We are so privileged that Puffball Mushrooms are growing in our friend’s garden across the road, and even more privileged that they are prepared to to share it with us for a MUSHROOM FEAST every year. So it was with great excitement that they called and announced that the puffballs are up. We went to take photographs today and will harvest them tomorrow for the feast in the evening. We shall report on recipes and results the day after tomorrow!!! How good can life be?
Do yourself a favor and allocate 15 minutes of your time to read all three articles.
We are trying at all costs to stay away from purchased products.
http://www.sportsground.co.nz/Article.asp?SiteID=10563&ArticleID=3809
http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary.php
Mrs BYF is fanatical about not wasting any food that the garden produces. Her attitude has resulted in many memorable dishes ranging from fantastic, better that any world class restaurant, etc. etc., to (seldom, I might add) never to be attempted again, EVER!
I was going to let the cardoon buds flower, because the bees love them, and ‘they’ say that only the stems should be eaten, but Mrs BYF commanded me to “bring them in!”. After all the cardoons grow so well in Dunedin and my plants were well over 3 meters high with lots of flowers. They were all boiled in a big pot of water, with a squeeze of lemon and some salt, then peeled, chokes removed and the hearts put under oil. The taste and texture of the hearts proved to be sensational, perhaps a bit more starchy, at the same time almost creamy, than artichokes. We eat them as antipasto or on panini with roast bell peppers (peperoni) and fried eggplant (melanzane). The real taste of Italy in Dunedin. Unbelievable !
Just to take the non wastage policy a bit further, Mrs BYF used the inedibles for a lovely vegetable arrangement of rosemary, flowering cardoon and fennel fronds. The cardoon flowers are beautiful and, surprisingly, sweet smelling.
No good Italian can live without tomatoes, and plenty of it. So the annual Passata day always takes effect when tomatoes are in abundance, ripe, sweet and fresh. Making about 60 kilograms of Passata every year for our own needs, and some as gifts, has been a family tradition for many decades. It helps to be on a good footing with the local green grocer who is only too pleased to discount the tomatoes that would be considered over ripe in New Zealand, but just right in Italy.
RECIPE
Wash and roughly cut up the tomatoes, and at the same time remove the odd bad or discolored spots. Now boil the tomatoes, without water, for about five to ten minutes, depending on the ripeness, until soft, but not cooked.
Passata making can be a huge job without the magical Passata Machine – a device that separates the skin and seeds from the flesh. This little machine can do in excess of 100 kilograms per hour and is wonderfully designed, easy to operate, durable and very quick to clean. No self respecting Italian household is without one! Within minutes I had processed 30 kilograms of tomatoes into 28.5 kilograms of Passata leaving 1.5 kilograms of seeds and skins to compost, or dry to plant next year.
Bottle the tomatoes in clean canning bottles – do not use the cheap screw on type of bottles, but a good strong bottle with lid that can seal properly. There is no need to sterilise the clean bottles before hand, as it is going to happen after filling them. Put the filled and sealed bottles in a large enough pot that would totally cover the bottles when filled with water. It is good to have a tea towel or some screen in the bottom of the pot, so that the bottles do not stand directly on the heated surface. Now fill the pot with water of about the same temperature as the product is at this stage (prevent bottles from cracking). Heat until the water is boiling and then boil for twenty minutes more. Immediately remove the bottles from the boiling water, if the water starts to cool, water may be sucked into the product.
Cool and label. PRONTO !!
While washing the tomatoes, select the ripest and firmest tomatoes for Bruschetta with tomato, basil, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic. Mrs BYF cannot be beaten for making the best Bruschetta! ENJOY!
Lunch without meat does not often happen in our house, but today’s meal was so good I almost did not miss it. Fritters made from radish leaves, of which the seeds were purchased from Italian Seeds Pronto the very good Italian Franchi seed supplier in New Zealand, complimented by home made yogurt with milk purchased from the most beautiful dairy farm ever. A salad with borage leaves and flowers, the plant being supplied by Kimberley of Good Life Gardens in Dunedin, mixed with radish from the back yard and a good vinaigrette – mix two parts good extra virgin olive oil with one part of home made apple cider vinegar, ad a bit of salt and pepper and shake well before dressing. Of coarse all were supplemented by good home made wine.
This was followed by artichokes again from our dairy farm in Port Chalmers. We like to cook it in water with a squeeze of lemon until the leaves come free when pulled lightly, then drained. Pull the leaves from the head and dip into good extra virgin olive oil with plenty of salt added to it and then rip the soft flesh from the leave with your teeth. After an enjoyable meal you eventually reach the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow – artichoke hearts!
All of the above accompanied by delicious home baked bread and at the end there is no space left for the meat in any way.
ENJOY !!!
Back Yard Farmer 