Tuesday 25 October 2016

autumn - cut and paste



Pomegranites everywhere.  Our first bag has appeared on the doorstep.   They are difficult to clean but worth the effort.  I usually juice them but have made pomegranite liqueur and love to just chew on a handful of nice cold seeds.  


Pomegranites and lemons from the neighbour

Getting the seeds out of the pomegranite is not easy.  Don't believe Jamie Oliver when you see him smacking one and watching the seeds falling out into his salads. He has a back-up team for prepping. They usually need a good scraping with a knife or spoon and then a lot of the white pith comes along with the seeds.  If the juice gets on your clothes, forget it. Washing out the stain is almost impossible. 

Pomegranite (rodi) seeds are always part of the koliva (funeral wheat).  They are the fruit of death and rebirth.

 We throw them at the front door on New Years eve.  The seeds bursting out all over the threshold symbolise abundance and good luck.  It also gives you a cleaning up job on New Year's Day.

In a few weeks the oxalis will have taken over the garden and it will be a sea of green.  In this photo there are nasturtiums and oxalis.  I love things which take over the garden though I would prefer it to be something which does not grow knee high nor throttles the lettuces.  Mint in the summer and nasturtiums in the winter are my favourites.  I love the flowers of the nasturtiums.  These ones are usually yellow but I have a feeling they are like hydrangeas and the colours change according to the acidity of the soil.

Nasturtium-Tropaeolum.jpg

Yesterday the grandchildren with me directing planted onions and lettuces.  Last night we had a nice gentle rain fall.  Today the sun is shining.  What wonderful growing weather. 

Grandchildren come in handy for heavy jobs. They got down the heavy cases of winter clothes from the top of the wardrobe, brought in the outdoor TV (summer is over), cleaned under the beds (small children love to roll around in dark, dusty places), hoed and planted. Great kids.



This pot contains an amaryllis.  The oxalis was already choking this so I gave it a good weeding.  The amaryllis apparently flowers in mid winter.  I'm not sure if that is true here. Time will tell.

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Amaryllis






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The cheerful colours of winter's flowers.  At the garden shop

Last year I planted pansies amongst the lettuces and loved the combination.  I just might buy some pansy plants this year too.  My grandmother always had a border of pansies around her garden.  Their bright, jolly 'faces' give  cheer on a winter's day.




Cuttlefish (soupies) ready to be chopped up and cooked with spinach


The first of this winter's spinach

The cuttlefish has to be skinned and have the ink sac removed.  I have cleaned many a cuttlefish in days gone by and it is a messy task.  These one are frozen and nice and white, ready for cooking. 

 Cut the cuttlefish into small pieces and fry in olive oil with a chopped onion and some cloves of garlic.  

Pour in some wine, add chopped tomatoes and simmer gently, probably half an hour till the fish is soft.

Add the chopped spinach and lots of fresh dill.  Simmer about 10 to 15 minutes till the spinach is soft and tender.  Add salt and lots of pepper.

Serve with a squeeze of lemon juice

13 comments:

  1. I bet that is delicious. It is rather misty here. I have been turning out plant pots. My pelargonium are just about hanging on. I have no where to keep them if we are to move. So all the pots will have to be cleaned and stored. Going to look at a horse box to move all of our olive trees. Some are over 6 feet now and I am scared of letting the removal men touch them after the last move.

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  2. Wow, so many olive trees, you should be getting a subsidy from the eu (,well before Brexit) like the oil producers here lol! Do you get any olives and I presume they are in(big) pots......or not?

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    1. they are in all sized pots. people seem to gift them to me. I actually have some olives on my smallest plant! The olives never ripen here. I will take a picture and put it on my blog.

      When we move and I know we are staying I have plans to put them in the ground. Have a little grove/orchard. We will see what type of house and garden we manage to buy

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    2. Also when I was a kid we used to eat pomegranates with a pin. It used to take ages. I suspect that was the point when we were given them.

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  3. I think I now know what is invading my veg' garden; Oxalis. Do they have small pink bulbs? The wretched things spread like crazy.

    I have Pomegranate trees, but they produce inedible fruits; far too sour. I have them for the decoration.

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    1. Oxalis is like three leaf clover..spreads like wildfire, pulls up easily but roots remain. Disappears completely in the summer. No pink bulbs. Long white root. Has yellow flowers at some point. Looks lovely anywhere else but your vege garden. Yours good be some sort of cousin. I thought mine was Cordell till I googled.

      Our pomegranates are quite sweet.

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  4. So you can grow food in the winter as well.
    Isn't it great. While others can only grow in their summers. It's nice to be productive all year around

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    1. All the winter vege do very well here though in my garden lettuces, onions and rocket do best

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  5. I love pomegranates, but you are right trying to get the seeds out is no easy job. I cut them in four and work from there. I love them so much I even have a pomegranate ring, from Israel.

    I too feel like an alien in both countries USA and UK.

    Thank you for leaving a comment on my blog.
    Christy
    Lilbitbrit

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    1. Roots go down deep and even before I open my mouth people know i'm foreign! There's always something different about our way of thinking...and speaking!

      I love pomegranates too. Theyre worth the effort

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  6. Thank you for commenting on my blog. Nice to meet you and your blog. I don't know anyone who lives where you do so will follow it with interest.

    Cro Magnan is correct. oxalis do have bulbs and unless you get every last one you will still have oxalis. Hens are good at scratching out the bulbs they like to eat them. If you didn't get the bulbs when you pulled yours out they are still deeper in the soil. Good luck with that. U could try sieving the soil in your pot and putting it back - big job.

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  7. Ye gods and little fishes. I know the roots go deep but I've never seen a bulb. I must do some googling ..maybe its something else. I cover the vege patch with new soil and compost and it keeps it at bay for a while. At least it is easy to pull out ..and comes back even easier

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