Dear Diary – 08.07.2021

Serious harvesting started. We had peas and purslane, spinach and radishes and lettuce so far, but now the bigger hauls are coming in. Kohlrabi, beet root, mangold, zucchinis (25 and counting so far), cucumbers, fennel. The tomatoes and other brassicas are sizing up, the pumpkins are taking over – as is their habit.

Main work in the garden is killing potato bugs, pruning tomatoes, weeding and re-planting for the winter harvest: Broccoli, cauliflower, more puntarelle and kohlrabi, more brussels sprouts and radishes, additional carrots.

Don’t have enough time for everything that needs to be done.

Beetroot Smoothie

Yesterday’s harvest included some small beet roots, as the beets needed thinning. I was planning to cook a summer borschtsch but realized I’m still lacking some ingredients. I retreated to my regular solution for left-over fruits and veggie; smoothie. Smoothies are my life-saver on busy mornings. Post-Corona, I am back to the stressful big city parental mornings and more often than not, I cannot find the time to eat a healthy breakfast. A smoothie is a fast and resourceful alternative to quick cornflakes.

  • 4 tiny beet roots
  • 1 ripe banana
  • 1 fistful of cashew nuts
  • 1 handful of strawberries
  • 2 mangold leaves
  • 1 small stem of fennel greens
  • oat milk as a base

Spinach with Buckwheat Popcorn

We harvested the last of our spinach. Most of the leaves went to the freezer, but some into the pan. Fried with onions and sliced green chilis. Add some coconut milk and heat up once more. Main dish done. Rice works well as a side. I added two fancy garnishes; fermented salted lemon and buckwheat popcorn with sunflower seeds. Easy as pie: heat some olive oil in a pan, add buckwheat and sunflower seeds until you hear the familiar popcorn sounds. Spread on a kitchen towel and spice with salt and sumac.

Frittata with Salad

Saturday morning

I like a late but hearty breakfast on weekends. Shakshuka is one option, frittata is another. With still lot’s of greens and roots from the garden, here it’s accompanied by a salad (greens, carrot, turnip, cucumber, pomegranate). For the dressing I used my homemade apple/pear-vinegar, mustard seeds, lemon juice, olive oil, honey and salt.

  • For the frittata
  • Two cooked potatoes (cut into thick slices)
  • Three eggs
  • Three small tomatoes (halves)
  • Green onions/ onion (sliced)
  • parsley (chopped)

Heat olive oil in a pan, for a moment, stir fry onions and potatoes. Add the tomatoes. Whisk the eggs with salt, pepper and parsley and pour them over the veggies. Cover the pan and let bake on low fire until eggs are ready.

Dear Diary – 26.09.

wet and cold days ahead, so we plucked a lot of green tomatoes to save them. some might still turn red on the windowsill, all the rest will be pickled.

two zucchini added to the fridge and some more still on the plant with a chance of reaching edible size before the season is over. plucked some endive (which I don’t like, too bitter) and took in the three big sunflower heads in hope of extracting some edible seeds and some for re-planting next season.

beans are still small, peas hold crop and are great, garlic will reach a nice size until the end of next month, carrots hopefully as well. turnips and kohlrabi grow nicely, coriander, parsley, aragula are fine. onions probably planted to late, was optimistic and added a row of radish, we’ll see 🙂

Burrito – Mix and Match

Burrito is one of our family favourites. Yes, it takes some preparation and some ingredients that you probably don’t have on stock. we always keep some tortillas in the freezer and have canned beans and corn, as well as pickled jalapenos in the storage.

additionally you will need to prepare guacamole, salsa and spiced rice. Here comes the overall shopping list:

  • Tortillas
  • red beans (canned or cooked)
  • corn (canned or cooked)
  • meat if you like. we usually prepare steak and cut it into thin slices, however minced meat spiced with paprika powder, salt and pepper also works. or fish with lemon. or nothing, as I said.
  • two tomatoes
  • two ripe avocados
  • half a lemon
  • one small onion
  • one clove of garlic
  • three or so twigs of fresh coriander leaves
  • yogurt
  • half a cup of rice
  • ground cumin
  • coriander seeds
  • paprika powder
  • Tabasco/ fermented hot sauce (optional)

Start with the rice: dice the onion, slice the garlic and heat both in olive oil in a big pot. Add half a dozen coriander seeds. boil water in a kettle. add the rice to the garlic-onion-coriander-mix and fry for two minutes or until water is boiled. add one cup of the boiling water, some paprika powder, ground cumin and salt to the pot. reduce heat after some minutes and let simmer until the rice is done. meanwhile, prepare the guacamole: cut half a tomato into small dice, add the meat of the two avocados, some salt and the lemon juice to the bowl. use a fork to mash the mix until you’ve reached a spread. you can add onion/ spring onion to the guacamole. continue with the salsa: blend coarsely chopped 1 1/2 tomatoes with a little salt and the coriander leaves. garlic optional here. put one bowl each with the beans, corn, jalapenos and yogurt on the table, add bowls of rice, salsa and avocado. prepare the meat if you chose to have it. same goes for tabasco. role all the ingredients into a tortilla, make sure to really close the bottom of the tortilla – maybe watch a video on how-to, especially, if you have kids on the table. Talking about kids, ours love Burrito!

Easy Lentil Soup

…with buttered and toasted bread

let two cups of lentils soak for at least half an hour in water. chop an onion. fry both the onion and the (drained) lentils for a couple of minutes in olive oil. if you have, add two-three slices of fresh curcuma. add hot water and let boil until lentils are done. salt to taste. serve with buttered bread.

Majaderah and Hot Tomato Salad

two perfect sides for a fish or a full meal by its own means (just add yogurt)

med-sea fish baked in the oven with two side dishes
  • Big onion (sliced)
  • cup of lentils (best soaked in water for a couple of hours/ overnight)
  • cup of bulgur
  • cumin
  • three tomatoes
  • one fresh hot chili
  • one clove of garlic
  • half a lemon
  • olive oil

Majaderah is a Palestinian classic and also a “poor people dish” – onion, bulgur, and lentils with whatever the fridge has to offer. It can be served with chicken or fish, with pickles like jalapenos, olives, or pink cauliflower, but is a nutritious meal by its own means. Instead of bulgur, some people will use rice or freekeh, cumin can be replaced by cinnamon, any lentils will do for this dish. And here you go; Fry the onion rings in olive oil until they start browning. Take them out of the pot and use the remaining oil to fry the (drained) lentils for a minute or two. Add five cups of hot water, salt, and a little cumin. When the lentils are almost done, add the bulgur. It should soak the remaining water while cooking. Add water if necessary. Serve with the fried onion rings.

For the hot tomato salad, slice tomatoes, chop chili and garlic, make a dressing of salt, lemon juice, and olive oil. Sounds easy? It is.

Pasta, Chicken, Mangold-Pesto

  • Chicken breast or chicken roast leftovers
  • Mangold-Pesto
  • Garlic
  • Oregano
  • Chili
  • Pasta

Boil the pasta. Cut the chicken into comfortable bites. Fry the chicken in olive oil with garlic, salt, pepper and lot’s of oregano. Serve the pasta with pesto and chicken, garnish with slices of fresh chili.

Mangold/ Chard

one of the most successful and prettiest plants in our allotment is the rainbow chard. It keeps on growing and we seriously cannot keep up with it. We made filled chard leaves with rice and minced lamb meat (maybe Yosef can write down the recipe at some point). we also used it for mulch, which gives the garden a colourful touch and keeps purslane (portulak) out.

Today I had time for two chard recipes: pickled chard stems and mangold pesto. only time can tell how the chard stems will turn out, but the pesto is pretty amazing. so here it goes;

  • two hands full of chard leaves without stems
  • one clove of garlic
  • a dozen fresh basil leaves
  • a dozen hazelnuts
  • half a cup of olive oil
  • grated parmesan

it’s time to go foraging for hazelnuts! in our area, the streets are lined with hazelnut trees. all you got to do is animate your kids to collect them.

thoroughly wash the chard and chop into big pieces. boil for just a minute and cool off with cold water. meanwhile, pour all ingredients into your blender and add the chard. blend until pesto. salt to taste. fill the paste into a clean glass and cover the pesto with a thin layer of olive oil for preservation. refrigerated, it will last for a bit more than a week. I’m looking forward to my next pasta!

will we re-grow chard? yes, but less. it’s beautiful and versatile, but we really don’t need THAT much of it. max two plants will do.