Green smoothie with feijoas... and more flowers from the garden

Like most people in New Zealand I am loaded with feijoa this April. A good way to use them is in smoothies, and this is a particularly good one: feijoa, banana, spinach leaves and coconut water. Quantities to taste!

And now some flowers from the garden for my Pinterest board!

  Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Banana blossom and carrot salad

 

I usually just have the banana blossom 'heart' for salads, but this time I have included a few of the little flowers that are found under the Petals. Cut the banana blossom from the bunch of bananas (leave them on the tree if they are still green) and peel off the outer pink petals, collecting the little blossoms and dropping them in cold water and lemon juice (I added some to the sink). 

Prepare another bowl with water and lemon juice and cut the banana 'heart' into small slices, dropping them quickly into the lemon water so that they don't brown. If you want to add the flowers you will need to remove the style and stigma, and the papery outer part of the flower. This takes a long time and this is why I only do it for a few of the most tender flowers. The more central flowers, which are completely white (no pink) can be eaten whole.

Rinse well and drain, then place in a bowl and add lemon or lime juice, about 2 tbsp, soy sauce, about 1 tbsp, and half a tsp of grated ginger. Press down with a plate or a second bowl and place a weigh on top (you can find an image in this recipe here). Leave overnight, or even a couple of days (like I did, it was perfectly fine!), then rinse under cold water, shake well and place in a clean bowl. Grate one large carrot and dress with lemon juice, salt and olive oil, then fold in the banana flowers. Mix well, taste for salt, and scoop into the banana petals for serving. I also decorated mine with Vietnamese mint flowers. 

It was very good, but next time, if I have the patience and time to clean all the little flowers, I'll tray to cook them. The 'heart' is definitely much nicer! 

 Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Gnocchi di ricotta con fiori eduli - Ricotta gnocchi with edible flowers

 

 

Start by mixing 500 g of ricotta with a few flowers and petals (I used cornflower, verbena and calendula). Add salt to taste and white pepper if you like.

Add 100 g of flour and mix well.

Shape into balls, no bigger than a golf ball, and flatten lightly.

Bring the water to boil, add salt, then lower to a simmer. Add the gnocchi a few at the time, moving them lightly in the water as they cook. Be gentle! When the gnocchi rise let them float for a minute or so and lift out with a slotted spoon and transfer into a pot with melted butter and sage.

Continue until all the gnocchi are cooked. Keep the the pot with the butter warm and turn over the gnocchi just once, very delicately. Dish and top with the melted butter, Parmigiano Reggiano, and some more edible flowers.

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Homemade Labne with homemade dukka and edible flowers

 

Labne cheese is basically strained yogurt. I use Cyclops organic yogurt (green top) which I find to be the best for making labne. Use think plain yogurt which is just yogurt (no added gelatin or other thickeners).

To strain the yogurt I used a cotton cloth, not too fine, but finer that a muslin cloth or cheese cloth. Tight well and hang in the fridge with a container underneath to collect the liquid. Leave it for at least one night and one day. Two days if you can.

To make dukka put some almonds in a skillet and toast quickly, then add pumpkin and sunflower seeds and toss in the hot skillet for one more minute, finish with the coriander seeds, which will need only one minute. Cool down and place in a mixer (keep a few almonds and seeds aside for decoration) with a good pinch of salt, and if you like some smoked paprika. Ground. Place the labne on a platter, cover with dukka and the whole seeds and before serving add rosemary flowers and friarielli or broccolini (or similar brassica) flowers.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Marigold Vinegar

 

Pick the marigolds and shake them well into the garden to save all the insect. Pick a few little tender leaves too.

Next rinse the flowers well: fill the sink with waters and wash the flowers, then repeat several times, until you are sure that there clean. Place them on a clean tea towel to drip and then gently remove all the petals and put them in a clean sterilised mason jar. Add some leaves too and press down well. 

Cover with white wine vinegar and close. Store in a dark place for a few weeks before using. Use as regular aromatic vinegar, for dressing salads etc.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Summer in the garden

 

Covid-19 recipe 9: foraging for bamboo

I have bamboo growing in the driveway, which is beautiful but also invasive and we keep it under strict control, by cutting and.... eating. Every now and then my neighbour bring me big shoot (already about 1m high) which is great, but I much prefer the small and tender shoot so I check the driveway early in the morning for signs of shoots like the one picture above (bottom right). If you leave it to the afternoon it would shoot up in no time!!

I started cooking bamboo shoots when I was living in Japan, they were a different kind, much 'fatter' but these are good too, better than buying canned bamboo! Peel off the outer green layers, then cut into slices (I also like to cut the tips into two to see the layers), and discard the hard nodes. Rinse and cook for about 20 minutes in the water left over from rinsing rice (or add a little rice bran to your cooking water, I don't have rice bran so I keep the rice rinsing water), a pinch of salt and a chili (optional, but apparently it takes away the bitterness). 20 minutes suffice for small tender shoots, but if you have longer ones just make sure that you can pierce them with a knife or leave 5 minutes longer. If not using immediately store in lightly salted water.

Fresh bamboo is tasty by itself, or can be added to a variety of Asian dishes. Usually I have it with rice and other veggies in a Japanese meal, in a stir fry or a coconut 'curry'.

For this curry I fried a shallot with a little vegetable oil, then added one can of coconut cream, 500 ml of vegetable stock, 1 tsp each of Fresh As Kaffir lime powder, ginger powder, sweet basil powder, coriander powder and lemon grass powder, plus a bit of turmeric, and chili flakes, a couple of carrots, green beans, dried mushrooms (pre-soaked) Tofu and my cooked bamboo. At the end of cooking I also added fresh Vietnamese mint, basi, young broccoli leaves and, just before serving, marigold flowers and young Nasturtium leaves.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Covid-19 lockdown recipe 3: Banana blossom salad with tofu, coconut and other yummy things

I couldn't help noticing how many Auckland home gardens have a banana plant flowering at this time of the year, and I always wonder how many people actually eat their bananas, or their blossom.

Well, the bananas are delicious once they are ripe, and the blossoms.... truly special! I already have a couple of recipes here, (Noodles with banana flowers and a step by step banana blossom and potato salad), and yesterday I finally picked this year blossom and decided on an aromatic salad with fresh coconut flesh and tofu.

Cut the blossom and discard all the pink leaves and little flowers (they can be eaten too if you like, but the blossom is my favourite part).

Prepare a bowl with cold water and plenty of lemon juice, then cut the blossom into very thin strips and place in the lemon water as soon as you cut each slice. The centre of the blossom is made up of more little flowers like the ones above, just more tender, they will cut into small pieces as you slice the blossom. The lemon water will prevent the banana blossom to turn brown, but also will take away that sticky tangy taste. Leave in the lemon water for at least 30 minutes.

Keep the pink petals for decorations, or for 'plates' for your salad.

After 30 minutes (or more) drain the banana blossom and rinse well under cold running water, shake the water off and place into a bowl. Add a finely chopped shallot, and some finely cut capsicum or chili. I had three small black capsicums from my garden, a little hot but not too much, so I used those. Add soy sauce and lime juice (about two to one) and a tsp of coconut sugar (or other sugar).

Stir well, this is the marinade. I added a few leaves of Vietnamese mint and then fitted another bowl over the marinade, with a weight.

Like this. This way the vegetables get pressed and 'cook' in the marinade. Stir from time to time to make sure that all the veggies are well pressed. Leave for at least 3 hours.

In the meantime I prepared the 'sweet' ingredients to add to the salad, using what I had: a couple of grated carrots, a few boiled green beans and a fresh coconut. For the coconut, make a hole and drain the water, then break the coconut with a machete and scoop the flesh out with a spoon. Rinse well.

Before serving I added the carrots, beans and coconut to the marinated vegetables and stirred well. The contrast of textures and flavours made this salad very special, perfect to accompany soft tofu, but also good to dress hot noodles (so you don't waste all that yummy marinade).

Well, I hope this was interesting for you to read, of course you don't need coconut of tofu or anything fancy, carrots and/or cucumber can suffice, and if you don't have shallots use onions... the only things that are really essential in my opinion are lemon and/or lime juice and soy sauce, for the rest just improvise and you will be able to say that you ate a banana blossom too!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©