The Salad of the Summer

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We have seen a few sunrises here lately.  There's been some early starts, especially with the recent hot weather.  It really is the best part of the day.

Since my last post, which seems like eternity ago, there has been plenty of activity.  

On a trip to the outback we learnt how to open a wine bottle with a boot:

and how not to...

We kayaked down the Lachlan

and sat around the campfire.

The kids came home from school and the horses came in to be worked, so this is what the back door looks like at lunch time..

We've been shearing and selling lambs, getting loads of cattle in on agistment, droving sheep up the road and trying to squeeze in Christmas and a bit of beach time.

According to the kids, December and January have been less of a holiday and more of and enforced boot camp.  But do not despair, there has been fun too.  We got a new puppy....Holly, because she arrived just before Christmas:

 There was some beach time 

And some lake time..

The two lovely German girls who are looking after the horses taught us how to make German Christmas biscuits:

I picked these beautiful apricots...

and made jam:

The strawberries have been wonderful...

But the best thing of all has been the salad of the summer.  I seem to do this every year, have a staple salad that I can't get enough of.  Usually it involves tomatoes, basil or zucchini due to an over abundance from the vegetable garden, but my tomatoes seem to be taking forever and the zucchinis have only just started.  This year I take my inspiration from Matt Preston's book Fast, Fresh and Unbelievably Delicious and a salad that he made for Marco Pierre White when he was out here last year.  I LOVED it and it it went so well with the cumin scented slow cooked lamb, couscous and roasted carrot salad that Matt served with it, so I was delighted to see it in the book.  I've made a couple of slight changes.

THE SALAD OF THE SUMMER Thanks to Matt.  Serves 6-8

2 long English cucumbers, peeled and seeded and diced

4 sticks of celery, diced

12 pitted dates, diced

24 green olives (black olives will work too), pitted and chopped into quarters

1 pomegranate (Matt says this is optional but it really makes the salad)

1 bunch coriander (to taste)

1 bunch  mint (also to taste, I like plenty)

1 cup shelled pistachios

Dressing:

Approx 1/3 cup olive oil

1 dessp pomegranate molasses 

salt and pepper

Combine the cucumbers, celery, dates and olives in a bowl.  Chop the coriander and mint and add to taste.  Cut the pomegranate in half and hold the flat side on the flat of your hand over a bowl and bash the outside with a wooden spoon to get out the seeds.  Pick out any pith and keep any juice left over to add to the dressing. Add seeds to the salad.  Roughly chop pistachios and add them too.

Combine dressing ingredients and any pomegranate juice and adjust to suit your taste.  Mix it all together and serve on a platter or in a nice salad bowl.

I have made this countless times this summer as it is so forgiving.  You can chop everything up and stick it in the fridge for a few hours and add the dressing at the end.  It can handle being shoved in an esky and taken to a picnic (though you do need forks or spoons to eat it).  It is even better the next day, which tells me you can dress it ahead of time without doing too much damage.

Winter salads

It's quiet in the garden at the moment.  There are only a few flowers...

A very pretty salvia that seems to flower all the time

 We have been busy cutting wood.  Never too young to learn how to wield a splitter....

We had to hurry before the rain came...

I made a really good crunchy chopped green salad the other day.  There is so much lettuce and celery in the garden I feel obliged to use it.  The salad veg seems to be happy in the winter even though it isn't a salady time.  More lettuce/celery concoctions will follow.  I shredded lettuce, any sort, celery, fennel, and any other green things I could find in the fridge, a bit of cucumber, some finely sliced broccoli and half an avocado from memory.  Make a dressing:  (this is based on one from smitten kitchen) 

1/2  cup buttermilk

1 tblsp good mayonnaise

1 tblsp apple cider vinegar

1tblsp verjuice

1 teasp sugar

1 tblsp chopped chives

salt and pepper

Add or subtract any ingredients to taste.  Toss in a bowl with the dressing and finish with some toasted flaked almonds.

The other thing I've been experimenting with is farro.  The one I use is from Mount Zero, which is near the Grampians, not far from us.  Farro is a grain that is similar to brown rice but with more nuttiness and a bit less stodge. It can be used in the same fashion as rice, lentils or couscous, in salads, soups and risottos.   I went for a warm vegetable salad.  First  toast the farro in  a pan over a medium heat, which was the recommendation on the back of the packet.  Be careful not to burn it.  

Put it in a saucepan, cover with water and simmer for 20 minutes or until it is soft.  Choose any vegetables you like,  I had a haul  from the garden...

Chop them, drizzle with olive oil, season and roast for 20 minutes in a hot oven (about 200), more if you like them a bit crispy.

Mix the vegetables and farro in a big bowl and dress with olive oil, lemon juice, a good dash of vinocotto and salt and pepper.

These salads are great on their own, but would also go well with these tasty little lamb ribs...

These were blanched in boiling water then marinated in:

1 tbslp olive oil

1 tblsp dijon mustard

1 teasp malt vinegar

2 tblsp tomato sauce (homemade)

1 teasp maple syrup

1 tblsp dried oregano

Leave them for a few hours and either barbeque or roast in a hot oven until nicely browned.

Autumn

Dear readers, I have been neglecting you.  I have been trying to finish this post for about a week.  I think this blog is becoming a "less is more" scenario.  We just seem to bounce from one busy week to the next, without a breather in between.  Since I was last here we have had a group visiting the garden...

This was the little stall of goodies we set up

been to Singapore to participate in a big food Expo with our lamb..

had school holidays and a houseful for Easter..

Flowers ready to go up to the bedrooms

There was food to be cooked and I did the usual staples, raspberry jam, pesto, chocolate ice cream and I poached quinces and made quiches.  We ate slow cooked lamb and a wing rib of beef with yorkshire puddings..

and had a lovely paddock picnic on Sunday, using our new barbeque plate..

Of course there were toasted marshmallows

and an Easter egg hunt,

long walks

and bowls of soup.

But that all seems like ages ago.  Since then there have been bonfires

and a lovely lunch with friends from Melbourne under the oak tree....

We had some beautiful lamb and some salads, one of which is an oldie but a goodie, and I was asked for the recipe.

BROWN RICE SALAD

I think I first saw this in a school fundraising cookbook and have seen it several times since.  There are a million variations, just use your imagination.

2 cups cooked brown rice

1 red capsicum, finely diced

1 cup currants

1/4 cup verjuice

1 cup cashews, toasted (or slivered almonds are good too)

1 cup sunflower seeds

A couple of handfuls of whichever fresh herbs you like (parsley, coriander and mint are good)

Dressing:

2/3 cup sunflower oil

2 tblsp soy sauce

3 tblsp lemon juice

The original recipe doesn't do this, but I soak the currants in the verjuice for about 15 minutes.

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl.  Drain the currants and add the verjuice to the dressing, before mixing the dressing in with the salad.  Sprinkle a few herbs over the top.

Spring

When the bluebells and irises start to come out, I know that Spring is here. This year the garden is going mad, the weeds in particular are growing spectacularly well.  We have recently sprayed the garden with a liquid fertilizer called Calsap (www.optimaagriculture.com.au for more information) and that with the recent rains have made everything explode.

The garden and paddocks are starting to dry out and not every outdoor expedition requires gumboots.  We have had a couple of spoiling trips away in the last couple months, one to the snow and one to the sun (or more specifically, rain with patches of sun) so now it's time to get back into the busiest time of the year in the garden.  

We have recently built a new vegetable garden and because it has been so wet we have been unable to do all the earthworks to finish it, so the sun shines but I am not madly planting as I should.  It is really big and I am quite terrified about being able to maintain it:

I  said three would do but as usual my husband, who is big picture man and fancies himself as a talented garden designer (step aside Paul Bangay) said I never plant enough vegies for more than a feed and we need a berry cage, an asparagus bed, herbs and rhubarb which are all perennials plus a cutting bed and lots of potatoes.  He was most insistent that it be big enough but I can tell you now he will never set foot in it.

I made a beautiful summery salad on the weekend for some friends.  The picture looks like a bit of a dog's breakfast as this was the leftovers, the original looked much better!

PANZANELLA

250g day old bread (I used a french stick, but any loaf of white bread will do, except processed sliced bread), crusts removed and torn into pieces

Olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 teaspoon dried oregano

8-10 tomatoes cut into wedges (again, any will do, romas are good)

2 red capsicums, seeded and cut into pieces

3 red onions, cut into wedges

1 zucchini, sliced

300g bocconcini, sliced

150g rocket or mixed salad leaves

Balsamic vinegar to taste (or vinocotto would be good too)

Preheat oven to 200.  Toss bread in enough olive oil to lightly coat and add garlic and oregano, mix up well.  Place in a roasting pan and cook for 20 minutes until crisp and golden.

Place tomatoes, capsicum, zucchini and onion into another large roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil, season well and cook for 20-30 minutes until softened and lightly browned.

Put veg into a large bowl and mix in the bread.  Leave for 10-15 minutes to absorb the juices.

Add bocconcini and toss well with the salad leaves and drizzle with balsamic vinegar to taste.

Serves 6-8

Great with a barbeque