Category Archives: Recipes – Vegetables

Carrot Top Pesto tried, tasted, and will make again and again

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 Carrot Top Pesto (Seriously Tasty)

I still love Basil Pesto but carrot tops will never be composted in my house again. Basil is hard to grow in Dunedin and costs a mint to buy. Carrot tops come FREE with your carrots and taste just as good as Basil. With our  zero waste policy we do have a problem scraping together enough kitchen scraps for the chickens and quails. ( They do have a few hours of free range a day, when I can guard my veg patch, so they are doing well). Rocket works equally well to replace either basil or carrot tops.

1      Bunch of carrot tops, washed. You can separate the leaves from the stems, but I processed the entire bunch

2       Large  garlic cloves

1/4    Cup grated parmigiano cheese

3/4    Cup of good Extra Virgin olive oil

3       Tablespoons of nuts (pine nuts, cashews, macadamia,  sunflower seeds all work well)

Salt and pepper to taste. (I do not use salt in pesto because the cheese is salty enough for me).

Put everything except the cheese in the food processor or blender and process. Do not make it into slush – keep a fine texture. You may need more olive oil to complete the job. Mix in the cheese and pulse a few more times.

Serve on fresh or toasted bread, dab on to meat, chicken, fish and vegetarian dishes, use as dip for carrots and other fresh veg, salad dressing, and of course as a pasta sauce. 

You will notice that I did not give exact quantities, as these would depend on what you want to achieve – more garlic, basil, cheese, etc.

 

Cavolo Nero

Cavolo Nero (Black Cabbage) is definitely my favorite cabbage and I plant a lot of it.  It seems to grow well at this time of the year in Dunedin, with the result that I can eat Tagliatelle al Cavolo Nero whenever I want to.

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See the nice Artichoke plant in the back ground.

The recipe is easy and quick and I off coarse eat this with fresh home made egg Tagliatelle. Take one large bunch of Cavolo Nero and blanch it in boiling water for five minutes – put aside and let dry well. In a large pan put one tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and one tablespoon of Butter. Ad four cloves of finely chopped Garlic , one finely chopped red hot chili (or less to taste)  and six anchovy fillets.  Fry and stir well until anchovies are melted – about five minutes. Now coarsely cut and ad the Cavolo Nero and  two Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil to the pan and fry and stir for another three minutes until the Cavolo is well mixed with the rest and warm. In the mean time you should have put the pasta in the boiling water to be ready at this stage – drain and mix well with the sauce. Serve with lots of grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padana cheese. Red wine to compliment.

One more thing to do with Beetroot Tops

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I love greens and have no problem with eating vegetarian meals, providing I have a bit of Parmigiano to sprinkle over the top. This recipe has it all, as far as I am concerned. I have polenta, bechamel sauce and beetroot leaves fresh from my garden.  Using my beetroot and turnips as dual purpose plants give me great satisfaction.

Baked Beetroot Tops and Polenta

Pre heat the oven to 200 deg

Prepare and cook the beetroot leaves. See link

Beetroot leaves

Cook the polenta. see link

MAKE GOOD POLENTA

Make the bechamel sauce according to your favourite recipe.

While still warm, layer the bottom of an ovenproof dish with polenta. Sprinkle parmigiano liberally. Spread the greens over the polenta and top with bechamel sauce. Repeat the layers until the dish is full. Drizzle sparingly with olive oil and sprinkle with more parmigiano.

Bake in the oven for 30 min until the top is golden and crispy. Serve immediately.

Turnip Leaves Pasta Sauce (you will never throw the leaves out again)

I did not take a picture but before you throw out your turnip leaves, try this:

Spaghetti con le Cime di Rapa

800g Fresh turnip leaves washed
6 Anchovie fillets (the salty ones packed in oil) use more if you love anchovie
2 Cloves of Garlic
i pinch of dried chili or a bit of fresh, not too hot
Dash of olive oil

Blanch the leaves in boiling salted water until the leaves have wilted. Chop the leaves and stems in to bite sized pieces. Drop the pasta in to the pot of boiling salted water. Start the sauce by putting the olive oil in to a pan big enough to hold the sauce and pasta, add the chili and garlic . When the garlic is soft add the anchovies and stir until dissolved. Add the leaves, stir once or twice while cooking – about 5 minutes should do it. When the pasta is al dente (not sloppy) add the pasta to the sauce in the pan and stir once. Serve immediately with a bit of Parmigiano over the top.

We also eat this sauce as a side with meat.

Giant Puffball Mushroom prepared and fried – YUM

We had the marvelous mushroom as an antipasto on Saturday. The weather was perfect and we had a barbecue on our deck overlooking the mountain. We peeled the mushroom and sliced it in to ‘steaks’ about 2 cm thick. It was pure white all the way through. We  fried some of it in butter and garlic and dipped the rest in egg and breadcrumbs. I added a bit of olive oil to the butter and garlic in the pan and fried the mushroom slices. The batches of mushroom disappeared as soon as it hit the table and got rave reviews from every one. Thanks to our neighbour for one of the most exiting foodie gifts of the year!

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