Posts Tagged With: silverbeet

Lettuce, silverbeet and parsley soup

Posted on November 21, 2012 by melhm

This is a great way to use up an abundance of spring lettuces – and an especially good way of using up sprouting ones that may be a bit bitter as cooking them softens their flavour as well as texture!

ourkitchengarden.net

Fresh from the garden: lettuce, silverbeet, parsley, potatoes, spring onions, bay
Recipe source: Melissa
Serves: 6 or 24 tastes

Equipment:

  • Chopping board
  • Large knife
  • Salad spinner
  • Potato peelers
  • Bowls – 2 large, 2 medium
  • Garlic press
  • Large stockpot
  • Wooden spoon
  • Handheld mixer
  • Ladle
  • Serving bowls
 Ingredients:

  • 4 spring onions
  • 1kg waxy potatoes
  • 1 big bunch lettuce, such as curly endive or sprouting cos
  • 1 big bunch silverbeet
  • 1 handful parsley
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 60g unsalted butter
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1.5 litres water
  • Flaked salt and black pepper

What to do:

  • Wash and trim spring onions, removing & discarding the tough outer layer. Slice into 1cm bits.
  • Wash and scrub potatoes, peel & cut into 2cm cubes.
  • Wash the lettuce leaves & parsley in several changes of water and spin dry. Chop finely.
  • Wash the silverbeet in several changes of water & shake dry. Remove & chop up the stems & the leaves but keep separate.
  • Peel and press garlic cloves.
  • Melt butter in the large stockpot over medium heat and sauté spring onion and garlic for 2 minutes.
  • Add potato and bay leaves and turn so that the potato sweats in the butter. Stir with the wooden spoon.
  • Add the water, bring to a simmer over medium heat then cover and cook gently over low heat for 10 minutes, then add the sliced silverbeet stalks.
  • After 2 minutes check that the potato is tender, then stir in lettuce, parsley and silverbeet leaves, increase heat to medium and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and turn heat off, adding salt to taste and a good grind of pepper.
  • With dry hands, plug in the handheld mixer and carefully whizz the soup until it is silky smooth.
  • Taste for correct seasoning and ladle into bowls to serve.

Notes: What other vegetables can be used for soup? How many different procedures are there in this recipe? Why do we want the potato to ‘sweat’?

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Beans and greens

Posted on August 30, 2012 by melhm

Soaking dried beans and then cooking them the next day is such a rewarding experience – and these simple accompaniments make the beans a lovely cool-night dish. Serve with crusty sourdough or even a little steamed rice for a lovely midweek meal…

Our Kitchen Garden

From the garden: sage, spinach, silverbeet, chard, beetroot leaves, mustard greens, kale

Recipe source: Melissa, kitchen specialist Bondi PS

Equipment:
  • Bowls – large, heatproof
  • Colander
  • Medium saucepan
  • Large frying pan & lid
  • Kitchen towel
  • Measures: cup, tablespoon
  • Chopping board & knife
  • Serving bowls

Ingredients:

  • 250g dried cannellini beans
  • 1 tablespoon bicarbonate of soda
  • A small branch of sage
  • Cooking salt, flaked salt & pepper
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
  • 1 large bunch of greens (such as spinach, silverbeet, mustard greens or kale)
  • 1 cup vegetable stock
  • 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

What to do:

  • The night before, place your dried beans in the large bowl and fill the bowl with cold water well over the beans, add the bicarb and stir. They will need to soak for at least 12 hours.
  • At the start of your lesson, drain the beans into the colander and rinse them well, then put them into the medium saucepan with about 3cm cold water to cover.
  • Rinse the sage, keeping the branch whole, and shake dry. Peel the garlic cloves and add 3 of them, whole, to the saucepan. Also add the branch of sage, a teaspoon of cooking salt & grind of pepper. Set on a low heat with the lid on and simmer until beans are soft, probably about 2o minutes.
  • Thinly slice the remaining 3 cloves of garlic.
  • Wash the green leaves and shake dry. Remove any thick stems, and cut the leaves into 3cm ribbons. You can leave any baby spinach leaves whole.
  • Heat 4 tablespoons of the olive oil in the large frying pan over medium heat.
  • Add the garlic and chilli flakes and stir until the garlic is pale gold, about 1 minute. Add the greens by large handfuls and stir just until beginning to wilt before adding more, tossing with the tongs to coat with oil.
  • Add the stock, cover with the lid, and simmer until the greens are just tender, adding a little cannellini bean cooking liquid in spoonfuls if dry.
  • When the beans are soft, turn off the heat and let them cool slightly in the water.
  • Set the colander over the clean heatproof bowl and carefully pour the beans and their liquid in to drain. Add the beans to the greens and then simmer uncovered until the liquid is almost absorbed for about 2 minutes.
  • Stir in 1 teaspoon vinegar. Season with salt and pepper, taste and add more vinegar if desired; drizzle with remaining tablespoon of oil and divide into serving bowls.
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October 26th 2011

Posted on April 23, 2012 by melhm

First newsletter back and already it’s week 3 – how did that happen?! This week we’ve seen it all: summer heat & humidity; wintry storms & sleeting rain…  the garden is bursting with life and we’ve loads of great produce to inspire us!

The globe artichokes have been a massive hit with the children! Not only have the plants been astonishing to look at, the flower buds that we know as the artichokes have been a source of much surprise: in how bitter the stalks taste (rub your finger over one at the grocer’s and lick it – you will be amazed and revolted!) and by how delicious the nibbled petals are, dribbled in our lemon vinaigrette – and of course the wonderful surprise of the artichoke heart once the choke has been scraped off. I’d forgotten how totally yummy it is and have been almost begrudgingly handing the cleaned up and garlicky hearts over to the children…!

We’ve made some fabulous salads using up the broad beans that have been springing up, Jack and the Beanstalk-like, in the last weeks, with shaved radish and the skinny leaves of wild rocket… the normal rocket has grown crazily and the large leaves are now too spicy for our salads so we’ve made a sauce by wilting them with a little garlic, mixing in some ricotta mixed with lemon zest and tossing it in our hand-rolled rustic spinach ‘corzetti’ coin pasta…

The garden beds have been bursting with beetroot so we’ve been a bit cheeky and made treats of beetroot and chocolate cupcakes dotted with whipped cream and edible flowers – delicious and beautiful too!

So, for the next menu I think borscht will be the go – steaming hot if this crazy cold weather continues or chilled if we get the summer heat back (!) made with our own carrots, leeks & veg stock – loads of silverbeet and spinach for some spanakopita… and hopefully some more artichokes for the classes that haven’t yet had!

The Big Ask: we’re on the lookout for large colourful side-plates to use as our share plates so if you’re thinking of updating your own or you see any going op-shop cheap, please think of us & drop ‘em in!  Also I must say a big thanks to all the volunteers who have seamlessly slipped over to us in term 4 but as always, we do need a few more saviours who are able to commit to a term’s worth of sessions… Wednesdays 11am & 1.30pm and Thursdays 1.30pm are most in need so please send along anyone that is vaguely interested!

Cheers & buon appetito! Melissa

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August 3rd 2011

Posted on April 23, 2012 by melhm

Here we are two weeks later, still in winter but it’s 26°C and not a cloud in the sky! I love winter in Sydney – and so too the veggies growing bigger every day… we’ve got heaps of broad beans about to pod, broccoli forming, radishes planted, spinach on the way, potatoes in the bag… and a new shipment (no kidding) of seeds about to be sprouted – it’s an exciting time in the kitchen garden!

These last two weeks we’ve all had great success with our shortcrust pastry in the kitchen, baking delicious Italian-inspired silverbeet torta; our soup morphed into a bowl of rich Jerusalem artichoke with a dollop of sour cream & chives; we’ve had huge success with our simple master salad made wonderfully luxurious with a hand pounded garlic & squeezed-lemon vinaigrette; and the orange Anzacs a massive hit of course, even though each batch has emerged completely different from the last! That’s cooking for you… thanks always to our fab helpers and ever-enthusiastic students!

Next up: we’ve got some prehistoric-looking cabbages that need slicing and stir-frying with loads of garlic and perhaps some aromatic spices; some gigantic rocket leaves that are begging to be souped; some crisp green cos lettuces that we’ll roll around in some of that vinaigrette; and I haven’t forgotten that marjoram pasta idea – the poor old bush got a number 2 buzz-cut yesterday so I might be buttering up some herbs for a while…

…and talking of fab helpers – we’re still looking for VOLUNTEERS!!! Don’t be shy, please stick your head in to the garden or cottage and let us know if you can commit to (less than!) a few hours a week. YOUR BONDI KITCHEN GARDEN NEEDS YOU!

Cheers! Melissa

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July 21st 2011

Posted on April 23, 2012 by melhm

Well it’s back to loads of rain and pretty chilly weather… good for the garden & all the seedlings that Ligia has planted over the holidays – we’ll be cooking up a storm (excuse the awful pun) in no time!

And welcome to Ligia, it’s great to have her here, stepping in just in the nick of time to get our veggies happening by springtime – please stop by and say hi: she is a goldmine of info on sustainability, horticulture and all things Brazilian too!

So we’ve got some lovely silverbeet growing that we’ll be planning a silverbeet pie-fest with; I’m besotted with the beautiful marjoram at the moment so am planning some pasta in the kitchen again next week as it was so much fun last time, thinking perhaps marjoram and fontina  ravioli this time? Mmmm… Will be checking out our olives later today too so see whether they’re up for inclusion in some olive bread we’ll make to have with our ever popular soup recipe, and we’ll also  be taking full advantage of the parsley invasion and get chopping with some bone-cuddling and blood-warming parsley soup. And to finish, if we get time we’ll also pop in a few of Ava’s orange Anzacs that I’ve been playing around with these school holidays!

Regarding recipes up on the bondikitchengarden.com blog: please bear with us while we get it all sorted! Hopefully l won’t be too far away… In the meantime if you need recipes for anything (silverbeet soup, upside-down orange cake etc) drop me in your email address & I’ll send them on.

VOLUNTEERS!!! We still desperately need mummies, daddies, grannies, granddads, next-door neighbours, godparents etc to help us in our kitchen and garden classes! It’s only an hour and a half of your time a week and I can promise it will be fun-filled, exhilarating and not at all stressful (!) and you get full instructions – and the best thing is that you get to sit down with your (or someone else’s charming) kid at the end and enjoy what you’ve all cooked together! Most desperate:

Wed 11am session

Thursday 9am session

Thursday 1.30pm session

But we can always do with another hand or two in the other sessions!

We’re here Tuesday to Thursday, please drop in to the cottage and let us know if you can help…

Also Ligia would LOVE a couple of hunky blokes (or chicks) to move some heavy stuff in the garden in the next few weeks.

 That’s all for now folks. Keep warm! Melissa

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New recipes – Term 2

Posted on June 5, 2011 by melhm

I’ve been absent for a while and realise now – so late – that it’s been months… where does the time go? I’m starting to feel like a cliche, in that the older I get, the quicker time flies. I’m always running late, I clearly never plan my time well and am forever trying to scrape through at the last minute…. and then see that the weeks fly past, and now we’re almost in July. Yikes!

Anyway,  my excuse for the absence is that I’ve dived back into the pool of employment and become what is statistically known as a ‘Working Mother’… hmmm. One child in daycare for four days, the other child can only fit in on two days so we also have a nanny on one day – and I’m only working for three days! My wage comes in one hand and goes straight out the other, it’s crazy. But I am enjoying the job, and also the enforced separation for my darlings – I relish picking them up from school having missed them all day, and love that they missed me too…

So my new job is my perfect job. Cooking with school children! The primary school students grow the veggies in the school garden; they harvest when the time is right; they prepare and cook the food; they share the food (and then they clean up!). It’s that simple.

Cooking with the kids

We have been cooking up a storm at school recently & I thought I’d share a recipe from one of the most popular dishes: Rocket, silverbeet & potato soup. This has been such a hit (I think it’s all the garlic) and is perfect for the cold wintry days we’ve been having…

and here in full is another easy & fun recipe to do at home:

 Rosemary & Thyme Grissini

 Fresh from the garden: Rosemary, thyme

 Recipe source: The Cook and the Chef TV program

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A simple & fun bread-making exercise – I’ve found that the thinner you make the grissini, the crunchier and more delicious they are! It also pays to knead the dough well too.

Equipment:
  • Kitchen towel
  • Chopping board
  • Large knife
  • Large bowl
  • Large spoon
  • Measuring jug
  • 2 baking trays
  • Pastry brush
  • Rolling pin

 Ingredients:

  • 2 cups plain flour
  • ½ teaspoon cooking salt
  • Large sprig rosemary
  • 4 or 5 sprigs thyme
  • 1 teaspoon yeast
  • ½ teaspoon brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 100ml lukewarm water
  • A pinch or two of flaked salt

What to do:

  • Preheat oven to 180°C
  • Wash & dry herbs thoroughly
  • Strip herbs from stalks and chop up finely to yield 2 tablespoons of herbs
  • Mix all the dry ingredients (except for the flaked salt) and herbs together in a large bowl
  • Add the water and olive oil and knead together until a smooth dough is formed – this might take between five and ten minutes. If the dough is too wet just add some more flour, bit by bit
  • Brush baking trays with a little olive oil
  • Flatten the dough out and roll into an even rectangle shape. Divide into halves, then quarters, and then again and again until you get 32 pieces
  • Roll each ball into a thin cigar shape with floured hands & place evenly onto the baking trays
  • Sprinkle with flakes of salt
  • Carefully slip the trays into the oven & bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown

Notes: Grissini are thought to have been invented in Italy in the 17th century – what other dishes have originated inItaly?

Here also is a list of recipes of other lovely dishes the children have been making this term:

Basic pasta dough

Linguine with herb sauce

Baked ricotta slices with capsicum & tomato

Gnocchi with burnt butter & sage

Carrot & coriander soup

Eggplant, garden herb & bocconcini pizza

Happing reading, happy eating!

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