Tell her she’s dreaming!

Today's pick

Picked  - Today’s pick is in the picture!

I am dreaming… but if I had more space I’d grow:

• Tamarillo -  tastes like a curious combination of tomatoes and passionfruit with beautiful egg-shaped dark red fruit

• Passionfruit -  these straight from your vine are juicier and more fragrant than the shop bought ones but they take up so much room and you have to have the right spot

• Different citrus – citrus grow well in Sydney, I have lemons and limes, but what about a really tart mandarin or a grapefruit or a blood orange?

•  More zucchinis, beans, cucumber, tomatoes – “but don’t you have trouble dealing with the glut”, you ask? “Yes”, she says, but if I staggered the planting then I could extend the season and avoid the hungry gap between picking all the summer produce and getting the autumn glut, and I could also stagger the broccoli, cabbage, snow peas, cauliflower (and I could give up work and..., and...)

If I could access them I’d grow:

• Padron -  I’ve talked about those ( see padron and other unattainables), going into more detail about my love for the pardon will just  make me crave them more

•  Finger limes - ditto with above.  I fancy Sydney rock oysters with  just a few finger lime pearls to garnish

If I could get them to grow, I’d grow: 

•  Soybeans  - for that lovely Japanese snack – sticky steamed pods

• Better garlic - I had a bit of success this last year, I got some decent sized bulbs and am still using them, but bigger bulbs would make the home-grown ones easier to use.   My little ones still make it easier to grab the big fat shop-bought ones because they are easier to peel.

Tips appreciated!

AND now you are ABLE to comment!  In my incompetence I had set the blog up restricting comments.  That is all fixed now and open to all. I am learning!

Lemons conquered!

Lemon Tart

The two baskets of lemons picked or gathered from the mulch a few weeks ago and about another basket full that has accumulated since have been reduced to just five individuals.  Persistence has paid off. Lemons in practically everything and today’s effort with yet another lemon tart have made things a little more manageable!

I could of course have made something else to knock off the last of the pile but the lemon tart (see Going back in time for recipe)  is just so delicious!

My next mission? To deal with the tomatoes!

Bird list

We thought that the blog was a good way of recording the birds that visit and fly over our patch.  Here are the birds we have seen in or from the yard since moving in 7 years ago.  Each year we seem to have more and more variety as the garden matures and the native plants get bigger and flower more. # denotes introduced 

Fly overs only

• corella
• galah
• kookaburra



white-faced heron on patrol in the patch for skinks

• raven 

 Visitors

• black-faced cuckoo-shrike
• figbird (rare visitor)
• grey butcherbird (rare visitor)
• koel
• magpie
• New Holland honeyeater
• noisy miner
• pied currawong
• rainbow lorikeet
• red wattlebird
• sacred ibis (rare visitor)
• silvereye
• spotted pardalote
• sulfur-crested cockatoo
• superb fairy-wren
• white-faced heron (rare vistor)
• willie wagtail
• yellow-tailed black cockatoo (rare visitor)
• zebra finch (rare visitor)
• bul bul #
• common myna # 
• feral pigeon #
• Rhode Island red chicken # (came over the fence from next door for a scratch in our patch)
• spotted dove #

Never again! What was I thinking?

Picked

• cucumber
• lemons
• a punnet of tomatoes
• chillies

Last night’s san choi bao?  Well, the cos lettuce was fab! Crisp, crunchy, sweet, strong enough to hold the filling - great!  And the filling? What was I thinking!?  I bought a packet from the supermarket!  

I don’t buy processed food generally except the odd can of tinned tomatoes in the off season, the odd can of chick peas or red kidney beans. I like freshly prepared food, that is why I grow and cook. So what was I thinking when I bought  ‘a Marion’?  Obviously seduced by the Masterchef  brand. If Marion  put her name to it, it must be good right?

So I bought  ‘a Marion’ box -  Marion calls it san choy bow -  I call it san choi bao. I suspect the difference is irrelevant given that it would be written in Chinese - just different transliterations? Anyway, I guess you can’t go wrong with vermicelli  noodles and chopped peanuts which were included in the box. Both of which I had in the cupboard anyway! But the brown sauce I thought was horrible. Too salty, too heavy-handed and leaving a lingering aftertaste that I can’t really describe (it was not pleasant). I tried to add to the flavours (and the colour) by adding lots of chopped coriander and chilli but the overwhelming taste was the sauce. And then there was the pile of packaging left over.

So it has inspired me to look up a recipe that I will use next time.

San choi  bao

This recipe is adapted from a recipe called ‘Witlof with chilli pork’ in The Flavour of Asia by Jan Castorina and Dimitra Stais, a cookbook given to me by one of my aunts. I guess I am taking liberties by calling this san choi bao.  I am just interpreting the dish as a mince mixture with Asian flavours in a lettuce-like cup. This recipe has the added benefit of including a good amount of cherry tomatoes - another way to use the glut.

1 tablespoon oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tablespooon finely chopped ginger

4 spring onions, finely chopped

½ teaspoon shrimp paste

1 tablespoon chopped lemon grass

2 teaspoons sambal oelek

150g pork fillet, finely chopped (or pork mince?)

250g cherry tomatoes

1 tablespoon coconut cream

3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander

1 head of cos lettuce broken up (recipe originally called for 1 witlof)

Head oil in frying pan and add garlic, ginger and spring onions, shrimp paste, lemon grass and sambal oelek. Cook until spring onions are soft.

Add the pork and stir until pork turns white. Stir in tomatoes and coconut cream and bring to boil. Simmer uncovered until it thickens and the tomatoes are well cooked. Stir in coriander.

Separate lettuce leaves wash and drain. Spoon mixture into lettuce leaves just before serving.

Struggling with multiple gluts

lots of little tomatoes

Picked (over the last few days)

• 6 eggplants
• 3 punnets of tomatoes (berries and cherries)
• 2 cos lettuce
• 2 cucumbers
• handful of beans
• spring onions
• green-yellow sweet chillies
• chillies
• lemons
• mint
• thyme

Still a struggle to go to work  after taking such a long break  off over Christmas so the opportunities for a long weekend provided by Australia Day falling on a Thursday was too good to let slip so I took the Friday off as well.  Time for cooking and eating.

LETTUCE GLUT

Still so much cos lettuce in the garden - we need to eat more. So the cos I have picked will be eaten tonight as a san choi bao.  Normally people use iceberg lettuce but I don’t have any of that growing and a cos creates a nice longish boat-like scoop to hold the filling and its crisp and firm so, why not?

I never grow iceberg. I grown the more open –hearted varieties generally, and a bit of cos (which I guess IS a lettuce that hearts isn’t it?). Lettuces are pretty trouble free in my experience. I have only had  trouble if the season is very wet and the soil isn’t draining properly or if you have mulched up too close to the plant. Then they can get a little soggy and slimy. But given space and drainage then they offer no problems.

As well as the cos I have a few heirlooms in as well and should get raising some seeds to put a new batch in.

TOMATO GLUT

Today I made a batch of my favourite sweet tomato and chilli jam. I make this about every two years because one batch lasts me for two years. It’s a great way to use up lots of tomatoes. I confess I didn’t use my own tomatoes cause you need 2 kilos of them for this recipe and because you really need to peel them. Ever tried peeling cherry tomatoes?  So I bought some egg tomatoes from the green grocer. 

Tomato chilli jam

Tomato Chilli Jam
(makes about 6 jam jar-sized jars)

* from the garden

This recipe comes from Better Homes and Gardens,  A Growers Guide to Vegetables -  one of those magazine–like publications you find in newsagents. My lovely brother bought this for me ages ago and it has become one of my favourite veggie growing references. I remember brother Matt saying to me, “the vegies in this book look like they come from a ‘real’ garden”... I might have said it myself!

The original recipe doesn’t cook the jam on for long enough for my liking, and I have never timed how long I cook it for but you will notice it changing colour (getting darker) and getting a sticky jammy-like look after some time.  Just keep it moving so it doesn’t stick -  it needs some dedication to make but it is worth it.

2 large red capsicums

8 red chillies*, finely chopped (original recipe calls for 4)

2 kilos tomatoes peeled and chopped (definitely peel the tomatoes!)

4 green apples, peeled and grated

4 garlic gloves*, crushed

1 tablespoon lemon rind*, grated

¾ cup lemon juice*

3 ½ cups sugar

Cut capsicum into large pieces, remove seeds and membrane.  Put under hot grill to blacken skin. Put in a plastic bag and sweat to loosen skin, wash skin off.  Chop finely.

Place capsicum, chilli, tomatoes, apple, garlic and lemon rind in a large pan and simmer till the pieces start breaking up. Add lemon juice and sugar and cook on keeping the mixture moving. Cook until the mixture changes colour and gets ‘jammy’ and the individual ingredients start melding together. Remove from heat and ladle into hot sterilised jars. 

Seal and cool jars before storing. Once opened place in fridge.  I leave to mature in the jar for about 2 weeks before opening my first one. This sticky jam is heaven with cold meats, left-over roast lamb, a cold left-over sausage …

In  not using my tomatoes in this recipe I have been left with a massive bowl full of cherry and berry tomatoes! These have to be used tomorrow.

GLUT of EGGPLANTS

Over the last few days we have made a few eggplant dishes dealing with some of the glut. 

BBQ eggplant

This is one of the simplest things and yummiest things to do with an eggplant.  Simply put on the BBQ and roast till the inside is soft and sloppy and preferably before they explode (yep, it can happen!). Take off and cut open and eat with lemon and black pepper. 

Roasted Eggplant with haloumi and pomegranate

This recipe is from Organic Gardener Magazine Sept/Oct 2011. It’s an amended  Matthew Evans’ recipe and is suggested as an entrée but we made it as a main - to deal with the glut. The original calls for one eggplant and from the photo it is a typical egg-shaped one but David used our long thin ones. It is a surprisingly delicious combination of flavours and textures.

long thin eggplants*

olive oil

1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons lemon juice

6 mint leaves*

1 packet of haloumi

1 pomegranate seeds removed

Preheat oven to 180C. Prick eggplants and bake until tender (not sloppy). Allow to cool then peel. Cut in half. Arrange on baking tray and place in oven to reheat a little.

To make the sauce, whisk oil, molasses, vinegar, lemon juice, mint and salt and pepper in a bowl.

Fry cheese in a non-stick pan, with a little olive oil if sticking, until brown.

Serve by placing eggplant on plate topping with haloumi.  Spoon over dressing and scatter with pomegranate seeds.  

Laurie and Keats

Laurie and Keats

Picked

• 3 eggplants
• 5 spring onions
• Half a punnet of tomatoes

‘Laurie’ and ‘Keats’ are our names for the pairs of rainbow lorikeets that visit our yard. We think there are at least two different pairs that turn up - a noisy pair that ‘talk’ a lot to each other while eating  and a quiet pair that you hardly notice except when they spook.  And then there is ‘Solo’ a lone bird who sometimes visits.

One of the pairs - I think the noisy pair - has recently turned up with a youngster, who we unimaginatively call ‘Baby’. Baby doesn’t really seem much smaller than his (lets imagine he is a lad) parents – you cant notice a big difference in his feather colouring either but his beak is a little browner.  It's how baby behaves that sets him apart.

He is clumsy! This includes him mucking about in the small eucalypt hanging upside down, sitting on small branches that bend or don’t take his weight etc. Then there is his flappy flying and an inability to land on the balcony rail. It takes him several goes. 

He also has a penchant for sitting inside the seed bowl - his parents politely sit on the side of the bowl 'tutting' I expect! Baby also doesn’t really eat seed yet - he just picks the seed or the husks up and fiddles with it while sitting in the bowl. Then there is his pestering for crop feeding.  I guess they are trying hard to wean him thus the visit to our seed?  But he insists in sitting up close to parents and pecking at their beaks for a feed.

I have recently been told that they probably shouldn’t be eating sunflower seeds and if we are going to put food out we should put out food suitable for nectar eaters (a special mix which I will look into) or fruit, which when I put out they never eat!

Tomatoes, pests and glue traps

Picked:

• tomatoes
• cucumber

Planted:

• spring onions - 2 punnets
• zucchini seeds

The zebra tomatoes that were weak and spindly because they were too shaded by the wattle?  Well they have enjoyed the extra sun, thickened up and are now flowering. Hopefully I will get more fruit now.

I have had a fair bit of trouble with the zebras and not just because of the shade. If you are in NSW or Qld you will know of the lovely fruit fly! It is because of this pest that I usually only plant the smaller tomatoes (cherries and this year berries as well). It seems easier to control the fruit fly on these smaller tomatoes. 

But tempted by their lovely stripy skin and my already mentioned penchant for a fashionable ‘rainbow’ of tomatoes (just like the cook books) tempted me as did the claims of their fabulous flavour.  So I committed and, in an attempt to beat the fruit fly, searched for solutions.

I don’t spray - you probably guessed that by now. We are a small household and if I lose some produce to pests or birds then that’s fine – I grow enough. So this year, tempted by gluey plastic sheets, hung these up around the patch and very soon I was catching the blighters!  There is no poison, just a sticky yellow surface and fruit fly and other pests like white fly the house fly and mozzies get stuck. I cannot say that there have not been unintentional victims -  I have had the odd lady beetle and skink get stuck - but these have been very few (can count them on one hand) and I have plenty of unharmed lady beetles doing their own type of pest control for me.And plenty of skinks running thru the leaf litter and mulch.

These glue sheets, as well as bringing the fruit in before they are too ripe,  seems to have worked for some fruit but still the zebras are much more prone to fruit fly maggots than the little ones.

SPRING ONIONS

I rarely buy spring onions from the green grocer (cant actually remember the last time I did).  Instead I stagger planting spring onion seedlings thru the year.  Spring onions from the garden are a treat, when you pull then from the ground their hollow leaves pop.  When you cut them they have a juiciness and they taste sweeter than shop bought ones. I guess I have three lots of spring onion s in at the moment - all of different ages to keep me in supply.  Today I planted two more punnets.