Recipe's from the garden
Hello fellow garden lovers and foodies.
The joy of living with a passionate horticulturalist and plant collector makes it also the problem of living with a passionate horticulturalist and plant collector. Many conversations early on went something like this........"I have found this brilliant plant that I want to try." " Fantastic! How do I cook it? " "Well it is full of phytonutrients and higher in antioxidants than .....and I should be able to grow it in Melbourne." "That's great Honey but how can I use it?" And so it went on. It's great growing these plants and even better to be able to use them successfully in the kitchen.
Over time I have experimented with some of the more unusual vegetables and fruits and have adapted recipe's to suit. I hope you can gain some inspiration from these and even try some of your own creations to share with us.
Happy harvesting and cooking
Groundnut rosti
with Thai dipping sauce.
3 cups peeled and grated groundnuts.
1/2 cup cream
2 eggs
1 finely chopped onion
salt and pepper to taste
Fry onion until well done. This adds a sweetness to the rosti.
Peel and grate groundnuts. Or better still, wash well, remove the dirty bits and tough notches and place in a food processor chop finely.
Mix all ingredients together. It should be quite a moist mix. Leave for 15 minutes for moisture to soak into nuts.
Heat oil in pan and drop teaspoons full of mixture into hot oil, cook until dark golden brown on both sides. drain on absorbent paper.
Asian style herb sauce
2-3 cloves garlic
Fresh or dried chili for your own taste
2 Tblspn brown sugar or palm sugar
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/2 cup chinese vinegar
2 tspn sesame oil
handful fresh mint
handful fresh Vietnamese coriander / mint
handfull fresh fish herb, Diep Ca'- (Houttaynia cordata)
Place all ingredients in a processor and mix until all is finely chopped.
Taste and adjust sugar and vinegar to taste.
Chocolate hazelnut cherry lacquer
This recipe has been adapted from a great site called Not Quite Nigella. NQN The original recipe is called Chocolate whisky cake.
250 gm Quality dark chocolate
125 gm butter
6 eggs seperated
1/2 cup castor sugar
3 Tablespoons cherry brandy
1 cup ground hazelnuts
Pre heat oven 180 C.
Melt chocolate and butter over double boiler or in microwave. Cool
Whip egg whites until sift peaks form. Whisk in a seperate bowl yolks sugar and brandy until light and creamy. Add cooled chocolate to egg yolk mixture. fold in hazelnuts and then egg whites. Lined 20cm springform pan. 40-45 minutes
White chocolate and white strawberry mousse cake
IThis is an adaption of the strawberry and white chocolate mousse cake from Good Food.
175 gm biscuits. I used anzacs for a gluten free cake
75 gm melted butter
400 gm good quality white chocolate
400 gm strawberries
300 gm cream cheese full fat
200ml double cream
Crush biscuits mix with melted butter and press into 20cm lined springform pan
Melt chocolate - double pan or microwave. alow to cool slightly.
I change the way I did things here as the white strawberries are small and soft so I didn't blitz them first as asked. I mixed them in with the cheese and cream until soft and creamy. Add white chocolate. Pour over biscuit base and set in fridge.
This is a must softer texture than cheesecake so can also be served as a frozen desert.
Baked ricotta and lemon myrtle cheese cake
First pick your lemon myrtle leaves and dry them really well. I used a dehydrater . always dry more than you need and store them in a jar for use later on.
When dry place stems and leaves in a processor and blitz until fine. You can then use a mortor and pestle if you want it finer.
175 gm biscuits
75 gm melted butter
250 gm cream cheese
600 gm ricotta
1 cup sugar
1 tblspn cornflour
4 eggs
2 tspns ground lemon myrtle. You can substitute with orange or lemon rind
1.5 tspns vanilla
Pre heat oven 180 c spring form pan greased. Prepare your base as before , crush biscuits melted butter and press into the tin base.
Cream the cream cheese ricotta and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time . Add all other ingredients. Bake 40-45 minutes
Strawberry soup
Through my research of recipes I have found that many cultures don't stick to the sweet and savoury fruits and vegetables as we do but mix them up in a wonderful way. Many cultures rely on seasonal produce to give them the varity they need.
This recipe comes from Poland but I believe there are many other countries that do a similar soup. Eaten hot or cold.
3 cups sliced strawberries.
6 cups water
2 tblspns cornflour
1/2 cup full cream milk
sugar to taste. I made it without the sugar and we all felt it was missing something. A touch of sugar made all the difference.
Sour cream to garnish.
In Poland they also add Kluski noodles or croutons
Simmer strawberries and water until falling apart 8-10 minutes
Puree with an immersion blender. Dissolve cornstarch in milk warm and whisk into hot soup. Sweeten to taste