Spiced Cauliflower

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Liz

My brother doesn’t really rate cauliflower, so naturally whenever he comes over for dinner I try to cook some.  This is partially to annoy him (he is my brother after all), but mostly because I am trying to convince him of its potential.  He came over last week and I made this cauliflower side dish.  I love how cauliflower takes up flavours (put some cauliflower florets into the roasting pan about 20 mins to half an hour before the chicken is ready and you’ll see what I mean).  It is also fabulous for spicing up, especially with two of my favourite spices – ginger and cumin.  I serve this with Indian dishes but also with grilled meat or fish.

Spiced Cauliflower

  • a small to medium cauliflower broken into florets
  • 1 knob of ginger finely shredded
  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tblspn oil
  • a pinch of chilli powder
  • a pinch of turmeric (Optional – I ran out when I made the pictured version so its not as yellow as would have been if I had used the turmeric)
  • a pinch of garam masala*
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • Coriander leaves (optional)

Heat the oil in a pan with a lid and fry the ginger for the a couple of minutes.  Add all the other ingredients except the garam masala.  Turn the heat down to low and put the lid on the pan.  Just before cauliflower is cooked add the garam masala.  Continue cooking and then garnish with coriander leaves and serve with just about anything.

*To make Garam Masala:

I like my garam masala with a bit of cumin and coriander in it – I find it easier to use than the stronger versions which tend to omit these ingredients (and are a lot heavier on the black pepper).  You can choose to omit the cumin and coriander from this recipe if you prefer.

  • 1 tblspn cumin seeds.
  • 1 tblspn coriander seeds
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • 1 tspn cloves
  • ¼ of a whole nutmeg grated
  • 2 black cardamom pods
  • 1 tablespoon seed from green cardamom pods
  • 1 tspn black peppercorns

Heat a frypan on the top of the stove and add all the spices except the nutmeg and cloves.  Dry fry the spices until fragrant.  Allow them to cool.  Grind all spices together in a spice grinder.

This mixture will keep its flavour for about 3 months (although the fresher the better).

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Posted in Brassicas, Recipes, Spring Harvesting, Winter Harvesting | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Pots, Pots, and more Pots

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Liz

I have too many pots, well actually that’s not quite true as I’m currently trawling ebay for more – I need some nice ones for my recent dwarf citrus investments.   No my problem is that I have too many boring black plastic pots which although functional are just not that interesting to look at.

See,  so bored am I by the black pots I can only bear to photograph the rim…..It’s time I got a bit more creative about what I use to plant in.  I do currently use some things other than black pots but polystyrene fruit boxes really aren’t that attractive either.

Better are the few terracotta & ceramic pots I own.

I am especially proud of the tip shop sourced mug that my daughters grass head is growing in.

Then there’s the old watering can with strawberries painted on it that I planted with….yes you guessed it, a strawberry.

My next door neighbour gave me a lemon balm in a reclaimed LP which is fabulous, although I am disappointed that the label showing it was an old Kamahl album has rubbed off the bottom.

I have had one piece of inspiration and that is to use my old olive oil tins as pots.  I have to admit to being inordinately proud of them, despite actually having done nothing at all in their manufacture other than use a lot of oil and get my partner to drill holes in their base….

   

And perhaps one last shot……

I’m now desperately searching all manner of op shops for those old Twinnings tins because I think they would look good planted up.  Of course this is all very well but none of these receptacles is big enough to grow anything other than herbs really, except of course for my good old black plastic pots that is….

 

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Posted in Planning | Tagged | 7 Comments

An Insurance Policy – Fritters

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Liz

When I was a little girl I used to be worried that something would happen to my mum and with her would go her recipe for macaroni cheese.  In retrospect I find this rather odd,  as I love my mother very much and surely not having a mother would take precedence over food.  Besides which its not that hard to locate recipes when you need them.  There is also the fact that I’m fairly sure the macaroni cheese in question was made with Kraft blue block cheese (the colour may vary from country to country but if I tell you it didn’t require refrigeration you’ll probably get the picture….) and regardless of how carefully one makes the roux it surely can’t have tasted that much different from the packet variety anyway.

However it is with this particular fear in mind though I bring you, or rather my children if they ever need it, my recipe for fritters.   Fritters are a fabulous thing for kitchen gardener.  I’m of the firm belief that you can turn pretty much anything into a fritter but I think the sweeter vegetables work the best.   I have two favourites; Corn fritters are an old favourite and Carrot Fritters were the result of reading about Diana at Kebun Malay Kadazan Girls‘ carrot frittata.  I make fritters, with the kids help, as much as my mum used to make macaroni cheese.  Actually given the kids help they should pretty much know the recipe by now but just in case they haven’t been paying attention…

Corn Fritters

  • 2 cups corn kernels
  • 1/2 small capsicum – finely chopped
  • a small onion – finely chopped
  • a small bunch of parsley – finely chopped
  • a small bunch of coriander – finely chopped
  • 1 cup plain flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • Pepper
  • 1 egg – lightly beaten
  • 150 – 200ml milk
  • Oil for cooking

Mix together the flour, baking powder, paprika, pepper and salt.  Add the egg and 150ml of the milk, mix together.  Now add as much of the rest of the milk as you need to form a thick batter (I usually use the full 200ml but if you are a bit under with the flour then less would be needed).  Add the vegetables and herbs to the batter and mix.

Coat the base of a large frying pan with oil.  Heat the oil and add spoonfuls of the fritter mixture.  Cook the fritters over a low – medium heat until you can see bubbles forming in the batter.  Flip the fritters over and cook the other side until golden brown.  Drain on kitchen paper.

If we are having them for lunch I often serve them with a mint yoghurt (about 20 finely chopped mint leaves, 1 cup of greek yoghurt and the juice of half a lemon) and roasted tomatoes (as pictured above).

To make Carrot Fritters:

Substitute carrot for the corn.  Replace the paprika with 1/4 tsp of cumin & 1/4 tsp coriander.  In all other respects the recipe remains the same.

The hand above is grabbing the grapefruit out of a grapefruit , fennel and avocado salad I served alongside the fritters.  He did eat the fritters later…..

PS:  Isn’t it aggravating when recipes say ” a bunch of parsley” leaving you no real idea as to how much that actually means.  Well guess what I have done exactly that here but I have also included this photo to show you what a small bunch of parsley and a small bunch of coriander look like.

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Posted in Autumn Harvesting, Herbs & Spices, Recipes, Spring Harvesting, Summer Harvesting, Winter Harvesting | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Monday Harvest – 19th Sept 2011

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Liz

Green, Green with a purple hue and a splash of red pretty much covers what I harvested this week.  With this in mind I’m trying to come up with new and exciting ways to photograph green and parsley in particular.  I use some parsley practically everyday but don’t always photograph it as I struggle for inspiration – as the 4th picture down here will attest.  Hmmm I think that will be my mission this week – new and exciting ways to photograph parsley.  Tune in next Monday to see the results.

Parsley & Dill provided the herby component of Tuesday’s fishcakes.  The broccoli was eaten alongside.

On Thursday this watercress became soup.

The leeks and celery were used in the soup –  the small amount of celery which wasn’t eaten by a small hungry boy that is.

For lunch on Saturday we had carrot fritters, which included this Parsley & Coriander.

I made a rocket, fennel & grapefruit salad to eat with the carrot fritters.

This weeks purple hue was provided by this purple sprouting broccoli – this brunch went into a noodle stir fry on Sunday.

Other components of the stir fry included chillies, watercress and coriander.

For more Monday Harvests tune into Daphne’s Dandelions.

 

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Posted in Spring Harvesting, Winter Harvesting | Tagged | 15 Comments

How I use it: Thyme – Chicken with Picada

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Liz

I use thyme in a lot of chicken dishes and this is one of my favourites.  Picada is a Catalan method for thickening stews and soups and involves making a flavoured paste from almonds, bread and liquid (I use olive oil & verjuice here).  Other flavourings are also added depending on the dish being prepared.  Traditionally the picada would have been made in a mortar & pestle but I’m lazy and generally use a food processor.  The picada is added towards the end of the cooking time to bring another dimension to the dish.

This particular recipe is adapted from one in one of my favourite cookbooks called: Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons by Diana Henry.  The book includes recipes from all round the Mediterranean and I have yet to cook one from it that I didn’t really enjoy.

Chicken with Picada

  • a whole chicken – jointed (I usually get the butcher to cut it into 6 or 8 pieces)
  • Olive oil (why is it that I always forget to measure the oil when I am preparing recipes to blog about….I think 2-3 tblspns should be about right for this.)
  • 2 medium onions – finely chopped
  • 4 medium tomatoes – finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic – finely chopped
  • 300ml chicken stock
  • 6 big sprigs of thyme
  • 25g pine nuts
  • 75g raisins soaked in verjuice (or sweet sherry, or white wine or water)
  • a small bunch of parsley – chopped

Picada

  • 1 plain sweet biscuit
  • 25g sour dough bread cut into croutons and fried in olive oil
  • 25g blanched almonds ( or ground almonds)
  • 75ml verjuice or dry white wine
  • 45ml extra virgin olive oil

Cover the base of a large pan in olive oil.  Add the chicken pieces.  Brown the chicken (but dont cook it through) and remove from the pan.  Add onion to the pan and cook until soft.  Then add tomatoes and garlic and cook over a low heat until it forms a thick sauce.  Add the stock and bring to the boil.  Reintroduce the chicken to the pan along with the thyme, pine nuts & raisins.  Cook gently until the chicken is done.

Meanwhile make the picada by blitzing the picada ingredients in a food processor until it forms a paste like constistency.   When the chicken is just done add the picada and cook for a further 5 or so minutes over a low heat while the picada thickens the sauce.

Garnish with the parlsey and serve with bread.

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Posted in Herbs & Spices, Recipes | Tagged , , | 4 Comments