THE AROMAS OF COOKING FROM THE GARDEN

 

Autumn is an abundant time in South Australian fruit and vegetable gardens and sometimes it is hard to keep up with all the produce. Kitchens can be overflowing with aromatic ripe mangoes like those from my mother's garden, pans full of rich tomato flavours to be bottled for winter pasta meals, quinces bubbling away to produce jellies and pastes, roasting capsicums for preserving in olive oil, food processors working overtime making basil or rocket pesto packed with the punch of garlic and parmesan cheese and preserving pans heaving with late season, dark red plums being made into jams and sauces.

 

I so wish we had smell-a-blog so we could visit each others kitchens and smell the aromas of the foods we are cooking from the produce in our gardens. Barb gave me a box of golden delicious apples and I have lightly stewed  most of them to put into breakfast sized portions in the freezer because I love stewed fruit with my yoghurt and nuts and seeds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

But after that I had all the cores left, so I made apple and jaggery tea and THAT is what is the latest smell in my kitchen right now. 

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier this morning I started making a curry from some bits and pieces of feral goat that were on special at Wild Oz at the Central Market. I used my favourite Rick Stein recipe and this is how it looks now, several hours later. There are lots of vegetables from the garden in it too, some pureed and slowly simmered with spices down to a thick, rich sauce, with an aroma to make you go weak at the knees!

 

 

The green leaves in the curry is the bitter outside leaves of some Chicory Trevise that Deb sowed for me months ago. They hold their colour even when cooked. The central heart is such a gorgeous colour I will cook it separately another day, so I can marvel at it on my plate before I eat it. Unlike some other greens, this has not gone to seed in the hot weather and still looks fresh and new in the garden.

 

Although not in the original recipe, I added quite a few Red Cornos and Yellow Cornos capsicums from the garden. The tomatoes were some of Glenys' magnificent specimens and the plants look like they will still be producing at Christmas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ian has been making Hot Cross Buns, in a Kitchen Garden in France..... imagine how wonderful his kitchen smells.