Drying Herbs and Herbal Teas

Snipping the parsley heads

Decided to make some herb bread, which sent me out to the garden for herbs, which in turn made me decide it's time to dry some parsley! There's too much out there for me to use before it goes to seed, so I brought in some big bunches, washed it, snipped off the edible bits, laid them on a baking tray, and dried them in the oven on fan-bake at 75 degrees Celsius for 3 hours, then cooled and put into air tight containers.

Parsley ready to go into the oven for drying

When I'm drying smaller quantities of herbs, I do them in the microwave -
I place about ½ cup fresh herbs, washed and chopped, between paper towelling on high for 1 min or until dried. (Whole basil leaves take 1 ½ mins)

I make herbal teas from my herbs, by putting fresh or dried leaves into the teapot and pouring boiling water over. Adjust quantities to your own taste, and the following is a brief list of usefulness!
Bergamot​ - sore throats, colds, chest complaints – invigorating
Marjoram​ - nervous headaches, indigestion, bad breath, morning sickness
Mint​ - digestion, memory
Parsley​ - rheumatism, kidneys, gallbladder, digestion, circulation
Rosemary​ - headache, colic, colds
Sage​ - general health, stress, shock
Thyme​ - colds, coughs, catarrh, sore throat, flatulence

Lentil and Vegetable Curry for dinner tonight!

Last night on MasterChef NZ, Sushil created a Fijian curry that made me wish I was able to taste some, and so it was a no-brainer that it would be curry and rice for dinner tonight. It's simmering away at the moment, and is is the recipe:


LENTIL AND VEGETABLE CURRY - 4 main course servings
1 ½ cups red or brown lentils​
2-3 cups water
​2 bay leaves
2 tblspns oil
​2 onions​
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspn ginger
​1 teaspn turmeric​
1 teaspn cumin
2-3 cups chopped vegetables​
1 teaspn salt​
1 cup hot water
½ cup coconut cream​

Cook the lentils in the water with the bay leaves until tender, adding more water if necessary. Red lentils should take 20-30 mins, and brown lentils 40 mins. Heat the oil in a large non stick pan with lid, add the chopped onion and garlic, and the spices. Cook without browning for 5 minutes. Prepare and cut up the vegetables into evenly sized cubes or pieces, starting with those that take longest to cook. Add each vegetable as it is prepared, tossing it with the onion, and covering the pan between additions. Add the salt and water after the last addition and cook until all vegetables are barely tender. Add the cooked lentils and coconut cream. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve with boiled rice, and yoghurt.

Lentil and Vegetable Curry

Blackberry pruning time

My thornless blackberry vines have been running all over the ground, and now that fruiting has finished I've taken the opportunity to tidy them up and prune them.

Messy vines before pruning

I followed this advice - cutting them back to the main canes and shortening the runners substantially.
I had such a great crop this year, I'll do what I can to encourage more fruit next year too!
A bit more work required to tie them up to the trellis, but they're looking better than yesterday!!

Apples by the bucket!

I have three Ballerina apple trees, developed to grow upright and produce apples in a small space.  The 'Bolero' variety produces green eating apples and is the first to crop, my 'Polka' and 'Waltz' are reddish and ready for picking now.

 I have just picked a bucketful and there are probably two more bucket loads out there.  Am off to visit the grandchildren in the next couple of weeks, so will take one with me.

The birds had great fun pecking the apples off the trees, so I had to net them, which worked well.  I also planted garlic around them to keep off the moths that lay eggs in apple trees, providing their newly hatched larvae with a plentiful food source.

The apples ripening in the sun

Soup Weather!

Mmmmm the house smells so good! It's raining and I'm feeling like soup for dinner, so it's on the simmer.

My favourite soup is made from the carcass and left overs of a roast chicken, and I've had these bits in the freezer for a couple of months. Each time I make this soup it's different, depending on what's in the garden or freezer, but this is today's soup. I always make a great big pot of it, and freeze it in lunch lots for work.

Lunch sized containers of soup in the freezer

MARIE'S ROAST CHICKEN SOUP
Put the carcass and left overs of a roast chicken into a big pot, add plenty of water, a bit of salt, and herbs to make stock. I've added sage, rosemary and basil, and a couple of deseeded chilli peppers. Bring to boil, and simmer for about 30 minutes.
Take off heat and allow to cool. Strain, making sure you keep any bits of chicken flesh, but discarding bones etc.
Return to the pot and add half a cup of lentils (soup mix type), stirring as it comes to the boil. Add lots of chopped vegetables - today I've added
4 onions,
6 carrots,
1 parsnip,
3 stalks celery
2 tomatoes
1 bell pepper
2cloves garlic
Just what was available in the garden and fridge.
Oh and a container of cooked pumpkin I had in the freezer.

Simmer gently until everything is cooked and the house smells wonderful!
Put through a blender or use a stick blender. Taste and adjust seasonings. And voila!

Hot Cross Buns Day

Good Friday has traditionally been Hot Cross Buns day at our place.  I would get the mixture made and leave it proving and go off to the community Cross Carrying around the streets, in commemoration of the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus.   By the time I came back it would just need the last rising and it would be yummy hot cross buns for lunch.   These days I use the bread-maker to do the work for me, so am sharing both recipes.

Number 1 daughter made the buns the traditional way for her family this year, so I have pirated her photo, and this is the recipe for these delicious handmade buns:

​

HOT CROSS BUNS 

3 ½ teaspns dried yeast

1 cup warm water​

1 tblspn sugar

¼ cup sugar​

50g butter​

1 teaspn salt

1 cup milk​

1 egg​          

3 ½ cups flour

1 teaspn cinnamon​

1 teaspn ground ginger​

⅔ cup currants

1 tblspn sugar​

1 tblspn water

Sprinkle yeast on to first measure of water, containing the first measure of sugar.  Mix 2nd measure of sugar with butter and salt in a bowl.  Heat the milk and pour over this.  Stir until dissolved.  Allow to cool until lukewarm, then mix the yeast mixture into it.  Lightly beat the egg and add to this, then sift in 2 cups flour.  Beat well.  Sift the remaining flour with the spices and add sufficient of this to form a soft dough.  Add the currants and beat thoroughly.  Cover and set in a warm place to rise until double in size.  Turn on to a lightly floured board and knead well. (or use kneading hook in Kenwood).  Divide into 24 pieces.  Roll each piece into a round and place in well buttered patty tins.

Cover and leave to rise until double in bulk.

Crosses:

½ cup flour​1 tblspn melted butter. ​5 tblspns water

Sift flour, stir in butter and add enough water to enable dough to be piped.  Using a fine nozzle, pipe crosses on each risen bun before placing in oven.

Bake at 220° for about 12 minutes.  Take from oven and brush the tops lightly with sugar and water (or milk) which have been mixed together.  Return to oven for about 1 minute to glaze.

Number 4 daughter has most conveniently blogged about making hot cross buns in the bread-maker, so rather than repeat the recipe, I suggest you pop over to her lovely blog and check it out there. She also designs stunning knitting patterns that you might want to admire and/or knit too!

Happy Easter everyone!

More uses for left over cooked rice

Following on from my post yesterday, there was more left over rice, and so more ideas for its use.

To take to The Ancient One for Sunday lunch - 

QUICK QUICHE

½ cup self raising flour​

3 eggs​

1 chopped onion

1 ½ cups milk​

1 cup grated cheese​

1 cup cold cooked rice

2 tblspns chopped parsley

1 tblspn oil​

Pepper & salt​ to taste

2 rashers bacon 

capsicum​, peas, beans, tomatoes​, courgettes, asparagus -about a cup in total of any combination of vegetable

Beat eggs and milk, add cheese, onion, rice, oil and about a cup of vegetables.  Fold in flour.  Chop bacon and sprinkle on top.  Bake ¾ hour at 180°.

I used sliced tomato instead of the bacon.

And for Saturday dinner, I shall treat myself to

KEDGEREE

½ Onion

1 clove garlic 

knob of butter

1 teaspoon curry paste 

2 cups cooked rice 

200g tin of fish

2 hardboiled eggs

coriander leaves

Slice the onion, crush the garlic and fry them in the butter with the curry paste.  Add the rice, and the drained fish which has been broken up with a fork, and heat through.  Add the quartered eggs, coriander and salt to taste and enjoy!