Growing my own small veggie/herb patch and buying locally
grown produce whenever I can is keeping me in tune with eating seasonally.
Although I haven’t set myself any kind of formal challenge to only eat locally,
I am trying my best to do so to keep food fresh and reduce food miles.
The photos above is a small sample of what I picked from my
own garden patch yesterday: Marigolds, basil, Vietnamese mint, lemon grass and a
few tiny tomatoes. I have not had great success with the tomatoes, sadly, but I’m
not giving up. The tiny yellow pears have a heap more fruit ripening....
And the photo above is what I brought home with me from the
roadside stalls I visited on New Year’s Day. Locally grown coffee, coriander,
squash, bananas, snake beans, chokos, tomatoes and at the back there, a bundle
of hessian coffee bags to re-use at home (craft ideas, anyone?).
The produce above cost me just over $20. Not bad for organic
food. The tomatoes were $5 for a 2.5kg box – organic and vine-ripened tomatoes at
$2kg. Wow! I will have to preserve these somehow.
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| This pic was taken through instagram. Come find me there as thebyronlife |
Inspired by that bunch of sweet coriander, along with
lemongrass, basil and mint growing in my garden, I have tested out a new-to-me
recipe that I happily share with you today. This salsa is a spicy Thai-style that
works wonderfully with either tofu, chicken or fish on a bed of rice. We
steamed those snake beans as a side-dish, too.
CHILLI AND LEMONGRASS SALSA
1 x red chilli (seeds removed)
2 x lemongrass stalks
1 x tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
Good handful of Coriander
Good handful of sweet basil leaves
A few Vietnamese Mint leaves (or Thai basil if you have
some)
2 x tablespoons soya sauce
Juice of 3 limes (or more if you want it more watery)
1 x teaspoon sugar or honey
METHOD:
Very finely chop the herbs and chilli. Make sure you remove
the chilli seeds and the tough outer leaves of the lemon grass. Finely grate
the ginger
Combine these with the sugar, soy sauce and lime juice.
Cover and refrigerate for an hour or more.
Serve over cooked tofu or meat on a bed of rice.
You could also use this as a marinade.
x
Megan
3 comments:
Yum. That is a post full of goodness. One of my goals for 2012 is to think more about the food I'm eating and where it comes from. Lots more farmers markets for me I hope.
Happy New Year lovely.
The yellow pear toms are divine. If you have a glut they make wonderful soup. With your other toms reduce them to purée and either pasteurize them or freeze them. Tomato soup uses quite a lot of them as well. I have made ketchup but its very time consuming and heavy on energy use.
Looking forward to eating fresh tomatoes again next week as we are visiting Oz fro two months. Bon courage with your veggie growing from a veteran of 40 years who carried on doing it when everyone thought we were crazy!
Helen in France
Ooh, that looks so good, the colours are divine! Will be adding it to our menu plan :)
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