Category Archives: Recipes – Vegetables

Rapa (swedes, turnips, kohlrabi, ?)

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I was given, as a present, a bag of something the farmer that gave it to me, called turnips. They were organically grown and much too good to feed to the rabbits. Unfortunately the tops were beyond saving and the rabbits got those. Our experience with this vegetable is limited, so we decided to experiment and started to look up recipes, but soon had to consult our gardener across the street as to what swede, rape, turnip, kohlrabi, rapa, etc all are.  After much consulting, discussion and research, the subject is still open for more opinions.

Brassica rapa – Turnip –  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnip

Brassica oleracea – Kohlrabi – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohlrabi

Brassica napus – Swede / Rutabaga / Neep  / Rape – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutabaga

Call it Turnip, Swede, Rape, Kohlrabi, Rutabaga or Rapa, I had a crack at cooking some according to a recipe adapted from Carluccio, and Mrs BYO invented her own after reading some recipes and not finding anything to her taste. The surprising result was one of the most memorable meals we have ever had.

In our house we always have this competition as to who can cook what best! In this case Mrs BYF – 1 :: Mr BYF – 0 (At least I made the pork sausages she used)

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RECIPE (Mrs BYF) serves 2 with some left over

6  small pork meatballs, well seasoned. Leftover sausage meat worked well

2 roasted and peeled red pepperoni  (capsicum / sweet pepper)

1 rapa (swede) sliced into bite sized pieces

few garlic cloves

1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup of chicken stock. Home made is best and we always have some on hand

Choose a pan big enough to hold everything. Brown the meatballs in one tablespoon of olive oil, remove and set aside. In the same pan add the rest of the oil, the garlic and rosemary. When the garlic has softened add the chopped Rapa and fry on medium, stirring until well covered with the oil. Add hot stock, cover and simmer on medium / low heat until the Rapa has softened. Do not cook too long, as you don’t want mush. Add the pepperoni, stir and heat through. Add the meatballs, stir and heat through. Serve very hot. Some people will have bread with this, but we found we did not need anything more.

RECIPE (Mr BYF)  – RAPA  ALLA  FRIULANA  (adapted from Carluccio)

As most of the Southern Italians consider Rapa to be cattle feed, the predominant recipes for this vegetable are from the North. This recipe from Friuli is very easy and tasty.

Take a heavy cast iron pot and ad 20 gram of castor sugar and 100 gram of butter

Heat the butter and sugar and allow to caramalise a bit

Now peel and dice one average size Rapa and place in the cast iron pot with the butter and sugar. Stir and cook for about ten  minutes

Ad 50 ml of good white wine vinegar, 20 gram of plain flour and stir gently while gradually adding 250 ml of chicken stock

Adjust for salt and pepper and cook slowly until the Rapa is soft

Serve hot with any meat dish

Do not forget the home made wine

ENJOY!!!

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Cardi alla Parmigiana – Back Yard Farmer’s Lunch

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Today’s all home produced lunch was beautiful!. Firstly the Ancona cockerel that did not make the breeding pens was slaughtered at 12 weeks of age. At this young age the meat is soft and tender, but not as tasty as an old hen, which I prefer for slow cooked poultry dishes such as “Pollo alla cacciatora in bianco”. Nevertheless, it was very good. I vacuum seal the chickens (and all other animals) when slaughtered and keep them in the fridge for some three to four weeks to age – never frozen. The organic carrots were from a friends garden and I wish that I could have claimed origin as they were so tasty. The cardoons were from my garden and they grow so well in Dunedin that the rabbits have a serving every day. Whatever is left over, we eat.

Cardi alla parmigiana went well with the chicken and carrots and of course some home brewed wine. I am drinking from a damigiana of cherry wine which is dry and fruity and a good compliment to any meal. The only criticism may be that it lacks some body, but all the other wonderful attributes overrides any shortcomings.  The wine of the house is not always perfect!

Cardoon Recipe

Select the biggest outside leaves of the cardoon and strip the leaves of the stem and use  a potato peeler to peel the strings from the outside, (almost like preparing celery)  of the stem.  Cook in salt water and the juice of one lemon until tender. Drain and set aside. Dip the dried cardoon in flour and egg and fry until golden in a bit of olive oil. Prepare bechamel sauce and arrange the cardoon pieces in a baking dish, ( I use individual serve cast iron pots)  cover with bechamel, parmigiano and cracked black pepper and repeat the layers until the dish is full. Place some butter pieces on top and bake in the oven at 180 C for 20 minutes.

Do not forget the wine.

ENJOY!!!

Another Giant Puffball Mushroom ! (Calvatea gigantea)

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It was our second opportunity to taste a Puffball mushroom.  This one was a lot bigger than the previous one and after everyone had eaten we still had leftovers. The texture is marshmallowy or tofu like and is complimented well if fried in a crispy jacket of egg and unflavoured fresh bread crumbs ( Since I had fed all the bread that Mrs BYF had saved for the crumbs to the chickens she had to make do with foccacia crumbs, which were a trifle coarse). The flavour is very delicate, subtle mushroom and is easily lost by adding spices or other flavours. The breadcrumbs were considered salty enough so no salt was added. We used a bit of vegetable oil and butter as the frying medium.   Previously we made a frittata with a bit of uncooked mushroom, which was nice, but did not do the mushroom any favours. The texture was lost in that of the cooked egg and the flavour was hardly discernible. The piece of mushroom had also spent the night in the fridge and that may also have been a bad idea.

The spores of this mushroom could be dormant for 10 years and mushrooms only appear when conditions are perfect. Nobody knows what conditions are required, so we can only hope and keep an eye out for next Autumn.

Crumbed and Fried.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

Peperoni Ripieni (Stuffed Red Capsicum)

Today, while I was building a Rooster Box to shut up Alvin (literally as well), Mrs BYF really delivered!! Peperoni Ripieni di Riso e Peperoni Ripieni Melanzane.

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We found some perfect, ripe, small capsicums, just right for a great antipasto. Half of them were stuffed with risotto made with onion, a bit of home made pancetta and one mushroom that had escaped yesterday’s lunch. The rest were stuffed with eggplant, and here is the recipe with a hearty Salute! to the great Marcella Hazan.

Pepperoni Ripieni (with eggplant) 

4 small peppers, if you are using large ones adjust the recipe to suit

1/2 cup fresh unflavoured breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon anchovies chopped

1 big pinch of oregano

1 tablespoon capers chopped

2 cloves of garlic (adjust to taste) chopped

1 ripe, fresh tomato, chopped. It should really be peeled but I could not be bothered

1/2 cup of fried eggplant chopped

2 tablespoons of fresh flat leaf parseley chopped

olive oil for sprinkling at the end. The fried eggplant will have enough oil so you do not have to add to the mix

pinch of salt

black pepper

retain 3 tablespoon of crumbs to sprinkle at the end

Place the whole peppers under the grill and roast on all sides until the skin is charred all over. Let cool and when you can handle them, remove the skin and seeds carefully. retain the ‘pocket’ shape of the pepper.  The roasting makes the flesh of the pepper dense and luscious and imparts a smokey flavour.  I always have fried eggplant in the fridge under oil but it is very easy to fry the eggplant in a bit of oil until soft. Slice the eggplant in slices about 1cm thick, sprinkle with salt and leave for 20 minutes at least. Rinse off the salt and dry well with a paper towel. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan and and fry the pieces of eggplant without overlapping or overcrowding.

Mix and chop all the ingredients together, adjust the salt to taste. Stuff the peppers tightly with the mixture. Pack them in an ovenproof dish big enough to contain all of them and keep them from falling over. Sprinkle with the left over crumbs, add a tiny drizzle of olive oil, and bake for 20 minutes in an oven pre heated to 200 degrees

Remove from oven and leave to cool for about 10 minutes or bring to room temperature before serving. Do not refrigerate before eating.

All of this enjoyed with some perfect red home made wine and afterwards I would be excused extending my siesta to 90 minutes in stead of the normal 60. ENJOY!!

Fridge Pickings and a Gift of Beans makes Lunch

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The kids went away on holiday and we were told to remove all the perishables from their fridge. We found spring onions, mushrooms, small tomatoes and lemons. Great! That sounds like lunch already, but when we got home the neighbour had left us some freshly harvested beans.  I augmented everything with  fresh chili and a tiny garlic bulb from the garden, picked some parsley, and this was the lunch made by the Never Trow Out Anything maniac in the kitchen.  A bit of lemon went into a gin and tonic for Mrs BYF, and the rest was squeezed over the peeled apples (from the tree at the back door) for the apple  crumble which is now in the oven !  The rustic bread and salami was made by me. Wash it all down with a glass of great red home brew and ENJOY!!