Monthly Archives: March 2016

Melanzane e Mozzarella al forno (Baked Eggplant)

2016-03-09 - Melanzane e Mozzarella 1

Lately I have had this constant craving for eggplant, probably as I have not been able to grow it in Dunedin (yet). So I have to believe the merchant selling it to me that it is organic and fresh, but fortunately the rest of the ingredients for this dish has been home produced. I am surprised by the amount of tomatoes coming from the Dunedin garden – mostly the result of love and tender care to the plants on the front veranda by Mrs BYF. The milk to make the Mozzarella is not from Bufala, but from our very good Jersey dairy in Port Chalmers. Basil was in abundance this year from my miniature hothouse in the back yard.

Cut the eggplant in rounds, ad salt and leave for half an hour. Rinse off the salt and dry properly. Dust with flour and fry in a pan of hot oil until soft. Now assemble in a buttered oven baking dish, the eggplant, then mozzarella and finish with a slice of very ripe tomato and a slither of garlic. Add salt and pepper. Drizzle with good extra virgin olive oil an bake in the oven at 200 C  for 15 minutes. Finish with a decorative basil leave and some more olive oil and serve hot.

ENJOY with a glass of good home made red wine !!

 

Memories of an African Airport

Which of you can claim, as I can, to have landed on Matekane Airport in Lesotho. The runway is 400 meters long and the straight down drop at the end of the runway is 600 meters down a cliff. This was all made a bit more exiting as the pilot, who smelled very heavily of the local fermented maize drink when he arrived three hours late and the co pilot during this time was siphoning some fuel out of a 44 gallon drum with an old hosepipe to fill up the plane. The last straw, after two failed attempts to take off,  was the pilot admitting to the only passenger – me – that he does not fully understand the Russian plane. Never the less, we took off from Maseru and landed “safely” at Matekane. Needless to say, I took a donkey taxi down the mountain back to Maseru – taking all of two days.

2016-03-11 - Matekane Airport - Lesotho

GROW FOOD AND ENJOY IT

2016-03-08 - Back Yard Steps

Two years ago when I moved to this property in Dunedin, it had a tidy garden – clay soils covered in plastic sheeting and pebbles with the odd decorative plant sticking through. To the farmer this was unproductive and artificial and should the attached photograph of steps leading to the back garden where I keep all my animals and also have a healthy vegetable garden today, have been taken then, only a hazelnut and apple tree would have been edible plants in the photograph. Today I can harvest at least 20 edible plant species from the area covered by this photograph alone – Apples, Hazelnuts, Chamomile, Olives (two varieties), Parsley, Time (three varieties), Sage (two varieties), Oregano, Marjoram, Zucchini, Rhubarb, Sour Cherries (two varieties) Bay Leave, Black Current, Red Current, Raspberry, Strawberry, Rosemary, Basil (two varieties), Peas and Cape Gooseberries.