Ode to Alliums - Curing and Braiding

Where would we be without the onion family? That pungent sweet deliciousness that adds flavour to everything. They even have pretty flowers that the bees and butterflies adore. I'm a sucker for for an umbel, especially a spherical one, and leave many leeks and onions in the vegie patch just to enjoy their flowers. This year, from the onion family, we have grown, onions - red/white and brown, leeks - perennial and standard, chives, spring onions, golden shallots and garlic, lots of garlic. We also have a little angled onion weed (Allium triquetrum) growing that is a weed I have been removing, but all parts of it are edible, and I hear it's currently all the rage in expensive Melbourne restaurants.

I let a few red onions self seed last summer, the seedlings popped up all by themselves in winter and I transplanted them successfully to a new spot. Garden volunteers are awesome.

 Spring onion flowers, I find spring onions will happily self seed and multiply if left to their own devices. Spring onions are great as they are super tough and if you cut them at the base they will re-sprout,  providing you with a never-ending supply. Even dug up ends can be put back in the ground, they're so forgiving. So tasty in summer salads.  Garlic and onions are far more finicky and do best if planted close to the winter solstice, if planted too early they bolt to flower and don't produce bulbs.  They also don't care much for competition and do best if given a space of their own in the vegie patch.

 The onions were falling over so I figured it was time to harvest, they also had a tell tale soft spot at the point where the leaves divide in two.  I also wanted the space they were growing in to plant my summer crops. Some have been braided and are curing in the shade.  The smaller ones I chopped up to caramelise, lots of cooking in oil on a medium heat.

 It is so disappointing how much onion shrinks, I though I was making a truck load of caramelised onion but it ended up to be a bowl full. I turned it into a very quick and easy BILL GRANGER’S CARAMELISED ONION TART, find the recipe here. 

I stopped watering the garlic a couple of weeks prior to harvest, they were falling over, so I pulled them and let them dry a little in the sun.

Braiding hair has never been a skill I learnt successfully and I have found braiding garlic similarly challenging.  I have watched the you tube clips studiously, but it has taken forever for the penny to drop. Here is a great link on how to braid them, my don't look nearly so pretty. Having a lot of garlic means a lot of time cutting of roots, cleaning of dirt, and braiding of garlic. I popped on an old episode of RRR's Dirty Deeds and learnt about gardening whilst bundling. There was also time to watch an old episode of Gardening Australia, all about gardening through drier times.

My favourite garlic of the season has to be Diggers Purple Monaro, sounds like something you could drive but produced wonderfully coloured large bulbs. The bulbs will dry and develop flavour over the next few weeks, we already added some to garlic chicken this week.

 Fortunately there has been plenty of garlic to practice on, I got a little carried away in June. Most of these were grown from the garlic I forgot from last years harvest that had sprouted little cloves to be dug up and transplanted - I find they don't mind this treatment at all.  I have managed to be self sufficient in garlic for the last two years, this year I had the perfect amount with about 5 old bulbs left at harvest time. They keep best braided indoors in a dark cool place.

I am still waiting for the golden shallots to do their thing. the perennial leeks are ever present and our chives are green and long. Thank goodness for onions.

Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy

Not a red rose or a satin heart.

I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.

Here.
It will blind you with tears
like a lover.
It will make your reflection
a wobbling photo of grief.

I am trying to be truthful.

Not a cute card or a kissogram.

I give you an onion.
Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
possessive and faithful
as we are,
for as long as we are.

Take it.
Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring,
if you like.

Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
cling to your knife.

Play Cooking and Slow Roasted Tomatoes

Cooking up a storm in a cubby we found at hard rubbish, we also have a slide from the same place. The treasures to be found on a nature strip, it brings me great sorrow that councils seem to be slowly phasing hard rubbish collections out. 

  

  Succulents and stones on the menu.

 Leaping into some real cooking.

 Peeling home grown garlic for mum. She just adores garlic, and downed 10 roasted cloves with tonight's dinner. Poor little bowerbird tried munching on it raw and soon discovered this is not as pleasant as the caramelised variety.

  

Little one also pulled off the stems as I chopped tomatoes, and more tomatoes.

 Finally getting to the bottom of the basket. our house is overflowing with tomatoes.

Cut in half, placed juicy side up, and lightly sprinkled with salt. Slowly cooked for around 2 hours on 100C. Not much to show for all the chopping but a great way of shrinking the harvest.  I have put bags of these in the freezer and have been adding them to sauces, they impart the most deliciously rich, sweet tomato flavour - a great alternative to tomato paste.

The baking paper they were cooked on, all those caramelised circles would make a delicious Willy Wonka Wall Paper. Had to hold myself back from behaving like Veruca.

Baking, Slow Cooking, Fast Food

Banana and Zuchinni Muffins, a gift for a friend with sad news.

Using some of the garlic harvest.  A bamboo steamer makes an excellent storage container for the bulbs that were lacking stems to plait.

Cherry tomatoes ready for slow roasting.  Halved, salt and peppered, garlic cloves scattered between.  Bake slowly for 2-3 hours on 100 degrees Celsius.I have read recipes that suggested drizzling with oil but I forgot and found it wasn't really necessary.

The little Bowerbird loves garlic, she ate 12 cloves and stank of garlic for two days - some of the cloves could have been a bit more cooked but came out as the tomatoes were done.  It's amazing how they impart their flavour to the things around them, even when in their papery parcels. All that garlic must have served the Little Bowerbird well as the first of the Autumn bugs is doing the rounds in our house, and she's the only one who has been spared.

The biggest Bowerbird couldn't stop eating these slow roasted tomatoes and she doesn't even like tomatoes. So sweet, intense, delicious. I couldn't stop pecking at them.  We had some with pasta and some smeared on toast with marinated fetta.  I froze a bag as well. A great quick way of preserving some of the harvest. I've already made a huge batch of chutney and have another harvest basket demanding my attention.

More home grown tomatoes cooking.  The green ones are green zebras, this year they are huge and quite thin skinned, only lasting a few days when picked, but very tasty.

Used my slow cooked tomato, onion and garlic mix for a pasta sauce and a vegie lasagne.

The home grown carrots keep giving.

An unanniversary dinner.  We never married, so we celebrate the day we met, 21 years ago on the 21st, sounds auspicious.  Wine, takeaway wood fired pizzas, devoured on picnic rugs in the lounge room. Because I was sick of cooking and dishes, and feeling a little lazy, I had the revelation of using newspaper for plates - straight to the compost when finished. Special I know. We rarely get takeaway so this was quite a treat, and our local pizza place under new ownership produced some pretty tasty pizzas.

We've talked about going out for a desert share plate at Mr Carsisi in Kyneton, to continue the celebration, but have all been hunkering in with colds. I got the most beautiful gift from Mr Bowerbird of 20hrs bossing about the house or garden (he even laminated it for me with a month expiry date). Where to begin. So much to do so little time.

I am still daydreaming about that desert share plate. We've had it twice and I am in love.

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