Sometimes the weather isn’t right for outside gardening. Sometimes you don’t have access to a garden. Sometimes you want to try something new to get your kids interested in growing things. Here are three things you can grow without leaving your house. And three other things you can cook when you’ve finished gardening.
windowsill herbs
Dig up some herbs and plant them in pots on your windowsill or buy some from the supermarket and pot them up in bigger pots to give them a longer life. I’ve got chives, parsley and marjoram.
homegrown mushrooms
Grow your own mushrooms. If you’re in the Wairarapa, Parkvale sells a bucket for $15 or in Hawke’s Bay you can find them from Mytopia at the Hastings Farmers’ market. Mushroom Gourmet has a variety of mushroom kits for sale by mail order. I noticed Palmers Garden centre in Plimmerton stocks their oyster mushroom kit.
sprout your own
Grow your own sprouts from seed. In about a week you’ll have something interesting to add to your salad. I’ve tried lentil, radish, mustard and now fenugreek. Rinse and drain them twice a day. Kings Seeds sells both the mesh jar-lids and seeds or Commonsense Organics in Wellington has a range of sprouters and seeds.
watercress soup
I think watercress soup benefits from a rich meat-stock base, but vegetarians would probably disagree and substitute a well-made vegetable stock. you can substitute any leafy greens if you don’t have watercress. serves two.
large knob of butter
a small onion, finely chopped or a handful of garlic chives
½ litre well-made stock - chicken, game or vegetable
large bunch of watercress
1 large potato, cooked and diced
a dollop of sour cream and snipped chives to garnish
2 eggs (optional)
melt the butter gently in a large pan. cook the onion or garlic chives until soft but not coloured. add the potato and stock and bring to the boil. wash the watercress well and remove any tough stems. chop roughly and add to the pan. return to the boil and simmer for a minute. turn off the heat and blend with a stick blender or in a food processor. taste and season with salt, pepper and grated nutmeg to taste. reheat without boiling and serve garnished with cream and chives. float a poached egg in the centre of each bowl to make lunch.
thai fish cakes
a mid-week dinner staple in this household. serves two for dinner with enough left over for at least one lunch.
450g white fish, boned and skinned
3 tblsp cornflour
1 tblsp fish sauce
1 egg
1 tsp Thai curry paste (red or green)
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
100g green beans (frozen are fine)
2 spring onions
bunch of coriander leaves
2 tablespoons oil for shallow frying
put the fish in a food processor and process until smooth - about 20 seconds. add the cornflour, fish sauce, egg, curry paste and chilli. pulse again until well combined. slice the green beans, chop the spring onions and coriander leaves finely. mix into the fish. using wet hands, form tablespoons of the mixture into patties. heat the oil and cook the fishcakes in batches until golden on both sides. serve with rice, salad and Thai sweet chilli sauce.
lemon curd
lemon curd is delicious spread on scones, pikelets or freshly made bread. I mix it with natural yoghurt as a fruit topping, use it as a filing for mini tartlet cases or make a lemon ice-cream by rippling it through slightly softened boughten vanilla ice-cream.
3 eggs
100g butter
100g sugar
3 lemons (scrub them well if they are not organically grown)
find a mixing bowl that will sit comfortably over a medium saucepan. you need to be able to fill the pan 1/3 full and for the bottom of the bowl to still be above the water. break the eggs into the bowl and beat until smooth. grate the rind finely from the lemon using a grater. try not to grate any of the white pith. squeeze the juice from the lemons. add the lemon juice and rind, sugar and butter to the eggs in the bowl. fill the saucepan 1/3 full of water and heat the water gently until it’s just simmering. sit the bowl on top of the pan and stir constantly until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. it should take about 10 minutes. strain into a sterilised jar and keep in the fridge for up to two weeks. makes about enough to fill one 450ml jar.
