From the garden

The summer garden is producing potatoes, courgettes & lettuces as fast as we can eat them.  We also harvested our garlic on the longest day and plaited them with the help of our visitors.  There aren't many but I am pleased with them as a first attempt.  The weather is a mix of glorious sunny days as hot & calm as we ever have in Wellington, 2-3 days of gale force northerlies strong enough to whip the lettuces untimely from their beds.  When it's neither of those we are blessed with those delightful sea mists that engulf us & in Karori mean we are unsure if our neighbours have not been swept away by the previous day's northerly.  The upshot of this is that we are eating a great deal of the above in a variety of combinations, and dining out of doors when winds permit. 
For a really quick after-work meal cut some small potatoes into 2-3 pieces & boil for 8-10 minutes, then add a handful of trimmed green beans for an additional 3-5 minutes.  Meanwhile heat some olive oil in a pan & add thinly slivered garlic being careful not to let it burn.  Add about 50g of olives stoned & roughly chopped & heat through then remove from the heat.  Tip the olives into the pan with the potatoes & toss with a handful of shredded basil, the juice of half a lemon & some salt & pepper.  Serve with grilled courgettes. Our basil isn't doing so well.  Perhaps it doesn't like those northerly winds.
To make best use of these summer evenings we are aiming to keep things simple.  Peel 3-4 medium red onions and slice into 6-8 wedges, keeping the root attached at one end. Heat a tbsp oil in an oven proof  frying pan.  Arrange the onion in a concentric pattern in the pan.  Sprinkle with salt & pepper & cook for until they are quite tender & beginning to caramelise around the edges.  This will take 20 mins or longer, turning once half way through.  Trickle over 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar & cook a couple of minutes more.  Remove from the heat.  Using ready made puff pastry - keep some in the freezer - cut out a disk that will fit in your pan over the top of the onions.  Lay on the pastry sheet & put the pan in the oven at 190 for 20 minutes. To serve, invert the pan onto a plate and there you have an attractively presented onion tart.  All you need now is a leafy green salad.
An abundance of courgettes called for a lamb rump served with a Greek salad, quinoa with rose petals, the aforementioned courgettes & a dollop of fresh beetroot relish.  This was something I had a while back at Floriditas.  I successfully replicated it then forgot what I had done.  This wasn't it but I think this was better.  Very finely slice 1-2 red onions and finely grate 2 large peeled beetroot.  I used disposable gloves for this operation.  Put in a large pan & cook slowly until the onions are very soft.  Add juice & zest of one lemon plus the peel of 1/4 preserved lemon.  Season to taste.  Store in a jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
And when you have still more courgettes to use the next day, try deep fried courgette flowers.  For the filling, beat 100g Zany Zeus ricotta until smooth then stir in 2 tbsp Parmesan, a handful of finely chopped fresh herbs & salt & pepper.  Scoop the mixture into the flowers & gently twist the tops to secure.  You can use both the flowers with the baby courgettes attached & the other ones.  They are the male & female flowers.  When these are done prepare a tempura batter with 100g sifted plain flour, 40g cornflour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt.  Whisk in about 200ml ice cold sparkling mineral water until you have a thinnish batter.  Don't over mix.  Heat vegetable oil in a deep fryer or deep pan to 180.  Dip the flowers in the batter one at a time & drop into the hot oil.   Only cook 2-3 at a time in the pan to prevent the oil from cooling. Cook 1-2 minutes until the batter is crisp & puffy.  Drain on kitchen towel.   You'll probably have more batter than flowers so also cook tiny broccoli florets, red onion wedges & more sliced courgettes.
Phoebe treated us to a tortilla stack during the week.  Make a tomato sauce.  Soften 2 cloves garlic, 1 finely chopped onion, 1 finely chopped capsicum, 2 finely chopped green chillies.  Add 2 tins tomatoes & about 400ml water.  Swish the water around the tins first to catch all the tomato.  Add 1 tbsp tomato paste.  Cook about 10 minutes more.
Mix 2 tins black beans, 2 cups sweet corn kernels, 250g grated cheese in a bowl.  In an ovenproof dish, about 26 cm in diameter & 6 cm deep spread 1/3 of the sauce then layer on 2 tortillas so they cover the sauce & slightly overlap.  Spread 1/3 of the bean mix then 1/4 of the remaining sauce then 2 more tortillas.  Repeat so that you have 2 more layers (8 tortillas altogether) then top with the remaining sauce & sprinkle with more cheese.  Bake at 200 for 30 minutes.  Let it rest 15 minutes before serving in wedges with a green salad & an avocado salsa.  You can freeze the leftovers in wedges.
If you have a glut of beetroot or like me you just can't resist beetroot any way, try a beetroot & chocolate ice cream.  Make a regular custard as you would for vanilla ice cream using 300ml whole milk, 200ml cream & 4 large egg yolks.  Don't add vanilla.  Set aside to cool.  Put 300g whole beetroot in a roasting pan with a little water in the bottom to prevent burning & roast at 200 for about an hour or more until very tender.  Peel - use those disposable gloves - and blend to a puree.  You want no more than 300ml puree but a little less won't matter.  Melt 100g 70% chocolate & stir into the custard.  Then stir in the beetroot puree.    Leave to chill then churn either in an ice cream maker or using the freeze & whip method.  It is truly delicious.