The last time I wrote, I happened to mention a roast chicken was potentially in my future. That came true, which makes me happy because there are few things less satisfying than putting a nice roast in the oven and pottering about your Sunday while …
Ingredients: Method: Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees celsius. Cut the tomatoes, eggplants and garlic in half lengthways. Spray a large roasting tin with olive oil spray, or drizzle with olive oil. Place the tomatoes and eggplants in a single layer in the tin. Place the …
You can happily enjoy Easter without being carnivorous, what with some of the best things about Easter being non-meaty (chocolate and hot cross buns, loaded with butter obviously). But if you fancy Easter roast lamb, then let me convince you that making your own mint sauce to accompany it is very much worth an extra five minutes in your meal preparation. It’s ridiculously simple and so fresh and tasty.
Mint grows like a happy, verdant weed in my garden. I think our often-inclement climate suits it well and it’s a tough bugger of a herb, so it doesn’t need a lot of pampering. I keep it in pots by itself so it doesn’t take over the other members of my planter boxes beds and top it up with a little water and seaweed tonic when I’m tending to my more delicate plants. I eat it with everyone – in frittatas with spinach and feta, in Thai-inspired salads with basil and coriander, and of course in mint sauce.
You won’t need much for this one at all, it’s largely store-cupboard ingredients and if you don’t have mint at home, it’s readily available in big bushy pots at the supermarket. I hope you give it a try.
Ingredients:
1 cup of mint leaves, finely chopped
1/4 cup of boiling water
1/4 cup of vinegar (honestly, any type is fine – I either use plain old white vinegar, or red wine vinegar if I have it)
1 T white sugar
Salt to season
Method:
Place the mint leaves in a small heat-proof bowl or jug (at least 1 cup capacity)
Pour over the boiling water. Leave to steep for five minutes to soften the mint.
Add the vinegar and sugar. Once cool enough, taste and season with salt to your liking.
Serve with roast lamb – any leftovers keep for several weeks in the fridge, and you can also use it to stir into peas to give them a lift or mixed with plain yoghurt for a salad dressing or sandwich spread.
My parents are amazing gardeners and I couldn’t resist this little scallopini left over from their crop. Mainly because, what a cute vegetable, everyone! How could you not want to take it home? Little and frilly and kind of like a flying saucer. I’ve eaten …
Wheewwww so another nearly two months since my last post with some more drama in between. Two further hospital admissions, including one particularly gripping visit to the emergency room with nurses running, grabbing wheelchairs and shouting ‘code two, code two’ into the PA system, three …
WOAH. That was a month and a half.
The first section was pretty damn fine. My husband and I treated ourselves to a week in Rarotonga to celebrate getting through some rather rubbish stuff over the last wee while, and gosh it was bliss.
Rarotonga is beautiful and delightfully laid-back. You share pristine beaches with dogs and chickens, crabs scurry down burrows beneath coconut trees and pet goats wander in mango orchards. Needless to say I did not do a lot of cooking, but thanks to the bountiful tropical trees in the garden of our accommodation, I had some fun experimenting with various home-made cocktails. Bad photo below of passion-lime and vodka. It improves the more you have.
The past wee bit has been a little less fun. Long story short, some long-term side effects of last year’s fertility treatment left me with a whacking great deficit in my iron. It all got a little dramatic, ending with admission to hospital where, being woozy with anaemia, I kept trying to introduce all of the nurses to my rather worried husband and mum. Can I just say the staff of Wellington hospital do an amazing job and, several blood and iron transfusions later, I am back in my own little nest and on the way to recovery.
So, I’m sure you’ll understand that I have not been whipping up a storm, or much of anything, in my kitchen to share with you today. While I have been gadding about between hospital and Pacific islands however, my garden has been busy.
My Cape Gooseberry tree is such a little trouper. It came to me from a friend who can’t bear to get rid of any excess seedlings and I have done pretty much nothing to it, save plonking it in a terracotta pot. Despite this, it never lets me down and is currently producing an impressive bounty of fruit.
Have you ever seen a Cape Goosberry fruit before? They are like beautiful little lanterns with a bright yellow berry inside. Their taste is lovely – fleshy and a little sweet, a little like a plum in flavour, witha cheek-sucking tartness at the end. I have it on good authority they are packed with vitamin C, so a handful for morning tea is just what I need at the moment.
I have lots of planned posts coming up, including pudding with hazelnuts and some dark chocolate and ginger creations. Thanks for your patience on this one and if you get a chance to try a Cape Gooseberry, do take it.
Lots of love as always x
It was time to slay the mighty parsley-beasts. I felt a little regretful about this, as they had done me proud by growing all green and bountiful, despite my doing very little to help them. But, many leaves had been picked for many dishes, and …
The little rosette in the middle of my bok choy, depicted above, is not something you’d see in an exhibition-standard specimen. It indicates the plant in question has gone to seed. Far from being ashamed, I am absolutely delighted I kept something alive long enough …
Today was an exciting first for me. As you may have read in earlier posts, I have taken to gardening over recent months. Well folks, today was the first time I harvested and ate something I had grown myself (aside from herbs…I’m talking things you can make a meal out of here).
Rocket was the lucky plant in this instance. Rocket made the final cut into my garden largely because I had it on good authority they are easy to grow and low maintenance. This has proven to be true. Aside from losing a couple of seedlings to an enthusiastic blackbird chasing worms, my rocket plants are starting to resemble a pretty decent salad. I am proud.
So, when one is harvesting one’s first crop, one really wants something special sharing the plate. And that special something is goat cheese. If you fancy hearing about my rocket and goat cheese salad with honey and balsamic dressing, read on.
To make this for two people I used:
A handful of rocket leaves
Goat cheese – I used about 50 grams
2 tablespoons of pine nuts
A heaping teaspoon of runny honey
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons of olive oil
This salad requires doing pretty much all preparation simultaneously and then throwing to together at the end, which requires vigilance to any burning smells.
I started by toasting the pine nuts in a non-stick frypan. Watch those little critters, they burn all of a sudden. I find they only need a couple of minutes of medium heat.
Slice rounds of the goat cheese and place in a heat proof dish. Put it under a hot grill and grill for several minutes until golden brown.
While all this is going on, make the dressing by whisking the honey, vinegar and oil together. I microwaved my honey first for 15 seconds first, which was helpful to proceedings.
Place the rocket leaves in two bowls. Top with the grilled cheese and pinenuts. Add the dressing and combine.
As my rocket plants are in the first flush of youth, my harvest was modest, and so we had this salad on top of some fresh pasta to fill the meal out a little. It was okay teamed with the pasta, but another time I would have the salad with bread or grilled chicken if a little padding was needed.
Not so bad if I say so myself.
