks and/or leaves
  • 4 large cabbage leaves
  • a clove or two of garlic ( I used green garlic stalks today)
  • a large bunch of parsley (the bolting stalks are fine)
  • zest of a lemon
  •  handful of thyme
  • 10 peppercorns
  • a couple of bay leaves
  • 3 litres of water

Place all the above ingredients in a stockpot.  Bring to the boil and then simmer for a couple of hours, ensuring that the vegetables are always covered with water.  Strain, cool and freeze.

I usually make double this recipe but to do so you will need a reasonably big stockpot.

For other ways to preserve your harvest visit Thursday’s Kitchen Cupboard which is at Jody’s Spring Garden Acre this week.

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Passionfruit

Posted on October 26, 2011 by Liz

We moved into our current house in July and remarkably (well I found it remarkable) for the time of year there were ripe passionfruit on the vine.  The next season we had an absolutely fabulous bumper crop.  This was 4 years ago and in the years since I have neglected the vine and now it is too old to produce much at all.  Passionfruits have a productive life of about 7 years, and although I don’t know how old this particular vine is it was well established before we arrived.

 

Today I planted a new one.

Its a “Nellie Kelly” Grafted Black Passionfruit, which I suspect is what the one it is going to replace was.  My understanding is that to get good fruit in Melbourne you really need to grow a grafted variety.  To my shame I bought the plant about a month ago at the closest outpost of the Wesfarmers empire,  but it was raining and they have an indoor playcentre and I have been to CERES 3 times since and and and.  Actually its pretty inexcusable really as since that particular hardware/garden superstore opened about 2-3 years ago it has already put the closest and really nice family run nursery/garden shop out of business.  Hopefully the plant overcomes its dubious origins….

I find passionfruits fairly demanding to grow.  I made a previous attempt to replace the current plant and this was the result.

In the end I had to pull it out.  My first mistake was planting in Autumn – it put on lots of new growth which promptly got too cold, died back and then something ate the rest of it.  Not a great start.  My 2nd mistake was probably not feeding it sufficiently.  I have since discovered that passionfruits respond well to being fed 3 times a year, in September, December and February.  So this time I will give it lots to eat and drink and hopefully it will establish itself sufficiently to cope with next winter.

The other problem I have with grafted passionfuit is suckering from the root stock.  It is difficult to make out in the top photos but effectively you are seeing two plants, the suckered root stock and the grafted top.  Unfortunately the suckering occurred on our neighbours side of the fence in an area behind a shed making it difficult to deal with.  Fortunately the rootstock does have attractive flowers so at least that something.  The photo on the left is the flowers from the root stock(which doesn’t produce edible fruit), on the right is the fruiting plant.

 

Suckering is a problem because the suckered part is often more vigorous and can swamp the productive part of the plant.  This time I have planted on the back fence which backs onto an alley so I will be able to easily remove any suckered growth.

I love passion fruit so I will be very happy if this ones thrives.  Aside from the eating there’s also the photographic possibilities offered by the flowers….

I’ll stop at 3, for now……

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Monday Harvest – 24th October 2011

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Liz

It feels like everything in the garden is bolting at once.  First the parsley, then the chervil, the mizuna’s flowering, the lettuce’s headed skyward, the beetroot looked like it wanted to so I ate it, the celery’s started and so on.

     

Its making it hard to find anything to eat, but I did come up with a few things.  Mostly they were aromatics:

     

Kaffir Lime leaves and Lemongrass for a noodle soup.  My first chilli of the season which was both tiny and ever so mild (I photographed it on this chopstick holder to try to make it look bigger – I failed dismally….).  Curry leaves for lemon rice.  Mint, Coriander and Spring Onions for fresh mint & coriander dip for Chicken Kebabs.  And turmeric for a curry – I had intended leaving this piece in the ground to grow on this year but I had people coming, I want to make a spicy sesame sauce for the fish, I’d run out of ground turmeric and, well, this is the result:

I did harvest some actual vegetables as well.  Salad ingredients like mint (it gets in everywhere), spring onions, radishes and lettuce.

And finally some leeks and celery for risotto (it wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t post at least one photo with a vegetable in an unusual place, I bought that wind chime for my mother about 15 years ago but somehow never actually managed to give it to her….).

     

Oh and just for the record (he he he he) last weeks album covers were: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Flaming Lips), Bring it On (Gomez), OK Computer (Radiohead), Wrecking Ball (Emmylou Harris).  Musically my personal favourite is Emmylou Harris but for album art I’d have to give it to the Flaming Lips.

For more harvests from around the world cruise over to Daphne’s Dandelions.

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Tightly held – Cucumbers

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Liz

Yes this post title is a horrendous pun – you’ll see why later…..sorry in advance.

I planted my cucumbers this week (a bit late really they can be planted out from about September onwards in Melbourne), or rather I planted a punnet of Lebanese cucumber seedlings this week that I bought at CEREs.  I have also sowed a few (just germinated) seedlings from seeds which were very helpfully labelled ‘Cucumber’ – it will be interesting to see what eventuates.  I usually grow Lebanese cucumbers for flavour, size and texture and last year they were far and away the best performing of all the crops I grew.  I had a couple of ripe cucumbers ready to pick each day from about December until late March.  A perfect amount for salads and my favourite cucumber based preserve – Bread & Butter Cucumbers.

This is how I grow them:

Yes those are black tights (hence the pun) wrapped around three tomato stakes about 30cm apart at the bottom and meeting at the top. As the cucumber plants grow I simply put the growing tip up through the tights and that is sufficient support to keep the plant upright thus saving considerable growing space.  Here is a picture of them growing from last year, apologies for the washing in the background – sometimes my peripheral vision when taking photos isn’t great….

These plants are obviously looking past their best but as I mentioned earlier they were fabulously productive.  I plant one plant at the base of each stake – so 3 in a row and that’s it.  I do feed and water cucumbers pretty regularly throughout the season, usually applying a thick layer of compost mulch after a couple of months of productivity.

This year I have planted out 5 plants – 3 here and a couple elsewhere in the garden, plus I have a few more seedlings to come.  I want plenty this year as I ran out of Bread and Butter cucumbers in about July after the kids realised they love them – a sugar and salt thing…..

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Beetroot & Date Chutney

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Liz

When I was living abroad I came back to visit Australia on a few occasions and every time I would get some of my mum’s chutney (usually tomato) to take back with me.  Fortunately I didn’t ever have any breakages en route.

I love chutney, all kinds but in this case I mean a preserve made with vinegar and sugar which has been cooked down into a deliciously sweet savory concoction.  I think its that combination; of vinegar and sugar that makes chutney so fabulously addictive to my palate.  Of course the word chutney is originally an Indian word and it is from there that the concept of chutney was originally born.  Having said that in my experience chutney in India often meant a fresh chutney made to eat that day although the other types are also common.  Todays post is about a preserve which wont be ready to eat for the next 6-8 weeks at least.

I have harvested quite a few of both my own and my fathers beetroot in the last few weeks and I am a bit beetrooted out when it comes to salads and side dishes hence the desire to preserve some.  Well that and the fact that my 5 year old is a big fan of beetroot chutney.  Last time I made this I made it with sultanas but this time I used dates.   I was reading an Eastern European cookbook at the library which included a recipe for a dip made from beetroot and dates, so if a dip why not a chutney or so the logic went… if you don’t like or want to use dates just replace them with the same weight of either sultanas or raisins (you may also want to reduce the vinegar quantity slightly as I find dates sweeter than sultanas or raisins).  Because this chutney needs 6-8 weeks to mellow in the jar I have to admit to not having tried it in the state it will be served in.  However the sultana form was delicious and it tasted good during the cooking so I don’t see why it won’t taste great in a couple of months.  This is a fairly sweet chutney.

 Beetroot & Date Chutney (This makes about 1.5 litres of chutney, or in my case 5 jars.)

  • 650g of beetroot – or thereabouts.
  • 250g of onions – chopped into small dice
  • 650ml apple cider vinegar
  • 200g apples (preferably cooking apples but any you have available should be fine) – peeled and cut into small dice
  • 225g dates – chopped
  • 1 tblspn ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • about 450g sugar (you may need a bit less if you use sweet apples, have very sweet beetroot or like your chutneys a little less sweet)

First cook the beetroot.  I usually roast mine – wrap whole washed (but not peeled) beetroot  in foil and place on an oven tray in a 200 degree oven for about an hour (depending on the size of the beetroot).  Test with a fork, for chutney I cook them until they are the fork goes in really easily.  Remove from oven but leave in their wrappers to cool a bit – this will let them steam and make it easier to remove their skins.  The skin should pretty much rub off them, although occasionally I do have to help it along a bit.

Once the beetroot is cooked and peeled, cut it into small dice.  By small dice I mean about 2-3mm square cubes (or thereabouts).  Set aside.

Place the onion and half the vinegar in a saucepan (or preserving pan), bring to the boil then simmer for about 5 minutes or so until the onion starts to soften.  Add the apple & dates and continue cooking until the apple starts to soften.  Add beetroot, ginger, chilli & salt with half the remaining vinegar.  Simmer gently until it thickens.  Add the remaining vinegar with the sugar, continue cooking until it thickens again.

Pour into sterilised jars and seal.  It should be ready to eat in a couple of months.

I’m sharing this recipe as part of Thursday’s Kitchen Cupboard over at the Garden of Eden.  Head over and check out what everyone else has preserved.

P.S: 02/01/2012 – We just opened the first jar of this chutney – the verdict: sweet but delicious.   Definitely worth making again.

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Posted in Greens - Lettuce, Spinach, Beets, Recipes, Spring Harvesting | Tagged , , | 18 Comments