Winter weekend pursuits

As usual I am running behind posting about all the things I am wanting to post about. Partially because I have been busy actually doing all the things I am wanting to post about.  For starters I spent a lazy afternoon in my friend Ruth's kitchen making 'Nam Prik' (Thai chilli paste) from this lovely crop......(from Ruth's first haul in her new garden)

The recipe was largely adapted from a cook book published by the "Blue Lagoon Resort" cooking school- (as thats somewhere in Thailand it created somewhat of an exotic fantasy image on such a torrentially rainy, freezing day in Melbourne). The recipe was kind of followed but adapted to involve most of the chillies in this colander, whatever left over bits of garlic were left in the cupboard (would estimate about a dozen cloves of varying quality), and an equal measure of brown shallots. The garlic and the shallots were peeled and dry roasted in a pan along with the chillies and 1/3 cup dried shrimp. These items were then all chopped up with the bamix chopper attachment and fried up again in the fry pan with some veggie oil. To this we added a few tablespoons of palm sugar and tamarind paste plus 1/4 cup of fish sauce. To this we added more veggie oil to preserve in sterilised jars.  The end result being three potent jars of Thai chilli paste to make a great starter for Thai curries and Pad Thai

In addition to add to Thai cookery Ruth and I also spent another Sunday making Camembert at a CERES cheese making course but I am not sure if that really qualifies for discussion as part of the home grown challenge- not until I manage to find a way to keep my own cow of course!

Whats been growing in May

Okay it's officially June - so my last chance the report on the May harvest. May marked the last (belated)  month of the summer harvest. It was out with the old and in with the new. I have harvested the last of the tomatoes and eggplants. The beans and capsicums are also down to the last trickle.

In their place there are snow peas, Chinese veg and brocolleti (or Italian rapini- not to be confused with brocolini as I suspect most people like myself, who picked up a punnet from Bunnings did). This time for the first year I have also grown cabbages (savoy and purple) and Tuscan kale (Cavolo Nero) on mass.

The girls make themselves busy- "preparing"the pot for the next seasons planting

With the last of the red chili and a second flush of green chillies I have been busy making up pots of red and green harissa, along with a pot of pesto from the last of the basil.

For the harissa I use recipes from Sydney based Moroccan chef, Hassan M'Souli. His book make it Morroccan is great for a repertoire of Moroccan basics (dips, preserving lemons, dukkah etc)

Recipes are as follows (I chop all ingredients roughly before throwing into the mix master chopper)

Red Harissa

250g of red chillies (stalks removed- seeds in)

1 red capsicum (roasted and peeled)

1/2 preserved lemon (from home grown lemons of course)

2 small garlic cloves

1/4 bunch coriander (if you wash it- dry it out before you put it in)

2 tablespoons of ground cumin (I used cumin seeds, dry roast and grind with mortar and pestle)

1 tablespoon salt.

olive oil to cover (after chopping I stir half the oil in to coat the chili mix and top with an extra covering)

Green Harissa

250g of green chillies (stalks removed- seeds in)

1/2 preserved lemon

1/2 bunch coriander

2 small garlic cloves

1/2 cup fresh mint leaves (wash and dry as per coriander)

1 tablespoon coriander seeds (dry roast and grind with mortar and pestle)

olive to coat and cover as above.

If put into well sterilised jars the harissa will keep in the fridge for ages.

A few weekends ago I  also dug up some pots of galangal and turmeric- unfortunately while the turmeric has already proven itself the galangal was a little odd and not what I was expecting at all! 

here's the turmeric

and.... the galangal (?)

Actually I am not surprised..... this year my friend went back to the stand at the Melbourne Flower and Garden Show where we got these. She wanted some replacement galangal having moved house and losing track of the original. The guy mentioned the plant marked 'galangal' was a different type to 'normal' galangal which was sold out.. It looked suspiciously like mine. A quick google search linked through to wikipedia and could it be this?

Anyway I haven't been game to try it out... so instead opted for another attempt  at the

Neil Perry lamb and sweet potato curry sans galangal.

Curry gets creative.

One of the things I feel truly blessed about, living here in the inner west of Melbourne, is being able to shop at the wonderful Queen Vic Market. As a rule I avoid buying fresh food (meat & veg) from either Coles of Woolies. It used to just be about the price, but now its more to do with ideology. Recent media coverage of unsustainable $1 per litre milk and 'the war of fruit and veg prices' makes me wonder what kind of an agricultural industry we could maintain in Australia if the big 2 totally monopolised the market. Following on from my weekend away- I was faced with the challenge of coming home to an empty fridge as its impractical to go to the market during the week. I needed to come up with some creative menu items. My starting point was various bits of left over steak in the freezer and some pre-cut potatoes left over from when my friend had been a bit ambitious around her menu planning during the weekend down at the Peninsula . Searching through my recipe book of Age mag cuttings and Curtis Stone 'feed your family' brochures (what was I saying about Coles) I came across a recipe 'Spicy Lamb and Sweet Potato Curry' (Neil Perry). This recipe had caught my eye as it uses fresh turmeric.(one of my purchases from my annual free loaders trip to the Melbourne Flower and garden festival.

My very first piece of home grown turmeric!

 I figured with a little imagination (sweet potatoes/ potatoes - no one will know the difference? beef/lamb?) a successful exploratory dig in the turmeric pot, home grown chillies and kaffir lime leaves from my friends tree (these store well in a tupperware container at the bottom of the fridge and/or in the freezer) and a trip to the new Asian supermarket up the road, I could pull it all together with the following result- fresh and delicious!

A tricky time of year

It’s a tricky time of year to take on the challenge of a waste free kitchen. The holiday season brings unexpected social outings and activities and the warmer weather (although you wouldn’t believe it this week) tends to encourage a less structured and flexible routine. It doesn’t help that the market is heaving with delicious seasonal produce at bargain prices.

So this week I focused my efforts less on my garden challenge and more on what to do with everything in my fridge.

I generally have a set way that I plan my cooking and shopping for the week ahead. I set menus Saturday through to Thursday, with Friday designated 'take it as it comes'. More often than not it’s a case of taking a pizza base and adding a home made topping. This week it's left over salami, with onions, capsicum and home grown tomatoes.  Unfortunately I made the sad discovery of  a tub of Mt Zero olives I bought before Christmas- but have now gone mouldy - such a waste!

In addition I always make sure I have at least one meal that can be flexible and held over to the following week if things come up.  A favourite is Thai Curry as I usually have some chicken in the freezer and just use whatever veg is around (onions, carrots and capsicum keep – so they are staples in my cupboard and fridge). This week I made Penang curry with some left over roo fillet that was languishing in the freezer.

This week I also decided to get back into my after work swimming routine so I need to ensure there was one meal that only needed to be heated and ready to serve. A perfect dish is Karen Martini's fantastic apricot chicken recipe (taken from the Age Sunday Life magazine). Dry roasting coriander and  cumin, grinding the spice mix and browning the chicken takes a little time so it’s a great dish to cook on weekend and enjoy the leftovers mid week. It also gave me an opportunity to try out our new season chillies. I will confess I am not responsible for chili growing – as that’s my partner Glenn’s job. Last year he didn't get much joy with the seed saved chillies given last year’s mild growing season so  it was off Bunnings and Masters for some new seedlings. I approached the chillies labelled ‘Kaysan’ with a certain degree of caution but turns out despite the label marked  hot they were no hotter than the green chillies I normally buy. I am looking forward to making some of Hasan M’Souli’s  green harissa soon.