Spring gardening in the tropics using companion planting and "cut and come again"

It's days like today that I feel so fortunate to be retired and alive and able to do the things that I like to do in no particular order, but just when I feel like doing them. The balmy spring weather in the tropics promises a hint of the summer heat to come, so this morning I have planted the last of the vegetable seedlings for my tropical summer garden. I want to get the greens well  established before the midday sun causes them to bolt and create flower stalks. If that happens the leaves will then also become quite unpleasant to eat.

Summer greens with self sown tomatoes at the back of the garden fighting for space with the rambling nasturtiums which attract the bees. Lebanese eggplant will provide a decorative element as well as a bountiful supply in a few months, and the beautiful lady bugs will crawl all over them.

Herbs in this garden include flowering comfrey on the left, flat leaf parsley, Italian basil and thyme. The butterflies are attracted to the lavendar comfrey flowers. I plan to make some comfrey tea in the next few days whihc will give the herbs and vegetables another nitrogen boost. You can read how to make comfrey tea here.

My hottest vegetable garden contains a myriad of plants, including a fig tree which we have just transplanted so that it has more sun. It's time it performed. A few weeks ago I planted some silverbeet here and this is almost ready to be harvested a few leaves at a time. It is beautiful and glossy and insect free at the moment. Red Mignonette lettuces and silverbeet are very practical and yet extremely healthy greens to grow in Spring in the tropics. They are fast growers. Besides providing some colour contrast in salads, these little red burnished beauties are also more resistant to bugs, and I love the way that  I can just pick and use the leaves as I need them without needing to harvest the whole lettuce. "Cut and come again" with the greens by removing the largest leaves from the outside of the plant with a pair of scissors, which encourages the plant to produce more leaves, and then you can keep removing leaves from the plants every few days as you need them. Mignonettes require little space, and can be planted in very small gardens. It is a good idea to keep planting lettuce seedlings every few weeks so that you have a continuous supply of greens. As the heat intensifies, it helps to grow the leafy greens under shadecloth for protection.

Using just a few leaves at a time, "cut and come again" is also the big advantage with growing your own crop of glossy silverbeet, and is a very economical way to eat salads and vegetables. It is just so satisfying to be able to go down to my vegetable patch and pick the greens I need for our meal knowing that no sprays have been used on them and that they are as fresh as they can be.It also means that my food preparation can be quite impromptu.

If you can build or buy a raised garden for your herbs and vegetables it will really save your back when you are planting and provides excellent drainage as well. Mr. HRK built this for me, and also an aquaculture style set of planting tubes, which contain soil and is also irrigated,  above the raised garden which works really well for mignonettes, spring onions and smaller vegetable species. I have added a white "moth" on a stick to this garden to repel the cabbage moths.Yes, I think it works. It worked last year, as the cabbage moths are very territorial and won't come near a garden where they think a white cabbage moth is already at work. This garden is also partially protected from the hot summer sun by a shadecloth cover which really helps.

I also planted some more spring onion seedlings this morning, and just positioned them amongst the veges wherever there was a space. This is a form of companion planting that I have used for a long time as the shallots also act as a pest repellent for the neighbouring vegetables and herbs, whilst being close to the kitchen and readily available. I use a lot of shallots or spring onions in my cooking but buying all of these fresh ingredients on a daily basis can be a substantial cost.  So we grow what is practical, and try to buy the rest of the fresh produce we need from the local farmer's markets each Saturday.

After planting the seedlings, this afternoon I gave them a dose of Seasol seaweed solution and Thrive, diluted and  mixed together in my large watering can. I am hoping that with the  odd shower of rain around, I can start harvesting some leaves within the next few weeks.

Happy gardening and if anyone reads this I would love to know what you are doing in your garden.

GIGANTES or Giant Beans

Greece is on my travel list for the future, however if I can't go there right now, the next best thing is to cook a very typical dish that is eaten in Greece. This is a variation of a recipe from Epirus in Northern Greece where they grow plenty of the giant butter beans called Gigantes, which over there they cook with fresh tomatoes and all kinds of wild greens, and of course lots of olive oil. Sometimes sausages are also added which sounds like a great idea to me, the dish becomes a meal in one. Gigantes means Giants, which gives the name to this dish of giant Greek Lima Beans, and is pronounced yee-gahn-dess. So that is my first Greek word that I have learnt before we travel to Greece. Most of the Greek words I learn will probably centre around food and eating out at restaurants. Isn't that generally the way though?

This dish will feed a crowd and more, and is also a great way of using up fresh tomatoes if you have an abundance. The tinned variety can easily be substituted with fresh tomatoes and I added some fresh oregano from my garden to the tomato sauce as well. Lots of fresh Italian parsley came from the morning Farmer's Market as mine hasn't matured yet.

I would also suggest with this recipe that if you like lots of tomato sauce just double the quantity and use less chicken stock as there will be lots of beans.

GIGANTES

Ingredients:

½ kg dried lima or butter beans, or Gigantes if you can find them

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cups celery, finely chopped

1 red capsicum, finely chopped

1 medium carrot, cut into cubes

1 410g can of crushed tomatoes

2 onions, finely sliced

2 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp. tomato paste

2 bay leaves

Fresh oregano

1 pinch of chilli flakes (optional)

1 tsp. Hungarian sweet paprika

1 cup Italian parsley, chopped

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 Litre chicken stock (you may not need all of this)

 Feta cheese

Method:

1. Soak the beans overnight covered well in water which will plump them up. Drain the beans and rinse them again.
2. Fill a large saucepan with cold water, and add the beans. Don’t add any salt to the water the beans are boiled in or it will toughen them up. Bring the beans to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes then discard the water. Rinse the beans again.
3. Put the beans back into the same saucepan, and fill with cold water again. The water should be about 2 inches above the beans. Add the bay leaves, celery, capsicum, and carrot, then bring to the boil. When it is bubbling, turn down the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
4. Whilst the beans and vegetables are cooking, cook the tomato sauce. Sauté the onion and garlic in a deep frypan. Add the chilli flakes, tomato paste and crushed tomatoes and paprika. Cook for 5 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 180 deg. C. Using a ladle, pour the beans into a baking dish and then add the tomato sauce, salt, pepper and sugar. Mix carefully and thoroughly. Add the chicken stock. The mixture should not be like soup but should not be dry either. Bake for 35 minutes, making sure the beans are cooked.
6. Crumble feta cheese over the top.
7. Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley, noting that the amount of the parsley depends on the quantity of the beans.
8. Then pour a little bit of extra virgin olive oil over the top.

 Do you enjoy Greek food, and if so what is your favourite dish? Do you enjoy cooking with beans?

Vegetable cheesy muffins

I rarely buy muffins when I am out having coffee with Mr. HRK or friends as they are too large and tasteless and not very healthy. This recipe makes 12 of what I would call normal sized muffins and if I am really hungry, I just have two of them.

Lemon Sour Cream Cake

Go straight to the recipe at:

This recipe was included in a school recipe book published as a fundraiser at my children's high school in 1994. Some of the best recipes can be found in these compilations of old family favourites. So does this mean it is a vintage recipe? I'll leave you to be the judge.

BEEF, FENNEL, AND BARLEY STEW

Whenever I cook this recipe now it reminds me of the very cold Perth winters where I first cooked it this year for the whole family after our little grandson Hugo was born.  The combination of fennel and barley in this beef stew ensures it is a winter warmer and a crowd pleaser. However it is one of those very adaptable recipes, and if fennel isn't in season just add dried fennel seeds instead, or leave the fennel out completely and add 2 rashers of bacon and the juice of an orange for extra flavour and some mixed herbs. This stew doesn't need to be thickened with flour at all as the barley swells and absorbs a lot of the liquid. Delicious and so easy.

This recipe can also be easily adapted to the wonderfully aromatic Middle Eastern flavours by adding harissa paste or spices such as cinnamon, and serving with  couscous.

I prefer to cook this dish in my slow cooker for convenience mainly, particularly in winter, however it can be cooked on top of the stove in a pan for 2 hours until deliciously tender.

Ingredients:

2 tsp olive oil
500g Gravy Beef or cubed beef, cut into 3cm pieces
1 brown onion,thinly sliced
1 baby fennel, thinly sliced
1 celery stick, thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled, halved, and thinly sliced
2 crushed garlic cloves
400g can diced or whole tomatoes
2 cups (500ml) beef stock, reduced salt
1/2 cup (100g) pearl barley
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
2 dried bay leaves

Let's cook:

1. Heat the oil in a large casserole pan over medium to high heat. Cook the beef in batches, turning occasionally, for 3 mins or until browned all over. Transfer beef to a bowl or the slow cooker.
2. Add the onion, fennel, carrot and celery to the pan. Cook, stirring for 5 mins until the onion softens. Add the garlic and cook for 1 min or until aromatic. Return the beef to the pan with the tomatoes, beef stock, barley, rosemary and bay leaves. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Transfer all of the cooked ingredients to the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or slowly for 6 hours or until the meat is tender, or cook covered for 2 hours in the pan on your stove or until the beef is very tender. Add more beef stock if the stew seems too thick. Season to your taste with salt and ground pepper. Serve with vegetables of your choice.

Home again after an amazing road trip around Australia

We are home again after 4 months away on our road trip holidaying around Australia.  Perth was the initial destination and then after 6 weeks based in the Perth Hills we drove back to Queensland.We left in March from Cairns, driving along the Savannah Way to the Northern Territory where we explored Kakadu, Darwin, Litchfield National Park, Katherine Gorge and many other delightful areas camping along the way.  Our road trip continued into Western Australia to Kununurra and Broome and down to Perth. What a magnificent coastline over there. Then after leaving Perth we drove home through South Australia and NSW and back up to Queensland. I can't help thinking as I reminisce and start blogging again about my food experiences during the trip.

Lots of very well cooked and very fresh Barramundi with vegetables or salad was often my choice when we ate out at restaurants in Queensland and the Northern Territory as the weather was still very warm and I love fresh fish. I really tried not to include chips with those meals. Such a trap when you are travelling. I made an exception in Darwin though where it is compulsory to eat crumbed barra and chips on the beach whilst watching the glorious sunsets. I also remember a particularly good Barrumundi dinner in unassuming Burketown, at the Morning Glory Restaurant, owned by a couple of delightful Chinese people, amd after all Burketown is the Barramundi capital of Australia. Well that is what they hang their hat on anyway . Burketown was also where we  bought some very tasty rosemary and camel sausages at the Roadkill Butcher. Catchy marketing is very important in the outback.

When we bedded down in Normanton we drove to coastal Karumba. I was rather excited about eating  the famous Karumba prawns.  So we ordered prawns at the Sunset Tavern and whilst they were very big unfortunately they were rather tasteless. I suspect they had been frozen but never mind it is something you just have to do in Karumba beside the ocean.

Neil enjoying some Karumba prawns with the compulsory beer. It was still hot in
 the N.T.

A shady spot at the Sunset Tavern in Karumba

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The Sunset Tavern 

 In the more remote parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory, I couldn't go past a good steak, despite seeing all of the lengthy road trains transporting cattle to market. Then of course there were the delicious and memorable fresh oysters I ate at the Ceduna Hotel in S.A. on the return journey. Ceduna is very famously the oyster capital of Australia.

Delicious oysters in Ceduna, South Australia

When we were camping, it was easy to thaw out one of my prefrozen meals from our car frig and that worked really well. When I needed some pampering and a break from camping, and we stayed in a motel or a cabin, we just thawed out a precooked meal in the microwave when we didn't eat out.

When we arrived in the Perth Hills, I was put straight to work in the kitchen as our first grandchild was only a couple of weeks away from being born, and many family favourite desserts were requested and very welcome in the Perth winter. Myrtille developed very sweet cravings during her pregnancy so cakes and desserts were definitely a priority for her. When little Hugo arrived two weeks later than expected, and then came home a few days later, the slow cooker became my best friend so that I could still have lots of baby cuddles and amongst the mayhem that a newborn baby creates, still produce a nutritious, hearty and delicious meal at the end of the day.

LIttle Hugo only a day old with his very proud  Grandma

A walk in the country around the Perth Hills with proud father Matthew and  little Hugo. Trying out the new pram.

During the whole 6 weeks we were in Perth I continued to make my sourdough bread, which everyone enjoyed, and was a taste of home for me. I am so pleased that I took my sourdough starter Mother in  the freezer of the car frig all around the country with me. I have proved that the starter can be frozen, and then thawed out and used and then frozen again and still work perfectly.

Our son Matthew loves to cook, and still managed amongst the excitement to cook an excellent Lamb Biryani in the Webber, recipe to follow later.

During our whole experience in Perth and particularly after the baby arrived I was so thankful for the recipes on my blog. I cooked a few new creations of course when time permitted, but overall I resorted to what I knew and had already cooked at home. I accessed my blog many times.

I am slowly slipping back into a routine after being away for so long. I've just taken  a large loaf of Viking Sourdough bread out of the oven. New herb and vegetable seedlings are waiting in their punnets to be planted and I am enjoying my garden once again.

What a fabulous journey, the real highlight being the arrival of little Hugo, but it's great to be home and to be warm.

Beetroot Dip

Bake 3 large beetroot. Allow them to cool and peel them and cube them.
Add cubed beetroot to an oven tray with the following:
1 whole head of garlic, with skin on
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
Wrap tray up in foil and cook in the oven at 200 deg. C for 25 minutes. Open tray and stir.
Turn oven down to 160 deg. C for another 25 minutes.
Squeeze garlic out of skins and stir into other ingredients.
When mixture is cool,  add 100g yoghurt, chives or parsley to taste and blend.