Monthly Archives: April 2010

So what do I do with all those herbs growing in the garden?

28 Wednesday Apr 2010

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I’m always on the look out for recipes that allow me to use some of those yummy fresh herbs from the garden. Monday night I decided to try George Calombaris’ ‘Eggplant and tomato bake’. Yes that’s George from Masterchef–one of my favourite television programs. His recipe has copious amounts of parsley and oregano, so it was a perfect reason to raid the garden. He uses dried oregano but I’ve got so much in the garden I used fresh instead. Because mine was fresh I used about 3 times as much as the dried tbls spoon recommended by George. This recipe requires a bit of preparation but it’s worth it. It is the best stuffed eggplant recipe I’ve tried. The stuffing was unbelievably light and full of flavour. The quarter cup of finely chopped parsley lifted the whole dish and gave it a super fresh taste. I think it might even be healthy! What a bonus. It’s definitely one of those dishes you could easily eat too much of. It does have quite a bit of onion in it, which is fine with me, but it did give my partner a bit of heart burn that night. I’m going to make it next time I have a mix of vegetarian and carnivores over for dinner because I reckon the meat eaters will love it too. I’m dying to make it again and am salivating at the thought of it. If anyone wants the recipe let me know and I’ll post it.

A Bouquet of Oregano

24 Saturday Apr 2010

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I sometimes think oregano is a little underrated. Popular cooking shows seem to focus on basil when featuring Italian cooking but I remember oregano playing a larger role in my mum’s cooking. Oregano is a must in both pizza and pasta sauce. However, the most interesting way I remember my mother using it was with a barbeque. She would pick a bunch of the longest and bushiest stems and tie them into a bouquet. She would then dip the bouquet into a marinade of olive oil, crushed garlic and freshly squeezed lemon juice and brush the meat while barbecuing. Her method meant that the meat was delicately infused with the flavours of the marinade and not overwhelmed by it.

My oregano is growing like crazy in the garden. It’s a revelation as I’d always grown it in a pot. Now, in the ground, it’s spreading like lawn. I have to keep cutting it back so it doesn’t take over. We gave a bunch to Poppet’s day care the other day and the cook was really pleased because she was making Jambalaya for lunch and said she would use the oregano. Wow, what great lunch for the kids I thought. I asked Poppet what he had for lunch that night and he said ‘Ginger Bread Man’, which is his standard answer to that question.

Cooking with Poppet

23 Friday Apr 2010

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Poppet and I cooked up a batch of play dough this morning. I’m constantly surprised at how easy it is. Poppet spent half the time trying to put on latex gloves. I made a big show about making purple by mixing red and blue together. I thought he would find this amazing. ‘It’s like magic’ I said as added the drops of colours and mixed the dough. ‘It’s black’ he replied and turned back to his glove problem. I kneaded some more ‘look, look! What colour is it now?’ Barely looking up from his gloves ‘Its purple’ he mumbled.

Tiny Poppet sized tomatoes

22 Thursday Apr 2010

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As it was toward the of summer when I planted my garden I only planted one tomato vine. I really only planted it because Poppet goes mad for tomatoes. So because it was for him I decided to plant tiny thumb size tomatoes. I also want him to experience the wonder of seeing the lovely fruit grow. I know I was always fascinated to see fruit and veggies pop out of a plant and grow when I was a child.

Over the last few weeks there’s been a few ripe tomatoes ready to pick everyday. When ever Poppet notices the vine, usually once or twice a day, he asks for ‘matoes’. I only pick a couple for him because I know that as soon as he finishes them he starts chanting ‘more matoes, more matoes’. So I do this a two or three times before running out of ripe ones. The other day when I was working in the garden I picked about twelve tomatoes and put them in a dish. Poppet saw them a came running. Just have a few I said as he took the booty inside to eat while watching tv. Ten minutes later he came out and started with his ‘more matoes’. I know they’re small but I can’t believe how many a two year old can eat.

Rabe, Broccoli di Rape, Rapini or Yu Choy

18 Sunday Apr 2010

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I picked my first bunch of rape during the week. It’s a green leafy vegetable known by many names and equally loved by the Italians and Chinese. It’s cooked by both cultures in a similar way. Blanched and then stir fried in oil and garlic. Olive oil for the Italians and a vegetable oil like peanut for the Chinese. It has a light bitter flavor which I just love. My mum used to squeeze lemon juice over it and eat a whole plate. I can easily do the same. I also add it to pasta by making into a kind of cooked pesto sauce. To do this you chop it in to small pieces before you blanch and saute it and then just add it to the boiled pasta. This is a typical Sicilian dish–simple but full of flavour. If you want more information on rape check out Maggie Beers info page at–

http://digital.gardeningaustralia.com.au/gardeningaustralia/200809/?pg=12#pg12

My Saturday Morning

10 Saturday Apr 2010

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I had one of those classic mother’s mornings today. I woke up, made a hot chocolate for Poppet and a cup of tea for myself. Then I constructed a wooden pirate ship while Poppet tried to play with it. The instruction weren’t as easy as I thought they would be. This was followed by a pirate breakfast of porridge–anyway that’s what I told Poppet it was so he would eat it. Then I baked a mandarin and almond cake to take to our friends, who were having us over for lunch. I hung up a load of washing, unpacked and repacked the dishwasher, and finally headed off for a run. This was all before 10am. Maybe it’s corny but I found it all very satisfying.

These are the mandarins I boiled for 90 minutes to use in the cake. I blended them in my food processor just after I took this photo. It’s early in the season and they aren’t as dark in colour or as sweet as they will be in another couple of weeks. Nonetheless, I like the slightly tart taste.

My mandarin and almond cake came out a little dark. It was just right on the inside though. I left it in the oven while I went for my run and misjudged the time. I’m not used to using the oven in this house. In our last house we had a great Smeg, which I knew like the back of my hand. Now we have an old Chef which is really unreliable. It goes out sometimes, it’s difficult to regulate and doesn’t switch on sometimes. Until we renovate the kitchen this is it.

Lunch was a real surprise. Our friends made a tender juicy veal roast. I wish I had taken a photo. Is it rude to ask your hosts if you can photograph the food before you eat it? The veal was rolled with prosciutto, which is the best way to cook veal roast as veal has a very mild flavour and the prosciutto gives it that extra depth. Italians love veal. My mother cooked it in one way or another every week without fail. I haven’t had a veal roast for ages so I was thrilled to have one cooked for me. It made me very nostalgic for my mother’s cooking. My mother suffers from Alzheimers and can’t cook any more. For me it’s one of the saddest things about her having the disease because cooking gave her so much joy and she was so skilled at it. It was also one of the ways we really connected. Living on the other side of Australia to her I only experienced her cooking when we visited at Christmas, but we would talk food and recipes on the phone all the time. I really miss that. I think about her almost every time I cook.

Garden Shots

09 Friday Apr 2010

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Okay, I haven’t transplanted the capsicum yet, hence no photo of it. However, here are a few photos of my garden from the last few weeks.

When less is definitely more

06 Tuesday Apr 2010

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When I was deciding on which seedlings to buy for my garden I struck up a conversation with the woman standing next to me in the nursery. While she was taking her time selecting a plant here and a plant there, I was greedily filling my trolley with trays. While she picked up a single plant of capsicum, I picked up a tray of 8. She said shrugging ‘how many can you eat’? They’re such good produces anyway.’ Well I should have paid attention because now I have a very crowded garden where the plants are fighting for space and only the biggest and strongest survive.

The capsicum are particularly suffering. Shadowed under the large leaves of the eggplant they have become a twisted tangle, fighting for life. The fruit that appeared in abundance only a few weeks ago, are now stunted and dropping off. Only one plant is growing strong and straight and is producing healthy fruit. When I saw the struggle begin a few weeks ago I knew the thing to do was to brutally thin them out by pulling out half of the eggplant and capsicum. But I was weak and didn’t do it. I left it to them to sort out, and now I fear it’s too late. I remind myself of those pathetic managers who turn a blind eye to bullying because they don’t have the courage to act on it. I’ll try to put things right tomorrow by replanting a couple of capsicum plants in a sunny spot. It’s a bit of an experiment and we’ll see happens. However my instinct tells me it’s too late. Watch out for the photo of the wretched things in the next post.