More mojo!

What do you know?

 The Cook...

 has her cooking mojo on fast forward!

Lemon butter/curd recipe here!

And what a lovely way to use some of the lemons and lots of the eggs.

Got eggplant?

I adapted this recipe from one I saw on the web.

Cut eggplant/aubergine lengthways into 1 cm (1/2 inch) slices
Saute in a lightly oiled pan until soft.
Put aside to cool.

Make the filling:

• Feta cheese, some grated tasty, and parmesan.
• A handful of sultanas soaked in some boiling water for ten minutes.
• A handful of toasted pine nuts.
• Some chopped mint and chives.
• Two egg yolks.
• Seasoning.

Mix ingredients well.

In an oven-proof dish pour some pasta sauce (I used some cooked tomatoes)

Place a heaped teaspoonful of filling onto eggplant slice and roll.
Place join side down in dish.
Repeat until all slices used.

Pour more sauce over the top.

Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake in a moderate oven until bubbling and golden.

I think the original recipe used ricotta, slivered almonds and currants.

I reckon olives would go well too

and next time I think I will put bread crumbs on the top,

with cheese on top of that.

The prodigal returns.

Last Autumn, I carefully planted my brassica seeds

and nurtured them till it was time to plant them out.

I planted mine in a carefully prepared bed.

The netting I put over the top did a great job

keeping the cabbage moths away...but not the goats!

So, we went without.

I gave some seedlings to my sister 

and, as she has more sense than to keep goats,

she had a wonderful crop.

Yesterday she brought one of the caulies

for us to eat.

Although it is tradition, we couldn't kill the fatted calf to celebrate

this prodigal's return because we didn't have a calf at hand

and anyway, we eat mainly vegetarian here now.

So we did the next best thing and killed the fatted cauliflower

and put it in a potato and cauliflower curry!

I won't post the recipe...just put 'curry cauliflower' in your search engine and take your pick!

YUMMY!

Ugly to divine

I cleared another vegetable bed for new plantings

and boiled up the beetroot I picked.

Is there a vegetable more messy and troublesome than beetroot?

And look how ugly it is!

But peel it, pop it in the food processor 

with some other ingredients 

and look at the gorgeous dip/spread it becomes.

I checked the web for recipes and all called for yoghurt.

There wasn't any in the fridge so I used some cream cheese,

garlic, lemon juice, and enough olive oil to make it work.

I didn't even add any spices or herbs...so the dip was garlicky

and full of that earthy flavour of beetroot.

Like I said,

D I V I N E!

A Turnip for the Books

I have a number of books like these...

with alphabetical lists of veggies 

with a few recipes for each.

They are really great when there is a glut of something

 and all our regular recipes have become boring.

But they don't have ANY recipes for turnips.

I always include them in soups...

but what else?

Got any turnip recipes?

Garlic chicken garnished with D.E. and fresh herbs

Ingredients: 

Chickens with or without lice

Garlic

Diatomaceous Earth (DE) - food grade

Sulphur

Wood ash.

Bouquet garni

Method

• Thoroughly clean out the chicken coop retaining the manure and straw for the compost to enable you to grow great organic garlic for the other part of this recipe.
• Scrub the nest boxes and perches.
• Sprinkle sulphur powder/ wood ash/DE in the crevices.
• Replace the nesting material.
• Add sulphur/wood ash/DE to the chooks dust bathing areas.
• Take lice infected chickens and hold upside down by the feet. Sprinkle liberally with sulphur powder/DE, paying careful attention to the area around their vent, under their wings and around their necks.
•  Feed minced garlic to the chooks once per month (in their water) to manage intestinal parasites.
• Add DE to their food as a tonic and as a wormer.
• When it is available,  add wormwood, lavender, geranium or other smelly things to the coop to make it smell good (and to repel insects).
• Plant these around the coop so the chickens brush past...if you can keep the goats from eating the plants.

Recipe notes:

Thanks to Linda Woodrow who suggested the wood ash alternative.
She also moves her chooks around so they are on new ground
which seems to help with the mites and lice problem.

Missy also suggests painting the underside of the perches with cooking oil.
I haven't done this ... but I am keeping it up my sleeve.

D.E. is short for diatomaceous earth.

It is the fossilized shells of microscopic 

water-dwelling single cell organisms known as diatoms.

The powder is non-toxic with insecticidal properties.

DE has a mechanical effect in that the microscopic

grains have sharp edges which scratch at the

exoskeleton of the insect causing injury

and dehydration.

Back Yard Chickens has information on DE.

I found a YouTube video extolling its benefits

but it was a bit too far on the 'miracle product' 

end of the scale.  The presenter

lost me when he stirred a spoonful

into some lemonade and drank it.

The only study I could find about the use

of DE in humans was one that indicated a lowering

of cholesterol in the subjects.

Care when handling the product to avoid inhaling

should be taken as there is some doubt

about its effects on the respiratory system.

I heard about DE (and bought it) at the Seymour

Alternative Living Expo in February.

I attended a talk about the organic treatment

of problems in fowls which was very informative.

DE is also used in swimming pool filters...but this is

not suitable for use with animals...it must be FOOD GRADE

diatomaceous earth.

 

Great pumpkin challenge - recipe #5

Recipe #5 - P-p-pumpkin on P-p-pizza

Dice and roast pumpkin before adding to your pizza...and then add whatever other toppings you fancy.

Tonight's version had tomato paste, pumpkin, pancetta (well, bacon really but it doesn't start with p), pinenuts, Philedelphia Cheese (cream cheese, cubed) and parsley thyme.

I feel like I am doing a segment for Sesame Street:

This idea for pumpkin is brought to you 

by the Letter P

and the colour purple orange.