Celery, Leeks, Fennel and Potato Recipes

I harvested celery, leeks, fennel and potatoes this week. As usual the question is how to put my harvest to good use without using the same recipe twice. I have a picky household that does not tolerate the same dish twice in one week so here are my efforts so far:

Crunchy Celery, Fennel and Apple Salad

1 bunch of celery chopped in to bite sized pieces. Keep the leaves for stock making.

1 apple cut in small pieces

1 fennel bulb shaved thinly

1 orange – 1/2 juiced and 1/2 cut in bite sized pieces

salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything in together. You can change the quantities to suit your taste as it is hard to get this one wrong. You will have a pale looking salad so liven it up by sprinkling the dark green fennel fronds, cut decoratively, over. The trick is to prepare and assemble this salad just before serving, any delay causes the apple to discolor a bit.

Celery, Leek and Potato

8 tablespoons of olive oil

500 g peeled potatoes cut in pieces

1 head of celery, stems only, keep the leaves for stock making

1/2 lemon juiced

salt

Use a heavy pot with a lid. Put the olive oil and celery in and add water until the celery is covered. Cover the pot and boil until the celery is softened about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the potatoes and cover the mix with water again. Add salt and lemon juice. Cover the pot and boil until everything is tender and no liquid barring the oil is left (this is important). Serve hot or at room temperature. I used it as a side with the week end barbecue but the dish is robust enough to eat as a main with some bread.

Quail eggs are the good source of nutrients for human health.

Click to access s01_w02_full.pdf

Beeswax Face Cream and Furniture Polish

The face cream and the furniture polish have the same basic recipe. I quite like the thought of that! I did add vitamin E oil to the face cream and broke some lavender flowers in to the polish though.

The jury is still out regarding the moisturiser – some people in the family are allergic to all store bought creams and break out in rashes, pimples and is some cases small weeping sores from them – and it takes about 2 weeks of consistent use before the problems start. The product feels lovely on the skin and I, for one, ( no allergies) shall be using it during the winter on hands, feet, face and especially lips while working outdoors in the cold.

The furniture polish worked very well on my wood wardrobes, and one can use it for dining tables and all wood food prep surfaces since it does not contain any toxins.

Face Cream and Furniture Polish

1 part beeswax. If you are lucky enough to get your hands on honey combs you can clarify your own wax or you can buy some from beeswax suppliers.

3 or 4 parts olive oil depending on how soft you want the end product

Create a double boiler from two pots, the bottom one with water and a small spacer, I used a saucer, place the beeswax and olive oil in the top pot and heat. When clear and melted remove from the heat and add vitamin E oil or lavender flowers. Pour in to containers while hot and stir while cooling.

Apply the mix containing the vitamin E oil to your skin and the lavender scented mix to the furniture 😉

Beeswax clarified

We have some honeycomb from which we had already removed the honey. I read up all I could about clarifying and extracting the wax and almost gave up trying. It all seemed too difficult, but was very easy after all. I tied the combs up in the top of a pair of pantyhose, put it in a pot of water placed over another pot of water to create a double boiler. I boiled the wax until the wax had melted and leaked out of the pantyhose leaving the crud and rubbish behind, easy to lift out and put in the bin. After cooling overnight I had this beautiful yellow disk of beeswax floating on the water in the pot, ready for various projects from moisturiser cream, furniture polish to coating my cheeses. It smells so good, too.

Autumn Magic in Dunedin

Our first autumn in Dunedin. Charming old buildings and houses, streets lined with golden trees and the spectacular Botanic Gardens. Dunedin has very eye catching trees, none of the names known to us. We will ask and find out about them when we can. I felt a compelling need to share these pictures, taken in the Botanic Gardens!

I also had a look at what was still producing in the Herb Garden. I could identify the sage, poppies and verbena the rest were sniffed ans nibbled at.