The conditions for growing vegetables are ideal at the moment throughout New Zealand; warm, with plenty of rain – you can almost see the garden growing before your very eyes! It’s not too late to get planting if you haven’t already – grab some seedlings at your local garden centre today and enjoy a Christmas harvest of delicious greens.
Oily Rag gardens everywhere are bursting with vegetables; broccoli, cauliflower, and silver beet in particular. So we went looking for what readers have to say about cooking these vegetables of abundance.
VR Lilley has this recipe for broccoli stem soup, which is a great way to use up those tough broccoli stems. “You will need: 1 onion (diced), 1 large broccoli stalk (diced), any leftover broccoli florets, 1 large potato, 1 vege stock cube dissolved in 2 cups of water, 1 teaspoon of butter, 1/4 cup of milk or cream, and salt and pepper. Sauté onion in butter till clear. Add broccoli and potato. Cover with vege stock and simmer for 30 minutes till very tender. Blend and season. Reheat with a little milk or cream. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of cheese if you like.”
ANG from Masterton writes, “If you already have broccoli and a recipe calls for a courgette, which you don’t have, you can use the broccoli stalk instead. Broccoli leaves are also edible, raw or cooked.”
Jackie says, “The stalks of broccoli can be peeled, chopped and cooked with the florets. After cooking, mix with hummus, or you can use hummus as a dip. An eye specialist once told me that broccoli is good for eyes, and should be eaten every day. Cauliflower is delicious with hummus, also silver beet.”
It’s also timely to repeat the tip from Cole from Auckland. “Once you have cut the head off your broccoli plant instead of pulling out and starting again, leave it in. Smaller heads grow out just above where the leaves join the stem. You can keep eating broccoli for months. I did this a few years ago and we ate broccoli at least 2 or 3 times a week for about 4 months off 8 broccoli plants.”
Lorraine has this tip to make silver beet more appealing to youngsters. “This is a useful way to use as little or as much silver beet as you prefer. I use four leaves of silver beet chopped finely, in a batter mixture of 3/4 cup flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 or 2 eggs whisked, and milk to thin. Fry the mixture in a little hot oil. It’s lovely with tomato sauce, which should appeal to children.” Who can disagree with that – adding tomato sauce to anything usually does the trick!
Hammelschwanz from Whakatane has this cunning tip. “Make a thick white sauce with whole milk and add finely pureed silver beet or spinach. The creaminess hides that ‘teeth blunting’ feeling. Serve the vegetable with mashed potatoes and a fried or poached egg. For variation, try adding a little vegetable stock powder or nutmeg to the blended vegetable and sauce mix.”
L and P writes, “What follows works just as well with spinach as silver beet and is delicious. Here are the ingredients for a meal for four: 750 grams of silver beet, 2 eggs, 6 tablespoons flour, 500 grams cottage cheese, 1/4 teaspoon salt, nutmeg, freshly ground pepper, and 1½ cups grated tasty cheese. Wash the silver beet, trim and chop finely; cook and drain squeezing out excess water. Beat eggs and flour together until smooth, add silver beet, cottage cheese, salt, nutmeg and pepper combining them well. Put into a well greased baking dish, sprinkling more grated cheese over the top. Bake uncovered at 180 degrees for 45 minutes; it can be eaten hot or cold. A decadent option is to chop and precook a couple of rashers of bacon sprinkling these and the bacon fat over the top a little prior to serving.”
John from Whangarei writes, “One of our favourite recipes is home grown cauliflower with cheese sauce. It’s so simple even a novice cook like me can do it. Break the cauliflower into small florets. Place in water and bring to the boil, then reduce to a medium heat for about 5 minutes. While the cauliflower is simmering, make the cheese sauce. I melt some butter in a pot, and then add an equal amount of flour. Mix, then add a small amount of milk while the pot is still hot. Whisk it briskly to until smooth then progressively add more milk, continually mixing to keep it smooth. Then add grated cheese. Keep mixing and adding cheese until the sauce is thick and creamy. Put the cooked cauliflower into a baking dish, pour the sauce evenly over the top, and then add a little grated cheese as a topping. Bake in a moderate oven for abut 15 minutes. Delicious.”
Don’t forget to send us your tips and queries so we can share them with the oily rag community – you can do that by visiting the oily rag website (www.oilyrag.co.nz) or by writing to Living off the Smell of an Oily Rag, PO Box 984, Whangarei.