Category Archives: Vegetables – Recipes

Peperoni Soffritti con le Uove (Sweet Peppers)

2014-02-26 - Peperoni

This is peperoni preserve time and I have been asked what to do with “Peperoni Sott’Olio” other than serve it as anti pasto – here is but one recipe. It could also be used in any recipe that calls for capsicum, or you can make a fresh panini with your preserved capsicum, fresh tomato and strong cheese or salami and a fresh bread roll just out of the oven.

Fry your preserved peperoni in some of the oil used to preserve it in for a few minutes until soft. Ad  some chopped peeled and deseeded fresh tomato. When the tomato and peperoni are both soft pour on two slightly beaten eggs (eight eggs if you use quail eggs), add salt and pepper, and cook very briefly until just set. Sprinkle with a bit of grated Parmigiano Cheese. Serve immediately with that bread that just came out of the oven – Breakfast fit for a King (and Queen).

The only problem is that the peperoni in the photo is not from my garden and I am still trying to grow it successfully in Dunedin – maybe next year!

Raw Milk Ricotta Cheese

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My raw milk ricotta has turned out very well.  I don’t even want to talk about the vile supermarket stuff,  but the raw milk effort is vastly different in taste and texture to the batch I made with supermarket milk. The high cream content, and the absence of added water makes a very rich, creamy, soft cheese. Here is a link to my ricotta cheese recipe, good enough but if you can, do it with raw milk.

I made bruschetta for lunch

Toast bread, rub with a clove of garlic drizzle olive oil over . Sopon ricotta cheese thickly on to the bread, add a few dabs of carrot top pesto, salt, pepper and another drizzle of olive oil. Eat it immediately befor the bread cools. Delicious. Link for carrot top pesto

PEPERONI SOTT’OLIO

2014-02-24 - Peperoni

One part water and one part vinegar (good quality) add salt and pepper to taste plus a few bay leaves. Bring to the boil. Cut peperoni in 3 mm strips and throw into the water/ vinegar. When the water boil again, drain the peperoni. While still hot put into the jars and cover with good olive oil – ad two fresh bay leaves and a few garlic to the jar and seal immediately. Keeps in the pantry for ever. Beautiful!

Picking and Cooking a Cardoon (Cardi)

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Above is the cardoon, complete with ‘ Cardoon Goblin’, in my garden before harvesting.

I could not decide when to pick my cardoon, but following wide consultations, decided to pick it today. I have 2 more mature plants growing so I could have afforded to experiment.

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The harvested cardoon on my kitchen table – looking huge!

After cleaning and cooking the cardoon I decided that it was picked too early as the thicker stems, though hard and tough looking, were soft and tasty when cooked. If I left it to grow more there may have been more of the thicker stems, resulting in more to eat.

You need lots of time for a cardoon dish and I did not time myself but it took about half an hour from start to finish in preparation plus cooking time. There are many recipes to choose from and I went for the anchovie sauce which was a great success and enjoyed by four adults, who had it as a side to the main, in no time at all!

2014-02-07 - Cardoon and anchovie

Cardoon with Anchovie Sauce 

Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees C

1 large cardoon, leaves and stringy bits removed, sliced in 50 mm pieces kept in a bowl of water with the juice of a lemon mixed in. This prevents discoloring.

1 clove garlic, chopped

4 tablespoons butter

10 anchovies – the salty preserved kind, drained and chopped

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano cheese

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Cook the cardoon pieces for about 30 minutes until  tender. In the mean time butter an oven proof dish that will hold all of the cardoon pieces. Melt the rest of the butter in a pan and add the anchovies and garlic and stir gently until the anchovies dissolve. Put the cardoon into the prepared dish, pour the anchovie sauce over and sprinkle with the Parmigiano cheese. Now bake it in the oven for 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

Potato Harvest and Hasselback Potatoes

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The potato yield was unbelievable. I have harvested 45 kg of potatoes from only 2.1 meters square – this equates to a whopping 215 Tons per hectare compared to the average for all developed countries in the world of 38 Tonnes per hectare and in New Zealand about 70 Tonnes per hectare. (I am now waiting a call from the CEO of the NZ Potato Council offering me a Seat on the Board)   The potatoes were practically the first things I planted after arriving in New Zealand following mulching and composting of the vegetable patch which was pure clay when I started.  Digging up the potatoes and then removing clay for another 500 mm and then putting compost down the trenches and covering it all with a mix of clay and soil wore me out and I had to stop halfway through the job to only finish it after two days in the patch. Above is a picture of  some of the harvest.

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I could not resist putting a few of the potatoes in the oven. I have been reading about these Hasselback Potatoes and they taste as good as they look!

Hasselback Potatoes

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees

Potatoes washed, keep the skins on

Rosemary chopped 

garlic minced or chopped fine

olive oil and melted  butter mixed for basting

salt  

Slice each potato in slices about 5 mm thick. Do not slice the potato right through, keep just enough at the bottom to keep the potato intact.  Mix the garlic and rosemary in to the butter and oil and toss the potatoes in the mix. Put in oven and when the slices start separating a little baste the potatoes with the left over basting mix. When golden brown test for tenderness and enjoy.