Asparagus curry - green and white

This is a vegan non 'ethnic' (transcultural) 'curry' that might have some reminiscence of Thai curries. Do vary the hotness of the chillies and ginger to your requirements. Here the dried chillies and ginger pieces float in the dish and are meant to be removed while eating.

GET
½ kg of white asparagus ( Asparagus officinalis )
½ kg of green asparagus
5 medium potatoes
2 carrots
2 cups of peeled peas
1 onion
2 tomatoes
1 small bulb of garlic
10 cm of fresh ginger root, peeled (NB Ginger safety!)
6-7 dried chilli (Capsicum annuum) or any fresh chilli you are familiar with
2 tins of coconut (milk or cream, organic, no sugar) Or better make your own!
2 x 10 cm pieces of lemongrass, white bottoms only
Some olive oil
1 Tsp agave syrup
10 black peppercorns
1 lime
Fresh coriander
All organic

Rice, Basmati or organic brown rice

DO
Wash the asparagus well, especially the heads have a lot of sand. Be gentle
Snap off the woody bits at the bottom (stock)
Peel the white asparagus with asparagus peeler (stock)
Cut asparagus diagonally into three parts and separate
(Cook bottoms the longest and heads only for a short time)
Chop the onion finely
Peel the potatoes thinly and cut into mouth-size pieces
Peel the carrots and cut into large diagonal slices
Peel tomatoes, chop finely
Peel the garlic

Start a vegetable stock pot
Add the clean asparagus peel and off cuts, onion, carrots offcuts, the peppercorns, half the ginger chunks and lemongrass. Boil

If you cook brown rice, now might be a good time to start cooking it  

Heat olive oil, fry onion golden, add the ginger and carrot pieces, fry, add potatoes, stir. Add the tomatoes, stir. Then pour 2 cups of the stock through a sieve and pour onto the vegetables. Add the chillies. Cover and boil for 5 min. then add the coconut and garlic cloves. Add half the peas and the bottom bits of the asparagus. Cover and simmer for another 10 min. Add some more of the stock but do not let it get too liquid! Add the top bits of the asparagus, the remaining peas and some of the coriander leaves. Simmer another 5 - 10 min. Add lime juice and sprinkle with fresh coriander before serving.
Should you have too much stock, you might want to use it to cook the rice for day two of the curry.

Images:
Carl Eduard Schuch, 1888 (?) Bunch of asparagus, glass and clay pot

Carole's chili seeds, organic seedsaver

Carl Eduard Schuch, 1884/85, Apples on white with asparagus and jug

Lemon almond cookies

Get
250g wholemeal flour (spelt flour)
2 tbsp honey
1 egg
1.5 heaped teaspoon ground Sri Lanka cinnamon, known as 'Ceylon cinnamon'
250g butter
400g organic almonds
rind of 1 lemon
all organic

Do
Beat butter in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. Add honey and beat it creamy.
Add egg and mix. It will not mix in so add a little flour and beat, then a little more flour and beat again. The mixture will become smooth.

Add cinnamon and grated lemon rind. Grate almonds and add to the mixture.
Add flour gradually while mixing.
When it becomes too firm to mix, add more flour and
knead to a pastry. Keep adding flour and kneading until it is not sticky
Cool in fridge.
Roll out thin.
Using cookie cutting tools cut out shapes.

Bake at 190°c for 6-8 minutes until light but not brown on a baking tray in batches on the second shelf from the bottom. Remove from oven and cool on the tray to avoid breakages.
Store in a tin lined with greaseproof paper in a cool place.

Use cookie cutting tools without narrow features as this pastry is quite crumbly.

Nut cake with lemon

Get

125g butter

4 eggs, separated

4 heaped tbsp honey

200g almonds, grated
30g haselnuts, grated

150g spelt flour

1 packet Weinstein/wine stone baking powder

1 lemon
75g icing sugar

Do
Beat butter with 2 tbsp honey in a bowl with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add egg yolks one at a time while beating.
Whip the egg whites until stiff. Add 2 tbsp honey and whip until integrated.
Add weinstein baking powder to the almonds and add the haselnuts. Mix a little.
Beat half the nuts into the butter-egg-yolk mixture. Add a little egg white and mix it in. Continue to add more nuts and small amounts of egg white until the nuts are all mixed in. Lift the remaining egg whites under the mixture.
Gradually add the flour while carefully and slowly mixing with a wooden spoon. Add just enough flour so that the mixture remains moist and light. Finely grate in the lemon rind.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Put the mixture in a buttered 28cm cake form and smooth it on top.
Bake for 25 minutes on the second shelf from the bottom.
When finished, check that the cake is baked through with a skewer or fine knife. If not, return to the oven. If it is getting dark on top, cover it with a piece of natural paper.
Remove from the form when cooled.
Make icing from icing sugar and lemon juice and decorate the cake with it.

This nut cake does not need to be too sweet. Just a touch of lemon icing complements it well.

Images:
Vincent van Gogh, Sprig of Flowering Almond Blossom in a Glass 1888

Zurbarán, Francisco de, Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose, 1633

Torta di Mandorle - Almond Cake

250g spelt flour
125g butter
7 eggs separated
3 ½   heaped tbsp honey

350g finely grated almonds
4 tbsp Apricot jam
all organic

Place flour in a bowl. Add in the middle 1 tbsp honey and 1 egg yolk. Mix into the flour with a wooden spoon. Add the butter in flakes. Mix then knead to a pastry. Cool covered with a tea towel.
Grate the almonds using a hand grater or an almond mill. Do this 100g at a time to avoid fatigue.*
Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Roll out the pastry and make a pastry shell on the bottom and sides of a 28cm round baking form with it. Cover it with grease-proof natural paper and place weights on the paper (e.g. 6 Walnuts).
Bake for about 8 minutes, until the pastry starts to lift off the baking form bottom. Remove from oven. Remove paper.

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Beat them well for a couple of minutes. Add 1 tbsp honey and continue beating until it is integrated into the egg white mixture.
Beat the egg yolks until very smooth and creamy for a few minutes. Add 1 ½ tbsp honey and continued beating until it is very creamy.
Carefully lift 150g almonds in small amounts under the egg yolk mix using a wooden spoon.
Spread the apricot jam evenly over the baked pastry shell bottom.
Pour the egg yolk mixture into the shell on top of the apricot jam. Smooth the surface.
Bake for about 8 minutes until the egg yolk mixture starts to become a little golden on top.
Remove from oven.
Beat the egg white mixture again for a short time to refresh it. Gradually add the remaining almonds and lift them under.

Add the egg white mixture to the cake on top of the partially baked egg yolk mixture. Smooth the top. Return to the oven for another 15-20 minutes until the top is lightly golden. Turn off the oven and leave the door open with the cake inside for another 30 minutes.
Remove the cake and cool.
Remove it from the cake form.

Torta di Mandorle is a layered almond cake reflecting the colours of the egg. Serve it with tea or coffee. It is an ideal cake for a picnic.

* Almonds need to be grated to get the right texture. Do not put them into a food processor. A hand grater is laboursome but worth the effort. It is good excercise and you keep control over your ingredients.

Chestnuts, Brussel Sprouts, Roots and a Chicory Salad

GET
500g  Bamberg potatoes (German: Bamberger Hörnchen)

300g  Brussel sprouts
300g  Mugello sweet chestnuts , (Castanea sativa Mill.)

400g  Teltower Rübchen (Brassica rapa L. subsp. rapa f. teltowiensis)

3  Belgian endive/ chicory/ Witloof
A hand full of freshly cracked walnuts
Coarse mustard, some lemon


A slow food dish - steaming up a variety of regional vegetables: An old potato variety from Bamberg, Chestnuts from Tuscany, Brussel sprouts and a white regional root from Brandenburg, the Teltower Rübchen. Walnuts from old trees from Lake Constance. Chicory from Belgium. Like so many rare vegetable varieties the Bamberg potato cannot be harvested by machines.



DO
Wash vegetables, scrub potatoes and Teltower roots,  remove outer leaves from brussel sprouts, cut bottom crosswise. Steam till done to your liking.

Heat pre-roasted chestnuts (possible from the markets) in a dry pan gently. Cut skin, peel and check for bugs or blemish. They should be of ivory colour and have no holes.

Wash endive, dry leaves and pluck apart. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Mix mustard with lemon and add as dressing.

After the vegetables are done. Put sprouts and heated chestnuts in a bowl, sprinkle some butter/olive oil, toss and cover.

Serve all with the potatoes and Teltower roots separate and hot.

Toss chicory salad before serving and sprinkle the walnuts on top.


Image:
Sommer, Giorgio, Chestnut seller in traditional Naples costume, 1872

Hazelnut ring

GET
220g spelt flour
10-15g Weinstein baking powder (½ packet)
1 Tbsp honey
1 egg
125g butter

150g hazelnuts ground
50g sultanas
2 Tbsp Schnapps (or lemon juice, or rum)
1 Tbsp honey

1 egg yolk

DO
Put flour in a large bowl.
Add honey in the middle and egg.
Mix together with some flour into a paste using a wooden spoon.
Cut in butter. Mix.
Knead together into a pastry. Add more flour if sticky, more butter if not smooth. Cool.

Wash sultanas. Then soak them in the liquid for 15 minutes.
Mix the nuts, the sultanas and honey into a paste.

Roll out the pastry on a tea towel into a long rectangle about 40 x 10 cm. Fold the edges to make it straight. Turn often while rolling to make it thin and prevent it sticking to the tea towel.
Spread the nut paste into the surface of the pastry. Roll it up along the long side into a long roll using the tea towel. Form the roll into a ring carefully without breaking the pastry surface. Press the ends together.
Place the ring onto a buttered circular baking tray with the seam facing downwards.
Preheat the oven to 180°.

Mix the egg yolk with a fork. Paint it  carefully with a tea spoon or brush in small amounts onto the ring until the whole cake is covered. Carefully paint the sides, inside and outside.
Take a large sharp knife and cut into the outer layer of pastry making the shape of a star on the surface of the cake. When the cake rises the cuts will open up making the star-shape emerge in the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 150° and cover the cake with some greaseproof paper and bake for a further 30 minutes. Cool.
The surface of the cake should become a golden brown.

Use more hazelnuts and more sultanas for a more generous filling.

Mushroom eggplant with pasta

GET
1 medium eggplant
300g champignons
2 medium red onions
olive oil
pink salt
optional: whole garlic cloves.

Pasta (e.g. Rigatoni, Penne) or Camargue red rice
all organic

Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated

DO
Partly peel the eggplant and cut into cubes on a plate. Sprinkle salt on it and leave it standing for 1 hour or more. Pour off the dark juice which settles on the plate.
Wash the eggplant well to remove the salt and squeeze to dry.

Boil water for the noodles.

Heat olive oil in a pan and fry the eggplant in it. When it is golden, add a few tablespoons of boiling water/ tomato sauce and cook till it is done. Put it aside on a plate.

Start cooking the noodles.

Dice the onions. Cut the champignons into large chunks.

Fry the diced onion in the same pan with more oil as necessary. When soft, push the onion to the side and fry the champignon pieces until lightly golden. Add garlic if desired.
Mix the onions and mushrooms together and mix in the eggplant.

Serve with noodles, parmesan and a green salad.

Alternatively you can serve the dish with Camargue red rice and Brussels sprouts.

The eggplant should be firm and without black seeds. The mushrooms should be fleshy. In Germany use Steinchampignons, in Australia use swiss brown champignons.

Image Nr. 1:
Segantini, Giovanni, Mushrooms, 1886

Plum pie Brittany style

Plum cakes are popular in late summer in Europe when the plums are ripe. And although the yeast based pastries can taste good, this one without any yeast is our preference. It is based on a recipe from Brittany and unlike many plum cakes is covered with a pastry shell rather than open. When it is cut a little juice runs out which is shared among the pieces of cake when served.
Plum cake is always a little sour. This one is sweetened with agave nectar but not much to keep that special plum flavour.
It is customary to serve plum cakes with cream. With this pie it is optional and certainly a good complementary flavour.

GET
450g wholemeal organic spelt flour
1 heaped tbsp honey
2 eggs
125g butter

1.5kg organic Damson plums (Damask plums)
3 tbsp agave nectar


50g organic icing sugar
lemon juice

DO
Put flour in a large bowl.
Add honey in the middle and eggs.
Mix together with some flour into a paste using a wooden spoon.
Cut in butter. Mix.
Knead together into a pastry. Add more flour if sticky, more butter if not smooth. Cool.

Remove stems from plums.
Halve and stone them. Remove any woody matter near the stems. Cut into quarters.

Butter a 28 cm round spring form.
Cut pastry into 3 pieces for the pie (2 equal, one smaller).
Roll out one piece for the bottom, make 3 cm sides with the small piece. Save the other piece for the top.
Cover the bottom of the pie shell with greaseproof paper and put a few weights on it (e.g. nuts or metal spoons).
Bake on second shelf for 10 minutes at 190°.
Remove from oven, remove paper and weights. Reduce oven heat to 150°.

Arrange the plum quarters in a circular form starting at the outside of the pie shell and overlapping them towards the middle. 
Repeat this arrangement on top of the first layer so that the pie is full up to the level of the sides.
Slowly and evenly pour agave nectar on the plums, rather less than more.

Roll out the remaining pastry and cover the pie with it.
Press down the edges using a patterned object (e.g. knife tip, lemon zester) to seal the pie.
Bake a further 60 minutes.
The pie shell should be light in colour. If the pie looks brown cover with paper while baking.
Loosen the pie from the bottom and sides of the form with a knife after 10 minutes and remove from form. Cool on a cake plate.
Sieve icing sugar. Mix in lemon juice until a sticky mass forms. Decorate the pie with it using a spoon (for example).

It is important to find the right balance between undercooking the plums inside the pastry and over-baking the pastry. Hence the long baking time at a low temperature. To avoid burning the pastry, paper may be used to cover the pie during the baking process. In this way the plums keep cooking inside but the surface is not exposed to strong direct heat.

Feta and Figs Variations

Some alternative ways to combine feta cheese with figs with optional nuts and herbs:

Get some of these resources:
Feta, organic, non animal rennet preferred
Oil: olive or macadamia & vinegar
Herbs: parsley/basil/mint leaves/dried oregano
Nuts: macadamia, hazelnuts or raw pistachios
flour, honey, fresh cinnamon

Choose and Do

Cold platter
Drain and wash feta. Cut feta into slices, sprinkle oil over it. Arrange fresh figs Optional: sprinkle with lightly roasted macadamia, hazelnuts or raw chopped pistachios.

If dressing is desired
1 tsp organic mustard
6 tsp macadamia oil
1 tsp rice vinegar
scatter over arranged feta fig platter

Toast nuts of your choice in frying pan, stirring frequently. Do not burn nuts. Add last minute with fresh herbs
Fried feta variation
Drain and wash feta. Cut feta into matchbox size chunks. Put whole grain flour on plate, mix in some oregano. Roll feta pieces gently in flour. Heat olive oil, fry cheese gently, turning it till golden. Decorate with fresh figs and parsley/basil/mint leaves

Cook the Figs
Add a small cup of honey and ¼ tsp of fresh cinnamon into a frying pan, cook gently for a few minutes. Add the cleaned figs and toss in this mixture for 1 minute. Place figs on feta platter. Decorate with nuts and herbs

These dishes go well with Okra in Tomato Sauce
Coriander pesto is also an accompaniment with the above dishes
More feta recipes here and here

Native Raspberry Tea and Fruit

Native Raspberry, Rubus rosifolius Sm, (syn. Rubus rosaefolius) occurs in rainforest or on rainforest edges of SE Australia. It is one of many in the Rosaceae family. The (Thimble-) berries are delicious raw or prepared into desserts. The leaves of the Rose-leaf Bramble make a pleasant tasting herb tea, that is supposed to have many health benefits. The plant is very prickly and can be grown in cultivation. Outside its endemic home range it has the potential to become an invasive plant.

Herb Tea
Remove stems, wash, crunch a hand full of leaves, pour boiling water on and let steep for a short time. Drop in a raspberry ( if available).