green/back

Ok, I'm back. I'd say it's because my Mum hassled me so much about not posting just to give her the satisfaction but I think also that having some time away from the computer was good good good for me and my enthusiasm. And yes, I've been experimenting with myspack and tumblr but the chocolate lady reminded me that I miss this little nook here.

So, a green winter dinner because I'm quite into herbs and health right now.

It started with weeding the abandoned plots at work. That turned up this bag full of nettles and cleavers.


I've cooked nettles once or twice before but this time I decided I wanted them barely cooked to preserve the Iron, Vitamins, Calcium and generally all their goodness. I've also been looking to include more raw garlic in my diet as I've been fighting off a few infections so I hit on the idea of nettle pesto. I used to be so anti-this kind of fusion but you know, I've gotten a bit more relaxed as I've grown up.

So I wilted my nettles in just a bit of water, blended them with sunflower seeds, garlic and a little parmesan infused olive oil. The taste was still a little wack so I added a good handful of parsley from the backyard. Yum. The sauce was the craziest bright green ever. It went really well with some of the salad leaves that have been thriving on our recent rains and a cauliflower cheese made from this backyard baby:



The rest of the nettles are slowly turning into tincture, with the aid of some vodka. As are the cleavers so we'll see how my first medicine making experiment goes. Meanwhile I've been drinking the leftover nettle pot liquor and despite its terrifying colour I must say I really feel full of beans.



Oh and just in case you worry I've turned into a complete health freak don't worry... I'm currently baking this crazy Nutella cake. And cursing my oven. But that's another story....

purslane

I can't tell if it's cos mega food just don't seem that exciting since the mini food or because my fridge is broken but lately I'm lacking cooking inspiration. I am however, very excited about eating from the garden and that's gonna be my inspiration reviver I think.

This little would-be weed is all over my garden. Then I noticed it was also in a lot of the gardens at work, at the Flemington Community Gardens. It's mainly gardeners from the Horn of Africa who grow it and they call it "regla". At least the Tigrinya speakers do.

My co-worker informed me it was "purslane". A ha! I'd been reading about purslane in Mexican (verdolagas) and Lebanese cookbooks but had no idea where to get it. I love that it's all over my vegie patch and coming up in the cracks of the drive-way. Even colonised this empty oil tin planter.

Yesterday one of the gardeners brought a big stack of injera down to the gardens along with a tasty green stew/sauce. This was regla I was told. To be honest it could have been any green, it was so finely minced but it sure was good. I think the mucilaginous quality of the purslane did make it deliciously thick.

So check your weeds and send me your favourite purslane recipes.

weed fritters... sweetie.. pumpkin

feeling glum. death - fairly close and quite distant. trying to find the words for a bereaved friend. a friend too far away for me to look after, or cook for. also, reading: How to end the war of 1948: Israel/Palestine which ain't helping my mood. I'm going to write something once I've finished it - it's lethal. but i promised food writing and I have been cooking. so...

weed fritters
it was gloriously sunny yesterday. me and gab were gardening - about as good as a suburban afternoon at home can get. picked some weeds (dandelion and nettle) to make the greek recipe I'd been wanting to try for a while: hortakeftedes. (horta=wild greens, keftedes = fritters)
lou wouldn't eat them, everyone else was pretty into them. afterall - who cares if they're weeds, they're fried! tom was way impressed though - kept saying "you cooked the weeds!" they woulda been awesome with beer in the sun. or as part of some lush mezze spread with olives and dips.
if you want to try you can use your own weeds, or beetroot tops, spinach.. whatever. i saw an old guy picking weeds on an empty block in braebrook today. he looked like the same guy I once saw picking weeds from our front yard in footscray. i wanted to stop and ask him how he cooked them but I was running late.

250g plain flour
60g polenta
2 egg yolks, beaten up
0.25 cup soy milk
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
weeds (about 250g)
yoghurt

* mix the flour, polenta, milk and egg yolks together in a bowl - it's very dry so of course i got carried away and added heaps of milk.. but later the greens add wetness so resist.
* leave it somewhere peaceful to rest for 30 minutes.
* cook your weeds in boiling salted for 10 minutes with the garlic.
* drain and rinse in cold water. drain well.
* add garlic and greens to the floury mixture.
* season with salt and pepper and stir well.
* heat about 1cm of olive oil in a heavy frypan
* shape mixture into fritters - add flour if too wet.
* fry 5 minutes on each side or until golden.
* serve with yoghurt and cold beer.

pumpkin scones.
well, i feel a little betrayed by flo. supposedly the pumpkin scones recipe is the one she served prince charles.. the one i made as a child. but it didn't really work. they didn't rise enough. "embarassing", as nell said. it didn't help that i kinda burnt them because i was frying fritters. today i added more baking powder to the mix and they were more like i remembered - fluffy, orange and doughy with just that hint of bicarb taste that tom says defines a scone. definite tea party material. texta says they're too sweet but tom eats them with golden syrup on top. it's hard to please the housies.
here's the recipe:

1 tablespoon butter
0.5 cup sugar
0.25 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup cold mashed pumpkin
2 - 2.25 cups self raising flour, sifted
(i added half a teaspoon of baking powder today. you could go as high as a teaspoon)

* preheat your oven very hot (225 - 250C)
* beat butter, sugar, salt with electric mixer
* add egg, then pumpkin.
* stir in flour by hand
* turn onto floured board and press or roll out not too thin - maybe an inch.
* cut into circles with a cup
* place on heated floured tray
* cook on top shelf of the oven for 15 minutes or so.