Its so nice to be able to comfortably walk out and about around the garden again. I have been quite surprised at how much my veggie garden has contained itself over the past few months, completely neglected by it's keeper in the later stages of my pregnancy, the rain and natural elements have been kind enough to keep it in relatively good order. These veggies have all been grown from my previous spring planting. The eggplant were slow to grow but certainly impressed once they started producing, a lone cucumber vine appeared 3 months after my cues were picked and pickled, the capsicums just keep coming and the tomatoes seems to have got a second lease of life and are producing more tomatoes they did than earlier in the season. Just one problem though . . .
Anyone got any good green tomato chutney recipes, Something in the area seems to be picking these little lollies off the vine the minute they get a tinge of colour on them, I am presuming it's birds of some kind, I must invest in a net, see if I can save me a few ripe ones.
I've been tossing a bit of capsicum and eggplant into everything lately, unfortunately the eggplant are not a favourite with the kidlets so they're not getting eaten as quickly as I would like them too, Any suggestions on freezing Eggplant or easy peasy yummy recipes?
And for those Baby Watchers out there, here's our little
Laura's latest photo...
Yes, she's smiley and she's chubby!
5 1/2 weeks old
Happy Gardening!
Sweet bubby....
ReplyDeleteEggplants, I have just pickled some...but it may not be a fav with the kids either...you can cut in half, scoop a portion of flesh out...and leave the shell to boil to soften then put a mince/rest of eggplant/bread crumbs sort of mix to stuff the halves with...plonk them in a baking dish with some tomato (pasta) sauce...they may like them? Im just waiting for my next lot to be ready to do this ....other than that, you can slice them, salt them, rinse them and then flour and egg em...fry them? Anything with eggplant is nice with the pasta sauce I find...
Your like the eggplant queen Suzanne! I've always envied your gorgeous purple globes... :)
DeleteJust found your blog, enjoying your garden, kitchen and lovely babies. Baba ganoush for the eggplants? I imagine it would freeze well for a lovely grown up dip all year. Or chop it and fry it, and do what I do with veg the kids don't like, puree it, freeze it in ice cube trays, bag it up, then add it to stews all year. It will add a lovely creamy, smoky flavour and they'll never know! Well done for even thinking about your garden with a five week old baby!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea, I could use it for baby food!!
DeleteOh I just love her to bits!
ReplyDeleteWhat glorious produce! We are enjoying eggplants too....we love putting them on pizzas. love the photo of baby!
ReplyDeleteOh gorgeous bubba, and the garden harvest looks amazing! Last year I had success with roasting eggplants, by roasting them, then scraping the flesh out and freezing it. It went well into casseroles, spaghetti sauces, on pizza. The kids ate it without even knowing!
ReplyDeleteYOur nest is thriving right now with all that fabulous abundance! Laura is just beautiful and so smiley already! As for the veges...that patch is amazing. There must be some dynamite chook poo in there!
ReplyDeleteThanks Annie, my nest is thriving! Inside and out!
DeleteOooh chubby baby smiles, how cute is she! The garden looks awesome. We've been putting eggplants on the bbq in thin slices, they go all creamy and delicious and have brought one of the kids on board in their favour. Also yum sliced thinly on top of pizza.
ReplyDeleteLast year I made a red and green tomato chutney using the red tomato chutney recipe and it worked out fine, just added a little extra sugar. It's amazing how most tomatoes will ripen inside, even when they are quite green.
Amazingly most of my tomatoes have ripened, so there may not be any chutney needed to be made just yet!
Deletecongrats on little lovely Laura, she has a gorgeous smile. we are expecting number 4 in June (catching up to you guys).
ReplyDeletethose eggplants and capsicums are very impressive, if not a little enviable. we have never had much luck with either, although we are still getting some delightful tomato surprises in the patch, and the ship has just come in with our choko vine. Having lots of fun inventing new things to do with them.
My kids will eat eggplant as baba ganoush and very occasionally as caponata (although I suspect they mostly eat the tomato and olives and play with hide the eggplant with it most of the time). Anything else they struggle with I have to say.
ReplyDeleteI love green tomato chutney! The edmonds cookbook has a great recipe. I'll give you a copy if you don't have an edmonds cookbook. What a gorgeous little bundle she is and so bright and alert! It's making me clucky for another one.
ReplyDeleteI've not heard of an edmonds cook book, I'll have to goggle this one, and Yes I would love a copy of the recipe.
DeleteLove your blog! With the eggplant my little cousins (3 and almost 5 years old), which I will use as examples as I have no children, love it when I cook the eggplant as chips - just coat with flour, egg and breadcrumbs and either shallow fry or oven bake, just like chips. Or eggplant lasagne - just use thinly sliced eggplant instead of pasta sheets. Sorry, I never know what to do with green tomatoes, they just go on the kitchen windowsill and I hope they have enough heat to go red!
ReplyDeletegreat idea Bek, I have had these deep fried eggplant chips before, they are tasty!
DeleteI just made a batch of Nigel Slater's green tomato chutney - easy and delicious, just google it.
ReplyDeleteMy family love my brinjal paté: Halve 2 large or 3 small brinjals lengthways, rub with olive oil and roast at med temp until tender. Puree with a squeeze of lemon juice, salt to taste, a fat clove of garlic, and half a cup each of cream cheese, yoghurt and mayonnaise.
I am pretty sure your kids will be won over with this one.
We also love the egg-coated, thinly sliced eggplant. Once sliced, you dip in egg and put in the pan. Once the egg coating is brown, flip them over. They only take a minute and then put salt and pepper or even a bit of feta. Amazingly, they taste like piklets!
ReplyDeleteYou could try ratatouille:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/french/ratatouille.html
It improves with being kept a day or so in the fridge.
Sandra
http://livingin22.blogspot.com
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