Gardening for food at home, and New Brighton Community Gardens

Freshly picked from the garden, it doesn't seem much and yet it feeds 4, and for less than the $15 you
would give to a  Supermarket (FYI overseas reader, this $15 is a NZ supermarket campaign )

First course, vegetable soup with: yellow zucchini, green zucchini, plum tomatoes, parsley, chives, celery,
carrot, silver beet, onions. The onion are really small but I can't grow them any bigger in the bush so
I grow them in pots.

Chop, add water (rain water for me, so this too is free!) and salt, then cook. You can add a bit of
extra virgin olive oil at the end.

Second basket, more tomatoes, basil, cucumber, radish, lettuce and mizuna.

Make a salad. I just add olive oil, salt and lemon juice so the dressing is not that expensive.

Yes there is a main to go with the salad, a frittata made with free-range eggs (60c each at the farmers market, the most expensive thing in this meal, and I used 4). To flavor the frittata I used chives from the garden, and the usual salt and pepper, a bit of self-raising flour, and olive oil to fry.

Frittata before flipping

Frittata after flipping

Well, no much for dessert, only some rhubarb and a few strawberries (regular and wild),
since the season is almost finished for me.

Still, I am not discouraged: I boiled the rhubarb with 1 tbsp of sugar, added a pinch of agar agar and
made a jelly to be topped with a little yogurt, the strawberries and some edible violets.
Arantxa got the biggest strawberry!

I am very lucky to have a little veggie garden, but even if you don't have a garden there are many community gardens where work and produce are shared, and the results are amazing. Just watch this short video to see a truly inspiring community garden in New Brighton, Christchurch. And my father-in-law is featuring too, walking around the gardens! He is having an operation tomorrow so I would like to wish him the very best. Over to the video now:

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Video by The Tindall Foundation

Detox! Celery, rhubarb, cucumber and apple juice

This juice tastes good and feels good! For four glasses I used seven stalks of celery (no leaves this time) half a telegraph cucumber, two stalks of rhubarb from the garden (yes, raw!) and then topped up to taste with natural apple juice (no sugar added). The apple juice is optional, of course, but I like it ;-).

For a change in my weekly bouquet from the garden I picked some parsley flowers. They look quite pretty actually, and there is no parsley smell around (I was a bit worried about that!).

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Rhubarb Meringue Mini-pies (or Cupcakes) and Rhubarb Smoothie

A Nikau palm leaf fell on my rhubarb plant, the hazards of living in the bush. I rescued what I could, the rhubarb plant will regrow, for sure, but I had a few stalks to use, quickly. I cut some of the stalks and cooked them quicly with very little water and one tbsp of sugar. In the meantime I got some sweet short crust pastry out of the freezer (this is very convenient when I have to make something sweet in a hurry) and I cut it with cookie cutters. I lined the back of my cupcake trays (regular and mini cupcakes) with cupcake cups, and placed the 'biscuits' on top. 

This way, when the pastry bakes it takes the shape of a small pastry container. Let the pastry cool down, then gently lift it out of the paper cups, reverse the same paper cups, and place the pastry inside, ready to be filled.

To make the meringue topping I used the syrup from the rhubarb (I added one more tbsp of sugar and boiled it down a bit). Pour the hot syrup, slowly, over the whipped egg whites while beating. Then spoon some on top of each little tart. I had some meringue left over, so I just added some icing sugar to make it stiffer and made some Rhubarb meringues too.

Bake for about 20-30 minutes on low, the topping should be still soft, and just start to brown. I left the normal meringues in the oven for one hour longer, and then I let them cool down in the oven until dry.

I did keep some rhubarb raw, just to make a smoothie. I got the idea from Vic of The Life and I wanted to try. I used some apple juice, a banana, and a couple of stalks of rhubarb (raw). It wasn't too pink, but the taste was really nice, and I will try again once the plant is back into shape.

I leave you with this picture my daughter made on my iPhone, using the ArtStudio Lite (a free application). She has been 'painting' so many flowers, I got quite a collection, I think that they are lovely, but of course I would think so. What do you think?

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini, Artwork by Arantxa Zecchini Dowling ©

Rhubarb Fool, and thank you

Thank you to all of you who have written and sent emails about the earthquake in Christchurch.

Our family is well but the situation is still bad in the city and around. 

It feels unreal to be in Auckland, so far away: now more than ever I appreciate a roof over my head, water and electricity, and a garden full of food.

Today I picked my first rhubarb for the season, it looked a bit green, but I was happy to see that inside the stalks were quite pink.

I confess I don't feel much like cooking these days, so I opted for something really simple. I cleaned and chopped 700 g of rhubarb stalks. In a pot I put 500 ml of water, 4 tbsp of sugar and a few drops of lemon. When the water was boiling I dropped in the rhubarb. I waited for the water to boil again and then, as soon as a white foam formed, I drained the rhubarb, collecting the water into another pot.

I set the stalks aside and boiled down the water until I go a thick syrup.

I whipped 300 ml of cream and added the cooled rhubarb syrup, making a quick rhubarb fool. Top with pieces of cooked rhubarb.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Rhubarb Agar Agar

My rhubarb is huge, and ready to eat now! I cooked some for a pie and made some extra juice to make this agar agar.

1 l water

200 g sugar

a few drops of lemon

600 g rhubarb stalks, cleaned and cut into pieces

2 tsp agar agar

Boil the water, sugar and lemon juice. Add the rhubarb and cook until it starts to froth. Drain and use the rhubarb to make pies (or eat by itself). Collect the juice and bring back to boil. Add the agar agar and simmer for 3 minutes.

Pour into a square or rectangular container. Cool. Cut in to squares and store in the fridge. Very refreshing and with a delicate but distinctive taste.

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©