Strawberry

I have been eating strawberry non-stop from end April till now, and there will still be another month of enjoyment. It really looks like a crime for anybody who has a garden and suitable weather, not to grow strawberry.

Poppy seed harvest

Easier than I thought, the seed heads dry up, can hear the sound of seeds rattling inside, then the holes on the top open up, and shake shake shake, seed come out ! Ready to use in baking bread.

edible poppy seed harvest

Beet kvass

A bright reddish pink drink, with salty sour earthy taste of beetroot. An interesting way to enjoy raw beetroot, slowly, by turning it into a fermented drink, also an old east European recipe.

beet kvass

1. Scrub clean a large beetroot or 2 medium ones, keep the skin if look smooth and clean, cut into slices.

2. In a large preserving glass jar with rubber band seal, add beetroot slices, 1.5L of a 1% brine using filtered boiled and cooled down water.

beet kvass

3. Add 60ml whey (sieve from naturally set yogurt) to kick start fermentation.

4. Keep in a dark place around 25 ˚C for a week.

5. Dilute to your taste when drinking.

6. Keep back 100ml of beet kvass for next fermentation.

Fermented tomato

Other than turning excess harvest of tomatoes into sauce and salsa, I also tried to ferment them. Apparently this is a traditional preserving method common in Eastern Europe that has been forgotten, and now resurrected because of the health interest in eating fermented food.

 cherry tomato & cucumber fermentation

After fermentation, the tomato is more soft, acquired a fizz and a sour note.

1. Rinse tomatoes and dry, for big tomatoes I remove skin and cut into quarters, for cherry tomatoes, I used them whole.

2. Fit tomatoes into glass preserving jar, with a rubber band seal, until an inch below top.

add a raspberry leaf to kick start fermentation of tomato

3. Add a brine of 2% salt using filtered, boiled and cooled down water. Add flavorings e.g. rosemary, pepper, garlic, onion.

4. Add a piece of berry leaf or a cup of whey to kick start fermentation. Place a dish below to catch overflow. Fermenting fruit is vigorous and fast, in 3 days it is ready to eat.

fermented tomato

5. Keep in the fridge to slow down fermentation.

Fermented fig chutney

With a good harvest of fig this year, I have enough to spare to try to ferment fig to make chutney. Apparently this is how chutney used to be made in the old days, not adding vinegar. The result is great, a bit fizzy, delicious salty sour flavor.

1. Choose less ripe figs for a firmer texture, cut into quarters.

2. Pack in a preserving glass jar, with a rubber band neck for gas to escape (or a gas lock), fill with 2% salt brine using boiled and cooled down non-chlorinated water, place blackcurrant/raspberry etc berry leaves at the bottom and on top to provide more lactic bacteria (optional).

3. Add other seasoning like ginger, pepper, onion, garlic etc as you like with the chutney.

4. Keep in a cool ~ 20˚C dark place, (cover with a paper bag will do) with a dish below to collect bubbling over liquid.

5. Depending how sour you like it, ready to eat in a week. I have it after 2 weeks and the sour taste is more pronounced. 
6. Keep in the fridge after opening.

Quinoa green bean salad

A colourful warm or cold salad that goes with any meat dishes or enjoy on its own.

1. Soak quinoa for at least 3 hours, steam with equal volume of hot water for an hour until soft and fluffy.

2. Cut green bean into small pieces, cook with salt & pepper.

3. Remove tomato skin, cut into small cubes, keeping seeds and liquid, season with salt & pepper.

4. Cut preserved lemon into small cubes (optional), this adds a little zest of flavor in the salad.

5. Combine all ingredients and serve.

Onion harvest

Same as garlic, this year 's onions also turn out to be very good size.

Green tomato salsa

I have a tomato variety called Raison Vert, the flesh is green and soft when ripen.

ripe fruits have yellow skin

green when skin removed

I use it to make a simple salsa to go with smoked herring/kipper.

1. Remove skin of tomato, cut into small cubes, keeping the liquid and seeds.

2. Add chopped up chives, season with salt and pepper, thicken with Greek yogurt or sour cream.

Buddha's hand

baby fruit of buddha's hand

My citrus plants flowered in spring but did not manage to set fruit, and the leaves are turning yellow, not looking healthy. I noticed that the fertilizer used that is supposed to be formulated for citrus plants contains only NPK, no other nutrients. So in mid summer onward, I changed to use seaweed fertilizer.

flowers of buddha's hand

flowers of buddha's hand

There has been such a big change, new shoots came out, new flowers bloom, and fruits set!

flower and fruit of kamquat

Tomato paste

Approaching the end of summer, also the end of vegetable gardening here. It is time to deal with a large quantity of tomato harvest, some are not fully ripe, some are split due to heavy rain, so the best way is to turn them into tomato paste for storage.

The intense flavor of homemade tomato paste is unbeatable. 

1. Remove unripe and split parts, cut into big cubes, keep the middle seed and liquid, full of umami flavor.

2. Spread on large shallow baking trays, cook at 95˚C to soften, pass through vegetable sieve to remove skin and seed.

3. Return to large shallow baking trays, cook at 95˚C to concentrate, stir and mix every few hours, until required thickness.

4. Season with salt and olive oil, warm for another 15 minutes before filling jars for storage.

Cherry tomato "raisin"

The fruit drier is my favorite "toy" this summer, a great way to concentrate the flavour of fruit and vegetable.

Remove the skin of cherry tomatoes, dry in the drier for around 8 hours, turning over every couple hours. They are like mini-bombs of intense flavour.

Blue cheese tart

A savory tart is a good change from usual sweet dessert, and adding a little blue cheese gives a distinct character. 

1. Mix coarsely chopped nuts with equal portion of butter, a big pinch of salt and sugar to taste, mix with finger to form a ball. Press this flourless dough into a spring-form tart dish.

flourless blue cheese tart

2. Blend quark/cream cheese/fromage blanc with 1/4 to 1/5 of blue cheese to your liking, season with brown sugar for a balanced flavor, fill the nut lined tart dish.

Fig, ginger and orange peel jam

With a good harvest of fig, the easiest way to make a large batch of jam is to cook in the oven.

1. Cut fig into halves or quarter, ginger into fine cubes, in a big bowl, add a big pinch of salt and mix well, leave overnight to soften.

2. Spread fig mixture in big shallow baking trays, bake at 70˚C for 10 hours, stirring every couple of hours. At this temperature, the pectin in the seeds will come out and the mixture becomes thick.

fig ginger orange peel jam

3. Depending on sweetness of final fig mixture, add sugar if needed, add candied orange/lemon peel and bring to boil before bottling.

Eggplant crumble

Eggplant is a mild tasting vegetable, it has to be cooked with interesting sauce or ingredients to make a good dish.

1. Cut eggplants into cubes, season with salt & pepper for an hour, drain the liquid.

2. Cook eggplant with a little soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and cut up sun-dried tomato (or minced meat etc).

3. Put eggplant in a baking dish, sprinkle nut crumble mixture (equal parts of chopped mix nuts and butter, season with a big pinch of salt and some brown sugar). Bake at 180˚C until golden, around 20 minutes.

Cow cheeks

Instead of simmering in the sauce for a few hours, I cooked the cheeks in covered baking dish in the oven at 70˚C for 24 hrs. The result is better, the meat is soft but not dried out, the tendons are tender but still hold their shape.

1. Cut cheeks into big cubes, fit into the bottom of baking dish, add soy sauce, miso paste, star anise, clove, garlic, couple tbsp brown sugar, liqueur, add just enough water to cover the meat.

2. Pre-heat oven to 200˚C, put baking dish with lid on and lower to 70˚C, cook until tendon soften, around 24hrs, turn over meat every few hours.

3. Take out meat and reduce sauce if necessary.

Flourless fig cheese tart

The base of this tart is made with almond flour, I like this flavor more than using normal flour, and much more healthy too.

1. Mix very well 120gm almond flour, 2 eggs, 100gm butter, 30gm brown sugar and a big pinch of salt. Bake in a spring form tart dish at 170˚C until lightly golden, around 30 minutes.

2. Place figs cut into halves on top, bake for another 10 minutes to soften. This can be substituted with other fruits like apricot, pineapple etc, or cooked veg like pepper, onion, eggplants etc. for a main course dish.

3. Cut goat cheese into slices and lay on top of fruit, grill until cheese start to melt.

Lady Bird?

Found this impossibly pretty little bug while harvesting beans, don't know if it is a type of Lady Bird or not.

Melon and fig salad

I have a lot of melons produced from 4 plants, in order to have some ripen and sweeten well, it is better to remove excess young ones before they use up too much nutrients in producing seeds.

Not wanting to waste the unripe melon, I use it is like a cucumber, in salads.

1. Cut melon into strips, season with salt and pepper for 30 minutes, a lot of liquid will come out, which is nice to drink.

2. Add preserved lemon for the tangy zesty taste, figs for sweetness, and a handful of walnut for the crunch, and the protein.

Early figs

Caught by surprise the early ripening of figs, both purple and green varieties. Normal harvest time is around end September, it is a whole month earlier this year, probably because of the heat wave in July.

Deers

After a heavy downpour yesterday, the grass is juicy again, this mother and baby deers are happily grazing outside the forest in broad daylight.