2013 PRODUCE TALLY

Well I finally have put my butt into gear and getting back onto the blogging horse after having my second son! I thought I would start off with a tally of 2013's produce. I will also be updating on my birth story, renovation goals and our upcoming 3.5 week holiday!

Artichoke 507 grams
Bay Leaf 79 grams
Beetroot 3361 grams
Bok Choy 54 grams
Broad Beans 10506 grams
Broccoli 714 grams
Cabbage 5161 grams
Capsicum 2964 grams
Carrot 383 grams
Cauliflower 4008 grams
Celery 654 grams
Chili 735 grams
Corn 201 grams
Eggs 653
Garlic 3010 grams
Kale 879 grams
Kumquat 15 grams
Leek 2631 grams
Lemon 846 grams
Lettuce 771 grams
Loquat 295 grams
Marjoram 237 grams
Marrow 30853 grams
Onion 676 grams
Parsley 3125 grams
Peas 171 grams
Pumpkin 37902 grams
Rhubarb 2052 grams
Rosemary 4 grams
Sage 502 grams
Silver Beet 11843 grams
Tarragon 443 grams
Thyme 131 grams
Tomato 60732 grams
Zucchini 25671 grams

TOTAL 653 EGGS AND 212.116 KILOGRAMS OF FOOD

one of my favorite harvests, These guys lasted for 9 months throughout winter and were super easy to grow!

LEMON GLUT - LEMON CURD AND LEMON CORDIAL

My husband went on his yearly men's 4x4ing weekend organised by some guys at our church and invited one of my girlfriends husbands. So we thought it was a great opportunity to catch up (but do we ever need an excuse??). She told me she had hundreds of lemons on her tree and that we should make something yummy and tried to tempt me with curd, curd my friends is my weakness! Anything curd lemon, orange, and passionfruit especially....drool (do you have any other flavours you make curd with?)! So we set upon making a large batch along with some lemon cordial to preserve the harvest.

LEMON CURD RECIPE

This makes 2.5 Liters you can quarter this recipe (quantities in brackets). This is great as it is (I love mine straight out of the jar), layered in between sponge cake, on top of pancakes, on top of a meringue, in a tart shell, made into ice-cream, layered with puff pastry, oh the list goes on!

800 mls (200mls) freshly squeezed lemon juice
740 grams (185g)
500 grams (125g)  butter chopped
12 (3) eggs beaten

Heat the sugar and lemon juice over a low heat until sugar dissolves and it's just about to boil (do not allow to boil). Crack all your eggs into a bowl and whisk together add a cup of sugar and juice mixture whisking continuously, and then add the remaining. Strain back into the pot to make sure there are no lumps and cook over low heat until it thickens. Once it has thickened turn the heat of and piece by piece stir in your butter. Place in sterilized jars and store in the refrigerator for 2 weeks (if you don't polish it off by then!).

LEMON CORDIAL

This is a lovely and refreshing cordial, dilute it with 1/4 cordial and 3/4 water. this recipe makes 2.5 Liters of cordial which makes 10 liters of cordial (or o0re if you like your cordial more diluted like me!)

1 L lemon juice
1 L water
1300 grams sugar

Add all the ingredients to a pan and bring to the simmer for 30 minutes, skim off any scum and bottle. Store in the refrigerator in sterilized jars for up to a year.

Today I am linking up with Love in the kitchen, so head on over and check out what everyone else is creating!

WEEKLY TALLY - NUMBER 17

The garden is picking up slowly, with hopefully a few more thing starting to ripen and grow in the next few weeks. The chooks are still on strike with one dedicated hen laying an egg for me every other day. I went to go get some lemons and found an abandoned bush of kumquats that is growing very poorly. It was planted too close to our lemon tree and receives no direct sunlight. I didn't even know it existed until I saw some little orange fruit on it. It seems to have a lot of buds on it so hopefully we will get some more, but the tree is very scraggly... My 2.5 year old son loves them even though they are incredibly sour.

13/5/12 - 19/5/13

4 eggs
7 grams bay leaf
846 grams lemons
15 grams kumquat
174 grams beetroot
161 grams baby zucchini
78 grams capsicum
43 grams chili

TOTAL 4 EGGS 1.324 KILOGRAMS OF FOOD

NOVEMBER HARVEST 2012

I had tallied up all my harvests for November but I misplaced my book. I recently found it so I thought I would share what I gathered from my garden 6 months ago :D

67 eggs
1492 grams celery
1229 grams carrots
5 grams bay leaf
4 sprigs rosemary
117 grams strawberries
462 grams cauliflower
1284 grams loquat
504 grams broccoli
1386 grams leek
567 grams potato
1215 grams silverbeet
199 grams lemon
1026 grams broad beans
handful thyme
2 handfuls coriander
90 grams beetroot
25 grams turnip
64 grams snow peas
47 grams parsley
16 small heads, 18 medium heads, 48 large heads and 1 extra large heads of garlic

TOTAL 9.712 KILOGRAMS OF FOOD IN NOVEMBER NOT INCLUDING THE 67 EGGS, 83 HEADS OF GARLIC AND HERBS!

A ROAST CHOOK

We it's nearly holiday time YAYYYYYY!!!! looking forward to our longest holiday since our honeymoon travelling around Australia 5 years ago!!! So in the lead up I am trying to clear out our freezer. A whole chook took my attention today, so decided to make a roast chook! Pretty easy so I am not going to provide a recipe :D But I did roast in on some lemon slices and simply seasoned it with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. I love lemon and love it with chicken!

As an accompaniment I roasted some potatoes. My secret to making them nice and crispy is to boil them first with their skin on until tender transfer them to a roasting dish and smash them up with a masher, drizzle with olive oil a couple of small knobs of butter and some salt and pepper and roast in a hot over at around 200 C until golden and crispy. This results in a soft fluffy potato with a crispy golden skin. 

I made some gravy with the pan juices. I poured them in a pot brought to boil mixed 1 tbs of flour with water and added it to pan stirring quickly until thick, season with salt and peppers. Yum. This gravy had a lemony hint from the lemons under the chook.

Add some more veggies and a lovely simple dish for a thundery Melbourne spring day!

SATAY CHICKEN WITH NOODLES

No recipe yesterday as we went to a friends house for dinner! This one is from Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals. I made some changes to the original recipe :D I had some help from hubby as I sprained and bruised my thumb in an intense game of twister...had fun explaining that one to the doctors! This was an easy dinner to make injured and all! Even for a hubby that never....ever cooks (sorry babe :p)

INGREDIENTS

2 chicken breasts

Satay Sauce:
Hand full fresh coriander
1 dried red chili
1 clove garlic peeled
3 heaped tbs crunchy peanut butter
2 tbs soy sauce
2 cm piece ginger grated
juice 1 lemon
150 ml coconut milk

Noodles:
1 packet egg noodles
100 g peanuts crushed
1 onion diced
1 dried red chili
1-2 tbs soy sauce
1 lemon
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tbs honey

Add chicken to a pan with a little oil and fry over medium heat until cooked. In the mean put kettle onto boil. Put all satay sauce ingredients in jug and with a bar mix puree all ingredients. Add to a sauce pan and cook over low heat. Pour boiling water over noodles in a large bowl. Fry onion in small pan until tender. add rest of the ingredients for the noodles except noodles. and cook for a few minutes. Pour over drained noodles and toss. Chicken should be cooked by now, when it is serve on top of noodles with some satay sauce.

A FEW TO FEED SO SPAGHETTI ALLA PUTTANESCA IT IS

I thought I would start this post by telling you how much I HATE HATE HATE furry disgusting salty dried fish things that people call anchovies. But I bought a jar of them a few weeks back to make this dish. Everyone else who came to dinner that night also weren't anchovy fans, some of them hated them as much as I do! But in this......mmmmmmmmmmm....you can;t taste then or feel there texture. This is a delicious dish which is easy to make, great on the wallet and very tasty! This is from Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals. I have re-written the recipe because he does a few things at once and I'm only giving you the recipe for Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca. I served this with garlic bread and a green salad.

INGREDIENTS

500 g spaghetti
200 g tuna in oil
30 g anchovies in oil
2 clove garlic diced
1 tbs capers
1-2 fresh red chilies diced
hand full pitted black olives
pinch of cinnamon
salt and pepper
2 tins of diced tomatoes
Handful of fresh parsley
1 lemon

Put water onto boil for pasta. Pour some of the oil from the tuna into a hot pan add garlic, anchovies and capers and fry for a few minutes breaking up the anchovies so there are no lumps left (very important to do this especially if you don't like them). Add chilies and chopped parsley stalks. Chops the parsley leaves and put to one side. When garlic mix is starting to get some color add the tuna and break it up. Then add the olives, cinnamon, pepper and tomatoes. Simmer and taste for seasoning and adjust. Add the juice of one lemon and the parsley leaves and then add the drained pasta and toss. Serve.