Home grown

The agapanthus have been lovely this summer, they just love the blazing heat.  It's time to cut them back now though so they don't spread their seed.  An English friend once told me agapanthus are considered an exotic plant in the UK.  Here they are verging on a noxious weed!

We had a totally homegrown dinner the other night.  It was very simple, but really you just don't need to mess with food that tastes so good as it is.

I was quite chuffed with this.   The lamb was tender.  The tomatoes have been beautiful, the basil abundant.  The zucchinis have just taken off so need to be checked every day so we don't end up with marrows.  There is immense satisfaction in turning those tiny seeds into food you can eat, with no pesticides or herbicides, producing food that is so full of flavour.

I marinated a pork scotch fillet last night.  It was also very tender.  I meant to cook it on the Weber, but got distracted and forgot to light the heat beads.  So it went into the Aga.  

I didn't photograph the finished product as Tim was very late.  So when it was cooked (thank you digital meat thermometer) I put into the warming oven where it sat for 45 minutes.  Such is the wonder that is the Aga, it was still perfect when we carved it, incredibly succulent.  Here is the marinade I used:

3 preserved lemon rinds (make sure you rinse them and scrape off all the pith), chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
a few flakes of dried chilli (you can use fresh, I just didn't have any)
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tblsp honey
1/4 cup olive oil
chopped coriander.
Combine the above and thin it down with some water if necessary.

I cooked it on a rack beneath which I put a sliced onion and some fennel.  I then poured in about 1/3 cup of verjuice with 1/2 cup water.  It took about an hour.

Bits and pieces from last week

I picked the last of the granny smiths last week.  I hadn't realised there were any left until all the leaves had fallen.

So I made an apple and raspberry crumble.  I never cook the fruit before putting on the topping.  I sprinkled a bit of brown sugar over the apples and raspberries (frozen).  Then in the Magimix I put a cup of flour, 125g butter, 3/4 cup sugar (white or brown, doesn't matter), 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teasp cinnamon and pulsed it until it resembled breadcrumbs.  I then threw in some leftover almonds that I had toasted in the oven and whizzed up for something else and pulsed again.  Tipped it over the fruit

and baked it at 180c for about 45 minutes until nicely browned on the top:

Sorry pics are a bit blurry, must have had the camera on the wrong setting

The butcher had some lovely pork chops from Otway Pork that I cooked up too.  I think pork chops need a bit of grooving up so I marinated them in this mix:

1 tblsp fennel seeds, toasted in a dry pan and crushed in the pestle and mortar,

2 cloves garlic, crushed, 80 ml verjuice, a sprinkle of dried chilli flakes,  s & p and a few sprigs of thyme.

Two hours should do it, overnight is good.  I then cooked them on the chargrill, and served them with celeriac puree and brussels sprouts.

The other thing I am into at the moment is roasted broccoli.  I am trying lots of ways to cook broccoli in anticipation of a glut out of the veggie garden in a few weeks.

Put some broccoli, cut into florets onto a paper lined baking tray and drizzle with olive oil.

Bake at 180c for about 20 minutes.  In the meantime mix another slosh of olive oil with lemon zest, the juice of half a lemon, a tablespoon of toasted almonds (or pinenuts) and salt and pepper.  When the broccoli is  nicely roasted toss it with the mix and finish with a handful of  grated parmesan. 

My vanilla essence is coming on well.

The first Japonica blooms