On
a busy Sunday night try this comforting potato dish. Peel 2-3 Agria potatoes & cut into 4cm chunks & lay in a roasting pan with 1-2 carrots, peeled, halved & sliced lengthways. Add about 250ml vegetable stock & season. Put in the oven at 200 for about 40 minutes until most of the stock is absorbed. Take them from the oven & drizzle over 50 ml creme fraiche, sprinkle over a slice of prosciutto chopped into smallish pieces, zest of a lemon & a handful of chopped chives. This would work as an accompaniment to almost anything but is a wonderful busy night supper because you can put it in the oven & walk away.
a busy Sunday night try this comforting potato dish. Peel 2-3 Agria potatoes & cut into 4cm chunks & lay in a roasting pan with 1-2 carrots, peeled, halved & sliced lengthways. Add about 250ml vegetable stock & season. Put in the oven at 200 for about 40 minutes until most of the stock is absorbed. Take them from the oven & drizzle over 50 ml creme fraiche, sprinkle over a slice of prosciutto chopped into smallish pieces, zest of a lemon & a handful of chopped chives. This would work as an accompaniment to almost anything but is a wonderful busy night supper because you can put it in the oven & walk away.We have our student back for mid-term - well, kind of, when she's not off having fun with her friends. We delivered her favourite French onion soup for her soup Monday homecoming.
Because institutional food is processed and often lacking fresh 
vegetables, I made a light fresh chicken dish. Start by preparing some vegetables. Choose from thinly sliced spring onions, topped & tailed snow peas, julienned carrots, capsicum, courgette - whatever you have to hand. Heat a little vegetable oil in a pan & fry grated rind of a lemon or lime, 2 tbsp fresh minced ginger, 1 small red chilli finely chopped, 2 cloves crushed garlic. After a minutes or so, add about 500g boneless chicken cut into thin strips & stir fry about 5 minutes until lightly browned. Add 1 tsp grated palm sugar, 2 tbsp fish sauce, 2 tsp lemon or lime juice, 2 tbsp water mixed to a paste with 2 tsp cornflour. Simmer 2-3 minutes. Mix in prepared vegetables and a handful of bean sprouts & stir through to heat. Serve with rice or noodles.
You
vegetables, I made a light fresh chicken dish. Start by preparing some vegetables. Choose from thinly sliced spring onions, topped & tailed snow peas, julienned carrots, capsicum, courgette - whatever you have to hand. Heat a little vegetable oil in a pan & fry grated rind of a lemon or lime, 2 tbsp fresh minced ginger, 1 small red chilli finely chopped, 2 cloves crushed garlic. After a minutes or so, add about 500g boneless chicken cut into thin strips & stir fry about 5 minutes until lightly browned. Add 1 tsp grated palm sugar, 2 tbsp fish sauce, 2 tsp lemon or lime juice, 2 tbsp water mixed to a paste with 2 tsp cornflour. Simmer 2-3 minutes. Mix in prepared vegetables and a handful of bean sprouts & stir through to heat. Serve with rice or noodles.
may recall I did a lamb stew with rose petals a few weeks ago. I still have a pack of rose petals, so for our Wednesday family meal I made quinoa with pistachio & rose petals served with delicious vegetable kebabs. Prepare the kebabs first. Choose a selection of vegetables you like - capsicum, button mushrooms, baby red onions and chop into kebab sized chunks. Add to a bowl with haloumi chopped into 3 cm cubes. Combine 2 tsp sumac, 1/4 cup chopped mint & parsley, 1 small red chilli finely chopped, 80ml olive oil, 20ml lemon juice & black pepper. Pour over the vegetables & mix through with your hands. Set aside for as long as you can - an hour would be good. Put some bamboo skewers into water to soak.W
hen you are ready to start cooking, put a cup quinoa in a saucepan with 2 cups cold water, bring to the boil, cover & simmer gently about 15 mins until all the water has evaporated. Set aside to cool slightly. Thread the vegetables and haloumi onto the bamboo skewers & grill about 10 minutes turning regularly. The good thing about kebabs is you can prepare the skewers to individual tastes. We did 2 per person - one pair with no onion or cheese, one no capsicum or cheese, one no mushrooms & 2 with everything.
Back to the quinoa. Toss through 1/2 cup chopped mint, juice & zest of a lemon, 1/4 cup slivered pistachios & 1/4 cup rose petals with a tbsp olive oil and season. This was so delicious & delicate. I think it might be a nice side dish with sliced lamb fillets for a crowd. You could roast the veg in the oven, which might provide more even cooking but you can't deliver the same degree of customisation.
hen you are ready to start cooking, put a cup quinoa in a saucepan with 2 cups cold water, bring to the boil, cover & simmer gently about 15 mins until all the water has evaporated. Set aside to cool slightly. Thread the vegetables and haloumi onto the bamboo skewers & grill about 10 minutes turning regularly. The good thing about kebabs is you can prepare the skewers to individual tastes. We did 2 per person - one pair with no onion or cheese, one no capsicum or cheese, one no mushrooms & 2 with everything. Th
is summer, 1/2 a dozen tomato plants sprang up unexpectedly in the flower beds. I think they must have come from seeds in the compost. We hadn't tended them or fed them & although they presented tomatoes, none ripened. What luck, as we were quite out of green tomato chutney. Last weekend I pulled the plants & made the chutney. Finely dice 2 onions, 2 cooking apples & enough green tomatoes to make up 1.5 kg of fruit. That was the quantity of tomatoes I had. Add 2-3 roughly chopped peeled garlic cloves, 2 tsp salt, 2 cups brown sugar, 2 cups malt vinegar. In a small square of muslin, wrap 2 tsp pickling spices. Try allspice & cloves or do what I do & keep a tsp each of allspice, cloves, white peppercorns, coriander seeds, yellow mustard seeds in a small jar labelled (with a Brother P touch labelling machine) Pickling Spices. Simmer everything in a preserving pan over a low heat until it becomes pulpy & thickened. Cool, remove the muslin bag & blend a little in the processor. Pour into sterilised jars, seal & label. This will be very popular. I will probably have enough green tomatoes when I pull the back tomatoes to make a second batch.
I suspect I o
is summer, 1/2 a dozen tomato plants sprang up unexpectedly in the flower beds. I think they must have come from seeds in the compost. We hadn't tended them or fed them & although they presented tomatoes, none ripened. What luck, as we were quite out of green tomato chutney. Last weekend I pulled the plants & made the chutney. Finely dice 2 onions, 2 cooking apples & enough green tomatoes to make up 1.5 kg of fruit. That was the quantity of tomatoes I had. Add 2-3 roughly chopped peeled garlic cloves, 2 tsp salt, 2 cups brown sugar, 2 cups malt vinegar. In a small square of muslin, wrap 2 tsp pickling spices. Try allspice & cloves or do what I do & keep a tsp each of allspice, cloves, white peppercorns, coriander seeds, yellow mustard seeds in a small jar labelled (with a Brother P touch labelling machine) Pickling Spices. Simmer everything in a preserving pan over a low heat until it becomes pulpy & thickened. Cool, remove the muslin bag & blend a little in the processor. Pour into sterilised jars, seal & label. This will be very popular. I will probably have enough green tomatoes when I pull the back tomatoes to make a second batch. 
ften talk as if I have a huge garden. Those of you who have seen it will testify that this is not so. I have a few raised boxes & some pots. It wouldn't have fed a family of seven but we do get enough to keep 2 or 3 in whatever's harvesting at any given time. I haven't bought a lettuce since October & at times we had so many I couldn't keep up & had to share with some of you. We have had a bumper crop of carrots. I've stewed 3-4 sticks of rhubarb every week all summer. We enjoyed a good crop of potatoes. We grew radishes all summer. We have all the herbs we use growing. By growing our own we get more interesting varieties. My carrots are very pretty colours. I love the purple ones that are orange in the middle. We are now growing broccoli, red cabbages, winter spinach & a winter crop called corn salad which I am hoping will keep us in salad over winter with the radicchio that is still going strong. I urge you to try growing your favourite crops. Let me know what you recommend.
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