Friday 16 September 2016

Edibles




Fanouropita with added protein

I made a fanouropita (non dairy/egg cake, see labels for the recipe) for a memorial on Sunday.  Unfortunately I left it out on the bench overnight and in the morning it was swarming with tiny ants.  It wasn't suitable for the memorial coffee but I cut it up, shook each piece, transferred it to a bowl and took it down to the family feast afterwards.  A friend told me later I should have put the baking dish out in the sun for five minutes.  Ants hate bright sunlight and they would have hightailed it out of the cake as though it was on fire.





The goats left me one squash plant and 'lo' I found a squash was growing under the leaves.  Hope there is enough sun now for this to develop and grow.  I am keeping a sharp eye out for any more.  We'll probably pay over 70euros for our summer water and what did we get?  Quite a few green peppers, a couple of handfuls of mini tomatoes and one squash.  Next year I'll still plant the squash and hopefully a proper pumpkin or two but the rest I'll buy from the weekly local-growers' market.  I still have the tomato and pepper plants and after fertilising again and adding extra lime maybe they'll produce a few more vegetables.  We've had a few inches of rain and now the sun is out.  Perfect growing weather.

The left over fava (split peas/pease pudding) I made into dhal and it was delicious.  Greek cuisine is so healthy, olive oil, mediterranean diet, blah, blah, blah, but I do crave a bit of heat and a change of tastes.  I fried a little onion, lots of garlic, some chopped ginger and curry and added it to the cooked split peas.  Damn tasty!  It perfectly filled that taste gap.

I was given another feta recipe recently and it looks like one that the traditional members of the family will eat.

-  Green beans with feta sauce
·         150 gms feta (greek of course) crumbled
·         3 tbsps greek olive oil
·         minced garlic, as much as you dare
·         400 gms  green beans
·        juice of one lemon
·         oregano
·         lots of fresh pepper

Combine the feta, oil and garlic in a small pot.  Simmer a little till the cheese is soft and melting.
Pour this over the green beans and sprinkle with oregano (fresh or dried), lemon juice and grind fresh pepper over it all.




6 comments:

  1. Remind me to wear my specs when I come to yours for coffee! Teasing aside, it looks really nice. As I've been baking all day, what I really fancy is those green beans with melted cheese and garlic. Sounds totally scrumptious!

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  2. What's an ant between friends! Some extra nourishment. They were the same colour as the cake. If they hadn't started scurrying all over the place no one would have known!

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  3. The feta recipe sounds yummy. I might have to give it a go!
    You need to use some of the Aussie water saving techniques for watering your vegetables.
    Are you allowed to save rain water? Maybe some tanks to save the winter rains to use during the hot dry summer. Or saving the rinse water from your washing machine to use. Or even using the shower water. Make sure in both those instances you use minimal washing detergents and never use the washing water on your vegetables

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    1. We use the water from the washing machine to water the trees at the back of the house but the vege garden is out front. We had considered using rain water. It pours of our sloping tiled roof. Time to get into action. It really is a shame not to use it.

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  4. My Pumpkins looked as if they were going to be fantastic. Masses of huge leaves, lots of flowers, and a perfect location on an old compost heap. Now that the leaves are dying down, I see that I have just 2 Pumpkins; one big, one small. Oh well.

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    1. 2 PUMPKINS of the best though I imagine, not these watery squashes. At least you have some and can presumbly buy more. I love a good pumpkin but guess it is like a lot of other things. What you can't have is what you want.

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