collingwood

half the garden risotto

it's a beautiful time of year in the garden, especially since lots of things are feeding us so plentifully!

this recipe works with anything you have at hand: silverbeet (chard), parsley, bay leaves and lemon were the main things available to me- i added a carrot for colour and texture.

1c arborio rice

3 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

vegetables, cut into 1-2cm pieces

2tbs margarine

2tbs olive oil

1-1.5L stock, warmed

200ml white wine (preferably dry)

salt, pepper to taste

toasted almonds to serve (optional)

fry garlic in butter and oil on low for 2 minutes. add any hard vegetables (carrot, celery, leek) and cook for 3-5 minutes. stir in rice, coat well with oil.

add in stock about half a cup at a time; gently stir until liquid is mostly absorbed. add another half cup; stir until absorbed. 

gently stir in any vegetables that need cooking (ie not soft leaves)- mushrooms, green beans etc. 

after 3-4 measures of stock, add in half the wine, and stir until absorbed. continue doing this, tasting how cooked the rice periodically. if you have used all your liquid and the rice is not cooked to your liking, add a little water and keep stirring.

when the rice is almost done, gently fold in any soft vegetables (spinach, silverbeet leaves), fold in grated rind of one lemon, and allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving.

feijoas!

so exiting to discover a feijoa tree in my front yard! delicious, packed with vitamin c (related to guava), and FREE!

harvest

bounty from the garden despite maniac weather:

• two kinds of figs
• peaches
• lemons
• beans
• strawberries
• baby zucchini
• garlic
• red chilli

and the world's tiniest full-grown capsicum

sprouts!

mung beans are great. they are the easiest and yummiest things to sprout, and are crazy-cheap at about $3 per kilo in my local asian grocer. 

instead of forking out $2+ for a 250g packet of killjoy already-sprouted sprouts, you too can harness the awesome, inbuilt sproingy power of sprouts! 1kg of dry beans will make a gazillion days worth of sprouts. or at least 6 months' worth. that's at least $350 in my kitchen. of sprouts. yes indeedy.

so: all you need is the dry beans, some water, a windowsill (not direct sun), and a jar. you could drill holes into the lid of a jar:

or just cover the lid with a piece of cotton or other breathable fabric (even a square cut from an unused multipurpose cloth or paper towel) works - just secure it to the jar with a rubber band.

in your jar, soak about 2tbs of beans in a cup of water (preferably filtered) overnight, or for at least 6-10 hours (less hours in warm weather, more hours in cool weather). you should see the beans swell a little and break through their tidy green jackets by morning.

drain the soaking water, carefully so as not to tip your crunchies-in-waiting down the drain. rinse with a little water, drain, and set on the windowsill with your cover of choice closing the jar.

rinse once a day, twice if the weather is hot or humid. eat anytime from when they look like so:

after this point, keep any remainders in a sealed container in the fridge. you will quickly learn about your desire for sprouts, and thus how long you should wait until you start your next batch to ensure yourself a continuous supply.

bounteous garden post

zucchini flowers

capsicum babies

tomorrow's tomato!

rose petal jam

rose petal jam. how luxurious! and how better to enjoy roses from the garden than by extolling their fragrance  and eating them?

there is a massive variety of recipes available, and this is only my first attempt (i've been promised bags of petals from a colleague's garden to practice on). i've made 500ml batches to test the method:

60g fresh, unsprayed petals (the more perfumed, the better)

1.5c caster sugar

0.75c water

1/4tsp citric acid or 1/2tsp lemon juice

wipe or gently rinse bugs off each petal. with small scissors or fingertips, remove the pale pit of each petal (the part that connects the petal to the centre of the flower- if left on, the result will be bitter). in a medium glass or ceramic bowl, gently use a fork to bruise the petals with 0.5c of sugar. cover with cling wrap and leave overnight (or at least for a few hours)

the next day, mix the remaining sugar and water in a small pan. bring to a gentle boil, and cook until a slightly thick syrup results. add in petals and citric acid/lemon, and cook on the lowest possible heat for up to 10 minutes or until jam is a little sticky on the back of a spoon.

soap making class @ceres!

pouring the lye solution into the melted fats/oil

went to a fantastic workshop today at ceres environment park in brunswick: soap making! the instructor was great; knowledgeable and enthusiastic. it was also really exciting to meet so many lovely and like-minded people in the group!

we were sitting under the grape vines in the market area near the chickens, and had a few of the girls *brrt*bgrkbk-brrr-b-grk*ing around under our feet while we grated, melted and stirred the soap. i even had a chookie fall asleep in my lap at one point!

it was a really beautiful spring day; cool enough to be pleasant, plenty of sun to create plenty of shade. i even heard frogs in the pond!

nectarine blossoms