Category Archives: Vegetables – Recipes

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.

Sunday Lunch from my garden

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Just out of the oven: beetroot, turnip, whole garlic and rosemary, drizzled with a bit of olive oil, covered with foil and baked at 200 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Sunday lunch from the veg patch. I harvested several beetroots and (accidentally) one turnip. I cut the leaves from the bulbs but left about 1cm to stop the bulb from bleeding, washed the leaves well and put them in the fridge . The leaves will make another dish some time during the week. It took a bit of scrubbing to get the grit out of the beetroot without damaging the skin too much but that is one of the joys of backyard farming – the supermarkets stock things that have been cleaned/preserved/chemically bombed and one does not have to spend so much time on washing!  I put everything in the pan and in to the oven. The taste was wonderful and the thick, rich beetroot juice mixed with the garlic and rosemary flavours on the bottom of the pan was sopped up with a bit of bread. The garlic is soft and spreadable and can be eaten with bread or squeezed out of the skins to eat on its own.  What have I missed? The glass of red, of course!

Beetroot leaves

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I love dual purpose things like a milk cow that effectively produces meat, chickens and quails that lay eggs and make delicious eating, and radishes and beetroot because one can eat the leaves, too. For lunch I prepared beetroot leaves as a side but we ate it as a main course because it tasted terrific. I washed and and cut the stems off as close to the root as I could get without damaging the skin of the beetroot. I wrapped the beet and a bit of rosemary in foil and popped it in to the oven while my bread was baking. I fried some garlic and rosemary in a teaspoon full of olive oil,  chopped the leaves and stems, coarsely and added them to the pan. after frying for a minute I added about 2 tablespoons of water and covered the pan. Cook until tender adding a bit of water when necessary. Delicious. I intend eating the beetroot tomorrow dressed with some balsamic vinigar salad dressing and shaved Parmigiana cheese.

I would like to know of other plants where roots/ fruits and leaves can be eaten.

Broad Bean and Bacon Pasta

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Quick, easy and delicious broad bean and bacon (should be proscuitto if you want to pay for it ) pasta sauce. This recipe is enough for 2 greedy people

Use  a large pan, big enough to hold the pasta when the sauce is cooked.

4 handfulls of beans

4 strips of streaky bacon cut in bite size pieces

2 cloves of garlic diced

2 fresh tomatoes diced

1 teaspoon of chopped rosemary or three large sage leaves

2 tablespoons of olive oil

pasta for two any kind will do

While the pasta goes in to the pot, cook the garlic, bacon and herbs until the garlic is soft and the bacon coloured slightly. Add the beans and cook  for about 4 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and heat through. Drain the pasta when cooked and pour in to the pan with the sauce. Mix and serve with a sprinkling of Parmigiana cheese.

Deep Fried Sage Leaves

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Fresh Sage Leaves from the Garden dipped into a batter of Flour and Water, then deep fried in oil. Can be done on the barbecue or on the stove. Even the Toddlers could not get enough. YUM!!!