Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Sustainable Gardening Australia free gardening info

www.sgaonline.org.au

a wealth of fab organic foodgardening tips, seasonal and companion planting advice, free monthly foodgardening e-news subscription, info on local PODs (Productive, Organic, Diverse) gardening
groups.

5pm today T22 Taste Tour, recipe swap, picnic

Wonbok / ChineseCabbage Salad (CabFab Salad)e

Planted some baby wonbok mid-Jan 2011....if the snails don't
munch it all, should be big enough to harvest a few outer leaves
at a time by late Feb/early March

Robblettes’s ‘cabfab’ (Chinese Cabbage/Wonbok) salad

(enjoyed this recently at a naturopath friend’s place – very wholesome & satisfying!)

Mix together in your preferred proportions/quantities:

Shredded wonbok (Chinese cabbage)

Grated fresh carrot & beetroot

Fresh mint & coriander

To top it all off : in a pan over low heat, gently toast a handful of

slivered almonds, pinenuts and

pepitas (pumpkin seeds –preferably organic)

Sprinkle over salad

For the dressing, mix white balsamic vinegar with a little grapeseed oil,

a smidgeon of toasted sesame oil

and a dash of tamari (gluten-free soy)

Mix everything and serve....scrumptious!

Sensationally Simple Salads using ingredients from T22 Foodgarden

What’s new? Fri 14.1.2011

Just planted more leafy greens (buttercrunch lettuce, mizuna, *wonbok/Chinese cabbage) and Brussels sprouts (which grow as one tall greygreen stem w Brussels sprouts clustered btwn leaves), so look for these ‘babies’ in the garden as they grow

Here's Sunday 9th Jan recipes using ingredients from the garden (in green) + one for tomato/curry leaf, green chillie salad from the lovely Helene (thanks H)

Watermelon Salad:

Harvest chives (cut a handful close to the ground so plants re-grow) rinse, chop, mix with torn mint leaves& chunks of chilled watermelon ..Yum!

Tabouleh Salad

Chop lots of parsley leaves, tomatoes & garlic chives

(or society garlic leaves) through cooled cooked quinoa

(glutenfree) or couscous. Add lemon or lime juice + your fave salad oil, mix and serve.


Helene's Tomato Salad with Curry Leaves

3 Tomatoes chopped

1/4 Cucumber peeled, de-seeded and chopped

1 Green Chilli de-seeded and finely sliced

5 Curry Leaves, fresh ~ finely sliced

Lemon Juice from one lemon

Pinch of salt

Garlic clove (optional) Bruised and crushed

(or try using garlic chives or society garlic leaves from the garden?)

1 good pinch (or to desired taste) of Coconut Palm Sugar:

(sustainable alternative to palm sugar: available from

Friends of the Earth cnr Smith St/Perry St, Collingwood)

Coriander ~ for decoration

Combine tomatoes, cucumber, chilli and curry leaves in a serving dish.

In a separate bowl mix together coconut palm sugar, lemon juice, salt, garlic

until sugar dissolves. Pour this over salad, mix well, sprinkle with coriander.

Serve

*Will post recipe for delish wonbok salad soon.....

Monday, January 17, 2011

Zucchinis in bloom now! Harvesting & recipe notes:

hi gardenfans
check out the zucchini plants: look under their big leaves
(with mottled silvery markings) for large yellow flowers
....'boy flowers' are on long skinny stems
and their pollen needs to get into the middle of the
'girl' flowers (attached to baby zuccinis) for the zuccinis
to mature. Bees are great at this!

Zucchini plants produce heaps to share if soil around them
is watered every few days so if soil is dry under the plant,
refill its watering bottle to avoid getting water on leaves.

Sustainable harvesting & recipe tips:
Once the girl flowers have been pollinated (flowers then close)
use any closed flowers as a beautiful salad ingredient
or stuff them with herbs, finely chopped capsicum, tomato,
cooked grains.
Zuccinis are ready to eat
when they're thicker than your thumb.

To harvest them without damaging the plant, cut through the
dense base of the zuccini where it attaches to the plant's stem.
Some tasty & quick ways to enjoy them:
Grate zucchini over a bowl of beaten eggs, add fave herbs and
pour into frypan over medium heat for zucchini omelette!
Steam zucchini, toss in olive oil & garlic chives.

Slice and stirfry with Asian greens, capsicum, onion/garlic.
Zuccini & pumpkin look and taste great together: cut them into
small
chunks, briefly steam or stirfry, then add
to fritatta or savoury muffin mixes.
Yum :)