Tag Archives: food

One BLT and one BNT… ?

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Ok so I am sure most of you all know what a BLT is but a BNT ? Well that is slightly more interesting well at least for me it is.

A. Dropped in between sites for lunch today so I looked around the garden and in the fridge and thought hey what about a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich for her and something a little different for myself.

One of the great joys of building my garden and making a lot of stuff for our selves is sometimes you can put something really nice on the plate that you made.

So rounded up the last of the heritage tomatoes, some fresh cos lettuce growing in my olla beds, bacon I had cured myself and A.’s magnificent fresh sourdough bread baked on Sunday.

You are going to pay a lot for this in a good cafe but for me most of it is free or at least very cheap.

For me I mixed the classic up just a little bit adding fresh nasturtium leaves in place of the cos lettuce. For those who have not nasturtium both leaves and  flowers are edible and very nice, they have lovely peppery flavour that spices up salads or in this case a modified BLT.

A. loved her BLT and we cheated just a little bit and added some really nice local ‘king river gold washed rind cheese’. This is such a good cheese rich and full flavoured so ripe it could recite Shakespeare to you while you eat it.

My BNT has awesome the peppery flavour of the nasturtium leaves worked so well with the sweetness of the vine ripened tomatoes and the saltiness of the bacon. Again couldn’t resist that cheese on top.

So if you have never eaten nasturtium leaves before well here is a simple easy and good recipe to try them with. You might even add them regularly to your diet.

BLT

  • Handful of Fresh Cos Lettuce leaves
  • Bacon
  • Tomatoes
  • 2 slices of Sourdough bread
  • Soft Cheese

BNT

  • Handful of Fresh Nasturtium leaves
  • Bacon
  • Tomatoes
  • 1 slice of Sourdough bread (I prefer an open sandwich)
  • Soft Cheese

Bacon is out of the oven.

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So the bacon has cured for a week in the bag being flipped every day. Go it out, smelled good.

 The next process is to either smoke or cure it in an oven at 100 degree Celsius for two hours. I had hoped to smoke it but time my eternal enemy did not allow so it went in the oven for two hours.

Came out smelling good. Cant wait to hack of a big chunk and fry it up tomorrow.

Faster than home delivery.

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We like a bit of take away at times. We avoid it as we can but once in a while we just weaken  and get it in.

Having said that. Today I proved yet again that it cheaper and easier to make your own.

Made a batch of fried rice, lots of veggies, spring onions, some leftover chicken and a bit of bacon. Add some fish sauce, garlic, ginger, oyster sauce and fresh herbs from the garden and frozen rice from the freezer (works better with frozen rice)

Easy as and took me 30 minutes to cook which is faster than I could dial up takeaway and pick it up and get back with it for the family and lot cheaper. Lots to eat for all and lunch for tomorrow. Our little girl loves it and we know what is in it.

So why do we buy take away rather than make our own. Some of it is laziness/tired at the end of week/just not thinking.

So in future will we do the right thing yes… probably if I am not to tired or lazy

Fried Rice

  • A bunch of spring onions
  • Left over chicken from roast
  • 5 bacon rashes
  • 3 cups of rice made up in rice maker
  • A cup of frozen peas
  • A cup of frozen corn kernels
  • ½ cup of julienned carrots
  • Ginger and garlic to taste (I use a lot)
  • Oyster sauce about 4 tables spoons
  • Fish sauce to taste
  • Soya sauce about 4 tablespoons
  • Chilli to taste
  • Sesame oil
  • 2 eggs whisked with two tablespoons of water.
  • Finely chopped tai basil and Vietnamese mint.

Dice spring onions, chicken and bacon pan fry in a little oil in a non stick pan. Microwave the veggies in some water for about 5 minutes till just cooked then drain and add to the mix. Finely chop the ginger and garlic and add.

Put in rice add all sauces except the sesame oil and stir through over a medium heat. Add chilli to taste.

Make a hole in the middle of the rice and add the eggs as they harden to omelette type consistency and then stir through.

Turn off heat and add a little sesame oil. Serve in bowls and add fresh herbs to taste.

Waste Not, Want Not.

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Nice short post today as I need to get some sleep after a good but busy day.

So we had a great day at friend’s place the girls ran around like demons and had a great time. Brett cooked up a storm as always and I loved the Thai style salad he did to go with the food.

Brett did catch me out though. I noted as he was cooking and we were chatting in the kitchen that he was putting the scraps in a bag. Eventually I had to ask…

‘So are you going to compost those?’

‘Nope just throw them in the bin.’

‘Mind if I grab them?’ I replied

‘Wondered how long it would take you blink hippie’ was his response with a smile.

So we came home with a shopping bag stuffed full of fresh vegetable off cuts and bits and pieces. I felt good because it did not go into landfill and was not wasted and Brett got to laugh at me J

When I dumped it in the chicken run the ducks and chickens descended on it and a thought occurred to me.

 

I had just filled the chicken’s feeders with an organic feed I had bought on the way to our friend’s house. I had been a bit slack and run out this morning so had feed them some wheat and scraps and I expected they would dive into the new feed but they completely ignored it and got stuck into the vegies. So not only did save the earth just a tiny bit I probably saved a few bucks on food.

Sometimes you have to think out of the square and realise how you waste not, want not to both save the world and a few bucks. Don’t get me wrong I intend to use those few dollars and it might be to something quite extravagant like a small piece of truffle mushroom or some more plants or seeds. Whatever it might be. Basically by helping the world and reducing waste you can also help yourself and your bottom line at the same time.

Rubbing up the Pig.

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I have always wanted to make bacon and have looked at it one few occasions. The biggest problem is getting the nitrate (salt peter) because as my wife who is a chemist commented you make things that go bang with that stuff…

So I was pretty happy when I was at the Bundoora farmers market and there was a man selling some pre made bacon rub. After a quick chat how could I resist especially when on the other side is vendor selling organic Berkshire pork. So a few bucks latter and I have myself some really nice belly pork and my dry rub mix.

So tonight I rubbed up the pork. Now it sits in the fridge for a week being turned each day and next weekend half gets put in an oven at 100 degrees for two hours and the other half gets smoked.

Watch this space to see how it turns out.

A Busy Day.

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 Some days I like to just chill and go with the flow but not today. Today was a bit busy.

ALDI had unusual berries on sale today so I went in and grabbed one of each being a youngberry, loganberry, silvanberry, boysenberry and even another raspberry to go with the two type I already have (autumn fruiting is my justification. NOT that I need any …realy I don’t .. really…)

We then headed off to the Bundoora farmers market where we got a few things like some sourdough from the lady Andrea learnt to make sourdough, some of the awesome smoked goods, a chilli plant aptly labelled the Trinidad scorpion (should be interesting) some local organic meats and veg and even some belly pork and bacon rub to have a go at making my own bacon this week.

Headed home grabbed some herbs, pumpkin and veg then headed over to a place called Peppertree Place in Coburg a couple of minutes from home. Great little place and they have monthly produce swap which we swapped our stuff for a few bits and pieces such as some rocket and lemon myrtle. In reality we really just wanted to go and have a look.

The place is awesome, lots of kids running around our daughter made some new friends while I carted her brother around in the backpack asleep. We had coffee and cake by donation and got some fantastic idea’s for the kitchen garden Andrea is working on and our garden in general. Anyone living around Coburg I cannot recommend highly enough going along for the swap meet and visit on the first Saturday of each month and just have a look around. It is a lovely place.

Of course me being me I had to buy something at the nursery and got an oddity being a multi headed sunflower that you can eat the roots from … have to see how that goes.

In the afternoon planted out some tree’s I had in pots, the berries I bought, some brassicaceae etc. I also cheated and put some of the lemon myrtle I swapped in a striking mix so with any luck I can grow my own.

We invited our neighbour Mark over for a meal as we often do. The main was pasta tossed with rocket (traded at peppers) bacon and baby spinach (from the Farmers Market) some tomatoes from our garden, olive oil from the dodgy Italian guy at work (his cousin presses it …) washed down with a couple of beers.

Dessert was some blood plums picked at my parents place oven roasted with a touch of sugar and some locally produced natural yogurt mixed with local honey and vanilla.

So all in all it was good day, I spent it localy with my family and the local community. I got to speak to some great people and cook a locavore meal. Don’t get me wrong we have travelled a lot and love our far off places but today was the balance of that. Tomorrow I will probably do nothing but potter in the garden but today I fee suitably content having solved the world’s problems <twitches><twitches again>