Kitchen Garden Guides

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Spring in my kitchen and out in the garden….

More than ever in my life, I am enjoying spring, here in southern Tasmania. As Frances says “September is the coming of the light”, when suddenly the dark lifts and reveals crisp and very early mornings. Whereas in Adelaide spring often leaps too quickly into the heat of summer, here at the bottom of the world we get brief glimpses of warm days and balmy nights, scattered between yet more rain and cold winds.

Today was one of those days, where everyone was smiling and gloriously relishing the sunshine on newly exposed bits of the body!

I was out in the garden. I walked into the shed to get something and I suddenly I remembered….

image Normally we grow food in the light, in the garden so I am not surprised that I had forgotten all about my endive, hidden in the shed, under cover of darkness! I thought it would all be dead or ….. something…. but no, it is still fabulous and fresh and growing like mad.

I was cooking rice to go with my dinner tonight, so I put a steamer over the rice and laid the endive in it, then covered it all with paper towel, as I always do when cooking rice. It turned out beautifully.

I can never believe how incredibly juicy endive is, so dense too, and never stringy or chewy. This was just like I remember in France. The rest I will probably eat raw, when its crunchy and irresistible!

 

image

image

3 comments:

Serena said...

Your blog is so inspiring. I wish I had you here as my personal garden mentor! Can we see more photos of your garden and hothouse?

Kate said...

Thank you so much, Serena. I wish I could share my passion for it all with someone as enthusiastic as you!

For more photos, follow the link "Photos" in the side bar, towards the top.

Kate said...

Hi Rachel, Your comment is not showing up here but I will answer your query about why I put paper towel over a saucepan of rice when I cook it.... this is so that all of the water is absorbed by the rice and does not escape as steam.I bring 1+2/3 cup of water to the boil, add 1 cup of basmati rice, turn to minimum heat, cover the pan with 2 sheets of paper towel, put the lid on and leave 15 minutes. Perfect every time.