Last year I planted a whole lot of rocket. In the warmer months, it went to seed and when I finally got around to it, I whipped the plants out and composted them. This year I planted more, unawares that below the soil lurked a hidden stockpile! The rocket self-seeded and has sprout all over my garden. We used a bit in salads and yummy quesadillas but it didn't make much of a dent to the crop. I was keen to make more use of it so I began searching for a recipe for rocket pesto. I followed the recipe initially but finding it had more bite to it then I intended, as my rocket was quite old (and peppery), I modified it.
Here is my tasty recipe for rocket pesto. It's particularly good for old, peppery rocket.
Ingredients
1 cup rocket
3/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup parsley
as much oil as you like - I use only enough to make it spreadable but others like it a bit oilier
Method
Blend!
Yum yum! I use a teeny tiny bit on ham or salami for a tasty sandwhich. You could also use it as a pizza base.
My mum disappered on a day trip last weekend to Creswick, a small town a bit over 100 kilometres north of Melbourne. There a friend of hers took her mushroom picking, armed with a knowledge of what was good and what was bad from a mushroom picking course she had taken. Mum returned with a basketful of pine mushrooms, some of which she kindly donated to us.
Late one evening, after an exhausting day, we decided to try out the pine mushrooms and a simple spagetti dish. We melted a huge chunk of butter, added a small packet of bacon, about 6 or 7 pine mushrooms (sliced) and, when the pasta was cooked, stirred it through with some of the leftover pasta water, parmesan cheese and fresh parsley from the garden. Delicious!
I got very excited last night and made ... 3 litres of fish stock. I had an old snapper carcass stored in the freezer from a previous meal and we bought another whole snapper which we had for dinner on Monday night.
Last night, I decided to make the most of both carcasses and made some stock. It was much easier than I thought. After consulting a couple of recipe books, I removed the eyes and gills, broke up the carcasses, put them in a big stock pot, covered them with cold water, put the lid on and turned the stove on to a low heat. Once the water boiled, I took the lid off, turned the heat down and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, I turned the heat off, strained the stock through a sieve with a chux in it, to make sure I got the last of the bones and poured the stock into 125ml (1/4 cup) containers.
Once the containers had cooled, I stuck them in the freezer.
I made just under 3 litres of stock from 3 litres of water and two snapper carcasses. Both carcasses were originally 1kg fish, before they were gutted and eaten.
The first recipe I'm planning on using the fish stock for a prawn and saffron risotto recipe I found. I can't wait!!
Finally got the chance to taste test the limeade on Saturday! And it was good! There were some complaints from some members of the testing audience that it needed a bit more sugar but I was happy (I like mine a bit bitter). However, I'll consider some more sugar next time.
Finally, the taste test! We ate some of our dumplings last night and they were delicious. They got a bit mangled in the pot as they stuck together a bit (think I needed to put more flour between the layers) but they were yum. However, I think next time I'm going to go with less Chinese cabbage and more ginger, for extra flavour!
Late last year I planted a lime tree in a pot. The plant is doing very well, with lots of new shoots.
However, I expect it will be at least another season before I get some fruit. I've decided it would be helpful to practice for a possible fruit glut and settled on limeade as my first tester.
On Wednesday I came home from work tired, cranky and with a headache. After reading an article in the paper this morning about distraction being the best form of pain management, I decided to experiment with a non-chemical form of relief and make some limeade. it didn't totally eradicate the headache but certainly helped!
Here's my limeade concentrate recipe. The recipe can also be used with lemons.
Ingredients
equal parts lime juice, boiling water and sugar
Method
- peel the outside of the limes and slice the peel thinly
- juice the limes
- combine lime juice, lime peel, sugar and boiling water
- stir until sugar dissolves
- leave to cool
- strain into bottles (I use glass soft-drink bottles which I wash in the dishwasher immediately before using)
- to serve, mix limeade concentrate with water or soda water - I used around 1 part limeade to 3 parts water or soda water for a strong lime flavour or around 1 part limeade to 7 parts water or soda water for a milder flavour)
To celebrate the start of april, I'm making up a new batch of jiaozi (Chinese dumplings) to freeze. They're great for quick meals during the week.
To start, I headed out into the garden and harvest my garlic chives (see my separate post here).
Then I got my other ingredients ready and started preparing!
Ingredients
100g garlic chives, finely chopped
500g chinese cabbage, finely chopped
1-1.5 tblsp ginger, finely chopped
500g chicken mince
2.5 tbsp light soy sauce
1.5 tbsp shaoxing wine
1 tbsp sesame oil
750g - 1kg of dumpling or wonton wrappers
Preparation
- sweat the chinese cabbage by putting small batches in a frying pan and heating over a high heat for a few minutes, stirring continuously, until the cabbage wilts. This reduces the moisture from the cabbage and makes it easier to work with.
- when the chinese cabbage cools, combine with the other ingredients in a large bowl, mixing well.
- prepare a work space with a small bowl of water, storage containers, dumpling or wonton wrappers and a bowl of flour
- prepare the dumplings by placing a small teaspoon of mixture in the middle of the wrapper, wetting the edge of half of the wrapper with water and folding over. for dumpling wrappers, fold into a half moon shape and crimp the edges. for step by step photos, see here. for wonton wrappers, fold diagonally and fold into a wonton shape or, if this is too difficult to master, fold to create an envelope. for step by step photos, see here
- if freezing, stack the dumplings in storage containers with a dusting of flour between each layer to prevent sticking
Cooking
- to cook, bring a saucepan of water to the and add the dumplings. cook for 8-10 minutes
- serve with green vegetables and oyster sauce or soy sauce
I was initially very daunted by the idea of dumplings before a friend stepped me through the process! I try not to worry too much about how they look as I still haven't quite mastered how to fold them. I just focus on getting the flavours right!
I developed my recipe after finding a whole heap of jiaozi and wonton recipes on the net and practicing with my favourite Chinese cookbook, Food of China by Murdoch Books.
P.S. check out my posting on the taste test here
