Beat the beet week (3), parsley and finger limes

Today's tomato and chilli pick

Picked

• parsley
• spring onions
• mint
• big pile of cherry and berry tomatoes
• chillies

Pulled out

• zucchini
• zebra tomatoes

Planted

• spring onions
• Italian parsley
• curly parsely
• violas
• broccoli
• beetroot seed

A sunny morning got me into the patch early.  I picked a big basket of tomatoes and chillies before heading to the market. On return I decided that the zucchini was on its last legs and so it was removed. I also decided that the zebra tomatoes I had planted back in October really just hadn't thrived.  At first I thought that was becasue they got too much shade but I dont think the season helped. They thickened up a bit on removal of the wattle but they were a sad case of sprawly growth with a few fruit fly infested green orbs despite my yellow glue traps!  So they came out too. Hmm, space to plant! So spring onions, two types of parsley, broccoli, beetroot seed and some violas went in.

PARSLEY
I grow both types of parsley -  I like them both.  But the curled parsley seems to have suffered with the wet weather and have gone a bit soggy and rotted. The Italian parsley has coped much better. David made tabouleh to go with falafel and hommous for lunch -  great way to deal with a big bunch of parsley!

Tabouleh
This recipe is adapted from a very old Tess Mallos cookbook - The Complete Middle East Cookbook. It's been very well used and is a little worse for it.  I think that it might be late '70s or early '80s when Lebanese food started to become popular in Sydney. Suddenly even the most dedicated Shire-dwelling WASP  family was serving hommous and flat bread at dinner parties. We ate with our hands and started using words like tahini and baba ghanoush -  words that still sound so great in the mouth. I even dabbled with 6 months of Arabic at Sydney Uni and regularly headed off campus at lunch time to grab a falafel roll from Maurice's in Newtown. To this day I think they were the best falafel rolls I have ever had. Maurice's little corner shop has been empty for years. 

Anyway, I felt very sophisticated when the mother of a boyfriend of mine gave me this book one birthday or Christmas. Thanks Pat -  who'd guess that it was still in use.

Well used Tess Mallos cookbook -  thanks Pat!

3/4 cup burghul
2 cups finely chopped parsley* ( Italian is best I think)
spring onions*
mint*
olive oil
lemon juice*
pepper
cherry tomatoes* cut in half

Soak burgul in cold water for 30 mins or so and squeeze water out.  Chop all greens finely and add to a bowl  with cherry tomatoes. Stir thru burghul.  Mix oil and lemon juice together with pepper and mix thru the salad.

BEETROOT GLUT
And how is the beetroot glut going?  Well today I decided to get over my morbid fear of  the pickled beetroot and decided to take the plunge.  I followed Rhonda's recipe and the result is one beautiful jar full of beetroot.  I could have probably made two jars but what if I don't like them?  So I still have quite a few  fresh ones left over.

Aren't they a beautiful colour?

Collette

FINGER LIME (Microcitrus australasica)
My lusted after beauty called "Collette" arrived late in the week from Daley's in Kyogle all upright and protected in a fab cardboard box.  This spikey lass will produce black shiny fruit and dark lime green pulp.  Here she is!