Garden to Table

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Comment by Giulio Sturla on October 18, 2010 at 10:17pm

Comment by Angie Gibbons on October 16, 2010 at 11:23am

Interesting recipes http://www.maorifood.com/index.htm

and watch the youtube - |Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oc86WLRmJI

part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pshQQWFFPVs

Comment by Angie Gibbons on October 8, 2010 at 7:56am

Chefs name restaurant gardens 2010's top trend

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&obj...

Comment by Angie Gibbons on September 21, 2010 at 6:45am

Hi Anja
I will message you about boating seperatly, wont get off subject to much:

I saw a doco on solar ovens years ago and wanted one ever since, amazing plans you found. The ones i have seen, the food sits inside, and you can roast, steam, bake bread etc etc. Also saw them being used to dry herbs!
You maybe even able to smoke fish in it, you would have to test this, very dry woodchips on the bottom of a cast iron pot ,grate then (start of bbq or gas hob) see if it smolders, then pop fish in, thin fish should not take long. i have smoked whole chickens also, very tasty! http://www.fishingmag.co.nz/smoker.htm - my dad also uses brown sugar in his smoking mixture with salt. Now dad is older, he has a smoker like pictured, but sets the stuff onthe gass burner on low rather than the meths.

Boating quick greens - I have starting thinking how i would garden on a boat:

Microgreens, sprouts etc
Types of tree lettuce, pick only leaves
Basic grows quick and tolarates salt
Watercress is one playing with at moment - keeping some in a jar to see how well i can grow.
lots and lots of herbs
Radish - this can also be pickled
Collard greens or a kale, youcan pic leaves from early stage for cabbage flavour - you just have to plant many like you are raising for seed them let them go a little longer.
Try also some http://www.windowfarms.org/-0 i am sure could adapted to boats
better, run will write more later
Angie

Comment by Anja Richards on September 20, 2010 at 11:09pm

Hi group members,
I am so pumped following the recent posts....
* Angie I can't wait to try lemon marinated raw fish
* Keep the recipes coming - I love smoked fish - has anyone smoked their own, how did it go, what did you use
* Giulio - re what did I want to pickle/preserve - I bought a book on Japanese pickling - and they seem to use almost any vegetable - but a lot of recipes had a lot of salt - any suggestions
* A fellow yachtie - who circumnavigated taking 8 yrs - grew herb and veg on board - they would have to ditch this just before entering another country - but then would get out the seeds and start again - Hopefully next cruise we will have enough room to try this
* Any suggestions on what would grow quickly, and be good to grow in boxes in a marine environment?
* Jonny reading your words regarding benefits of local food brought back some lovely memories:
- when I was at school the new building plans included a separate room for yr 12 students to use for recess and lunch as well as the odd tutorial. As students we decided to throw a thank you lunch to the people who had made this possible. A few years earlier (a few years after my parents had migrated to OZ with 5 kids 2 in nappies) when we finally got a 1/4 acre block and built our home, mum spent ages removing all the 3 corner jacks before starting a lovely garden - 12 different fruit trees and lots of vegetables. One of the trees she planted was labelled as a granny smith - but the apples were red - so sweet and juicy that with the first bite the juice actually (I kid you not) dripped from your elbow. It was a bowl of these apples I took to the lunch. The next day I had to bring another bowl full - they were so popular...
- years later, married with two kids, my husband who had told me he did not like corn on the cob watched the kids and I enjoying our home grown corn and saw us enjoying ourselves so much that he gave it a go and became a convert
- We have also loved visiting markets in all the countries we visit - in Sudan we saw little vegetable stalls with a roof over with the traders reclined on the stalls which actually proved to be enclosed underneath where the vegetables were kept unbeleivably fresh
In Yemen our taxi driver looked in the bag of capcicum I had bought gave it back to the trader and said give her something better than this

The thing that has me really pumped though is the solar oven – new to me – I immediately looked it up and found a lovely link http://solarcooking.org/plans/Cookerbo.pdf for a Tracking Solar Cooker. We are currently having a boat built and I really wanted a BBQ on the fly bridge. The builder really did not want to run gas pipe up to there as they are very cautious to not introduce possible leak areas – however with this I will be able to have a Tracking Solar Cooker installed – much better, bigger range of what I can do with it and no fuel and no gas pipe
Angie I could hug you
What sort of boat, what sort of trips are you dreaming of?
Cheers, Anja

Comment by Angie Gibbons on September 20, 2010 at 4:50pm

Hi, I like using lemon to cook meats and fish:

Raw fish, marinated in lemon for a few hours or overnight, then coconut cream, tomatoes, red or spring onion, salt and pepper. If you like you can add pepper, cucumber, chili etc

We also make biltog and Jerky

I want a solar oven, just need to find a good design., am researching at the moment at using my mini glass house, cast iron pot for cooking - testing when it heats up a little. I already use it to rise bread, dont have a hot water cupboard.

i steam veg, fish, chicken where ever i can. Kumara, potato are better steamed!

Anja your sailing stories are amazing, in the future we hope to get a boat, but just paying off a landbased mortage!

Angie

Comment by Giulio Sturla on September 20, 2010 at 2:35pm

What kind of foods do you want to preserve without salt? Anja

Comment by Giulio Sturla on September 20, 2010 at 2:29pm

Eating local means more for the local economy. According to a study by the New Economics Foundation in London, a dollar spent locally generates twice as much income for the lacal economy. When business are not owned locally, mony leaves the community at every transaction
Locally grown produce is fresher. While produce that is purchased in the supermarket has been in transit or cold-stored for days or weeks, produce that you purchase at your local farmers market has been picked within 24 hours of your purchase. This freshness not only affects the taste of your food, but the ntritional value which declines with time.
Local food tastes better. Ever tried a tomato, picked from an outside vine, within 24 hours? All it needs some sea salt, some cracked pepper and a bunch of napkins. Enough said.
Locally grown fruits and vegetables have longer to ripen. Because the produce will be handled less, locally grown fruit does not have to be "rugged" or stand up to the rigors of shipping and long storage periods. This means that you are going to be getting peaches so ripe that they fall apart as you eat them, figs that would have been smashed to bit if they were sold using traditional methods, and tomatoes that were ripened until the last possible minute on the vine.
Eating local is better for air quality and pollution than organic. In a March 2005 study by the journal Food Policy, it was found that the miles that organic food travels to our plate creats environmental damage that outweighs the benefit of buying organic.
Buying local keeps us in touch with the seasons. By eating with the seasons, we are eating foods when thay are at their peak taste, are most abundant and least expensive.
Buying locallly grown food is fodder for a wonderful story. Whether its the farmer who brings carrots and calvo nero to the market or the farmer who brings his organic lambs to the restaurant, knowing part of the story about your food is such apowerful part of enjoying a meal.
Eating local protects us from bioterrorism. Food with less distance to travel from farm gate to dinner plate has less susceptibility to harmful contamination.
Local food translates to more variety. When a farmer is producing food that will not travel a long distance, will ave a shorter shelf life anddoes not have a high-yield demand, the farmer is free to try small crops of various fruits and vegetables that would probably never make it to a large supermarket. Supermarkets are only interested in Name Brand produce: Cos lettuce, Mesclun mix, Red Delicious apples, Nadine potatoes. Local growers, farmers and gardners often play with their crops from year to year produceing amazing results often seen only once, and that is the true beauty of local, seasonal food.
Supporting local providers supports responsible land development. When you buy local, you give those with local open space- farms and pastures- an economic reason to stay open and undeveloped. Have you ever heard of a property developer knocking down a mall to build a farm?
Jonny Schwass

Comment by Anja Richards on September 20, 2010 at 2:22pm

“Raw or Near Raw Eating Ideas”


I absolutely love the “Cook it Raw” video posted by Guilio Sturla

I wonder if there is any interest in starting a library of “Raw or Near Raw Eating Ideas” especially ideas from various cultures

· When we were in Yemen we came across a cafe that was decorated with strings of mangoes hanging from the roof. They served a drink made up purely of chilled pulped mango in a pint glass – this had to be one of the best desserts ever. I served my version of this after an Indian curry meal in smaller glasses with a teaspoon. One large mango mixed with 3 crushed ice cubes was enough for 3 of us.

· In Panama we came across cruisers who used a pudding bowl to bring their rice to the boil then seal with the lid, and store inside a hollow bean bag. It would continue to cook while they sailed.

· I believe the best philosophy with food is to keep it simple – for me one of the best flavours is a lightly boiled/poached egg

· Traditionally the Dutch used to hang a leg of meat in the fire place to smoke and make sausages, some of which were also smoked. In winter they would rely on root vegetables, and red and white cabbage, kale, and spinach etc including pickling. None of these things needed refrigeration. Today we use a low energy form of this when for example we steam the potato and heat the sauerkraut in the same pan as the smoked sausage (or rook worst)

· I am interested to find out how to pickle what I grow without having to use a lot of salt – any suggestions???

· Off shore cruising boats tend to have quite small ovens with only one shelf. As I am usually paranoid about running out of gas – and check all recipes according to the amount of gas they need - I have been known to carefully balance 4-5 oven trays on top of each other. It is a rule of mine that I will not run the oven for just one thing – I try to coordinate myself so that I make full use of all the oven space/heat.

· Personal cruising boats are a great way to become energy wise as you provide your own energy i.e. gas bottle, solar, wind, alternator and heaven forbid generator. A useful way to check the flow of energy is to use amp meters – an idea now being used more in homes. Although most boats obtain household power from the alternator when the engine is running, one clever boat – who barely ever ran his engine – set his alternator up to obtain power for his household needs from the prop flowing backwards through the water when he sailed – very clever. He also set the spare cabin up as a work shop and when he arrived in The Maldives, offered to sharpen all their tools on his lathe – a gesture much appreciated

Sorry to ramble, but I am passionate about this and really look forward to hearing everyone’s gems

Cheers Anja

Comment by Angie Gibbons on September 20, 2010 at 1:28pm

Yum, can I come for dinner!

We also had an Ooooby feast
Steamed Candy Kumara (ooooby), artichokes (thanks workforce), Organic salmon and watercress (thanks Helen Cook)!

Sundy night is becoming ooooby night for our household, what does not come out of the garden usually comes from Ooooby.

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