juliet | Entries tagged with cooking

I took advantage of a brief sunny period mid-week to go out and rearrange the herb patch.

Sadly I don’t have a very good before photo, but this one from this time last year is a reasonable representation:

Herbs in pots against a fence

This is what it looks like now:

Herbs in pots, in different configuration (see text)

Left to right: strawberry tower (transplanted the strawberries this morning); slab stack with empty pot (for basil), oregano, 2 lavender cuttings, empty pot, another lower empty pot, & a big pot of sage; bay tree at the back; another slab stack with parsley, chives, empty pot, and mint lower down; and a thyme trough at the front.

I moved the concrete slabs very slightly so they’re right back against the fence, and reorientated a couple of lower ones to provide an extra ledge for a plant pot, to make more use of the vertical space. I also repotted the oregano and bay into bigger pots, and the thyme into a shallow trough. I’ve since added a few more empty pots, for a total of 9.

My wanted herb list is:

Basil (lots)
Oregano (lots — will take a couple of root divisions now it’s in that larger pot, although this is not the ideal time for that)
Thyme (want another couple of plants)
Sage (will take cutting in the spring to fill up that big pot)
Chives
Winter savoury
Mint — will probably take cuttings for another pot to go at the other side of the patio, as well
Parsley (lots, which is fine as it has self-seeded EVERYWHERE)
Coriander
Dill
Strawberries (OK, not actually a herb)
Bay
Rosemary — over the other side of the garden, in the ground
Lavender — also planted on the other side, in the ground

With nine empty pots to fill, I make that: basil x 2, another oregano, possibly another parsley, dill x 1, winter savoury x 2 (it’s hard to buy), coriander x 1, and one spare pot in case something else takes my fancy. I’m tempted to try ginger, although it’s not cold-hardy. Any other culinary herbs you think I’m missing out on?

Mirrored from Twisting Vines.

I took advantage of a brief sunny period mid-week to go out and rearrange the herb patch.

Sadly I don’t have a very good before photo, but this one from this time last year is a reasonable representation:

Herbs in pots against a fence

This is what it looks like now:

Herbs in pots, in different configuration (see text)

My wanted herb list is:

Basil (lots)
Oregano (lots — will take a couple of root divisions now it’s in that larger pot, although this is not the ideal time for that)
Thyme (want another couple of plants)
Sage (will take cutting in the spring to fill up that big pot)
Chives
Winter savoury
Mint — will probably take cuttings for another pot to go at the other side of the patio, as well
Parsley (lots, which is fine as it has self-seeded EVERYWHERE)
Coriander
Dill
Strawberries (OK, not actually a herb)
Bay
Rosemary — over the other side of the garden, in the ground
Lavender — also planted on the other side, in the ground

Vegan cooking query!

I would like to be able to make a vegan equivalent of cheesy flapjacks (where by 'equivalent' what I really mean is any kind of savoury flapjack; I'm not that picky). The basic problem here is that in cheese flapjacks the oats are held together by the cheese (and by egg if you use that, although it works OK without). What can I use to substitute for this that's vegan?

Tried so far:
- just using vegan marg, nutritional yeast, and some mustard mixed into the oats. Tasted great, but did not hold together AT ALL and had to be eaten with a spoon.
- as above but with some soya milk to hold the oats together. Tasted OK but consistency all wrong; what I like about flapjacks is their crunchy nature. This was more like solid porridge.

I've seen flour suggested, but fear that that will also bugger up the texture (making it too cakey/bready). Any other ideas?

OK, so, after asking about pans to cook up Finlayfood in, I thought "come on, get over yourself, the pressure cooker has had meat cooked in it before" (it used to belong to my parents).

So I defrosted the bones[0], gave one raw to Fin, and chucked the rest in the pan to stew for 3 hrs.

Turns out that whilst I can handle Finlay tackling a nice raw bone whilst lying on the (linoleum, washable) floor next to me, I cannot really handle 3 HOURS of SMELLY HORRIBLE bones stewing on the stove. Ew ew ew ew. I am starting to feel a little unwell. Plus then you have to dispose of them (hopefully in Marna's bokashi compost) whereas if you just give him them raw, then he disposes of them in his stomach. WHICH IS MUCH TIDIER, being as how it is *inside* of Finlay & thus pleasingly invisible.

(It was a smallish bone this time, but still. Crunch crunch crunch industriously for half an hr, then CRUNCH CRUNCH and a funny gulping sound, and no more bone. I was kind of impressed.)

So. This time, I have a big pan of rice, lentils, carrot, & marrow (well, we weren't going to eat the damn marrow) in bone stock. Next time, he can have the bones neat, and the rice & lentils will be veggie.

ew ew ew ew ew. there are still bones in the sink, cooling off. EW.

[0] free from the traceable-meat organic butcher at Borough Market.

So on my 101 things list I have an item about cooking something new once a week for three months. I started last night with something that only barely counts as new, but there we go. And it is at least seasonal, even sort of traditional.

( Lentils and greens )

This morning started my work year terribly well when I took the bike down & discovered Flat Front Tyre. Dammit. At least I got to fix it in the kitchen (warm) rather than outside (cold). Other than that, today work has occurred at least a bit, so that's good. Not looking forward that much to likely v v cold ride home, though.

Current Mood: chilly
Current Music: Cuckooland