Merryn's Menu: Garden Share Collective ~April 2014

Merryn's Menu: Garden Share Collective ~April 2014: The slow transition through Autumn between Summer and Winter seems to last forever. The rain this Autumn has been welcome and very refres...

Merryn's Menu: Chilli Furikake

Merryn's Menu: Chilli Furikake: I love Chilli - I am possibly addicted to Chilli but it is healthy and harmless. I also like swimming.  Once when I was when competing

Madagascar Bean Medley

We have a very full house at the moment.

MOH (My other half) plus two adults, two teenagers and my good self but I do love the busyness of it all.

I try to keep cooking light and simple over our Summer holiday, especially avoiding baking in a hot kitchen. 

This is an easy dish of Madagascar beans with spinach, garlic and chilli.

 The garden is flourishing, as are our Madagascar beans.

 I bought this plant from an online nursery not knowing how well  it would grow. 

It came as a 40cm high thin vine wrapped around an equally thin stake.

The Madagascar bean is at the front, there is definitely one central plant,

 but there would be more vines as it continually self seeds and grows.   

We planted it next to a 6 metre wooden stake, giving it room to grow.

The pods are plentiful, yielding one or two seeds each.  They are similar to a lima bean.

The seeds are also similar to borlotti beans with their maroon tinge of colour.

                                                                      To cook this Madagascar bean dish, soak the
beans in water for about 8 hours.

Then drain them and add fresh water then cook for approximately 45 minutes, until just soft.

Pour off the water and leave them to drain.

Wash and shred spinach leaves and chop garlic cloves.

Heat a little olive oil in a hot frying pan, add garlic then cook for 30 seconds.

Then add the spinach leaves and toss for 2 minutes, until the spinach is wilted.

Put the drained Madagascar beans in and toss for a futher 2 minutes, until heated through.

I added chopped fresh chilli for garnish but you can easily cook the chilli with the garlic, if preferred.

This gorgeous dish, created from our own bean bush,

when I cooked it the household was impatient that

it took longer to serve as I stopped to take photographs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Madagascar Beans with Spinach and Garlic

1.5 cups dried Madagascar beans (You could use borlotti, lima or cannellini beans instead)
Water to cover

3 spinach leaves, washed and shredded

2 small cloves of garlic, chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

1 red chilli, seeds removed and chopped, for garnish

Soak the beans overnight in cold water,  then rinse and add fresh water.
Bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes, until soft.  Drain and reserve.

Heat a medium frying pan to medium-hot.  Add olive oil and cook garlic for 30 seconds.

Add spinach, tossing or stirring for 2 minutes.

Pour in beans and toss for another 2 minutes, until heated through.

Serve, with chopped chilli for garnish.

A great side dish for 6 people.

Or double this amount to serve with extra olive oil and crusty bread with a green side salad as the main meal.

How do you serve your side dish of beans?

Buon appetito!  Enjoy, cheers Merryn

Smoked Salt

  Backyard Smoked Salt

I had considered getting a backyard smoker for a while.   I scoured web sites, read reviews from smoking forums, researched smoker recipes and finally took the plunge and purchased a smoker.
Everyone likes a new kitchen gadget and this is an exciting addition to my cooking collection.

After arriving at the designated shop I dutifully wrestled the three tiered smoker into the back of my car from a trolley.  Driving home I was exhilarated thinking of all the smoked goodies I would be cooking that evening.

 


Driving to the rear of our home I was still excited.   After pulling up as close as possible to the back door, I took the huge box out of my car and struggled to carry the smoker.  The box said it weighed less than 30kg, I am almost positive that weight statement is incorrect but maybe it was purely the bulky shape that was so awkward.






Nevertheless I finally arrived at the back door manhandling it beautifully into position where I set about constructing it.  Actually, first I asked MOH (my other half) if he would do it but he grinned and said 'you wanted it - you put it together'.   So I did.  I painfully took out everything and checked it was all there, then screwed the sides and back together.  Putting the gas burning unit together was a little more tricky but 1 hour later and it was assembled (the burner/ignition box that is) but the bottom box did not want to unite with the top smoker unit!

I was comparing the whole episode to a funny renovating novel where everything took longer than expected.  After being quite confident till this point, I called for a teenager to help and he turned the bottom box upside down and had it connected quickly.  On with the front door, shelves, temperature gauge, vent and then it was connected with the house gas outlet.  Yay!  One small achievement for womankind.

Hickory chips that have been soaked in half water/half white wine for one hour to infuse a lovely aroma into the smoked food.    Drain and let dry before putting into your wood chip box.

You can use any type of wood chips, the choice of variety will influence the flavour of your smoked food.




* Take one cup of coarse rock salt, a few sprigs of fresh thyme and two chopped chillies.

Place into a suitable container (I used stainless steel) or onto a baking tray and place onto the top shelf of your smoker when it has started smoking and reached temperature, in this case, 160celsius.

The herbs with the smoked salt are very satisfying, intensely smoky and delectable. 
The aroma is amazing.  I am now used to smelling like a fire while smoking food, and don't mind it at all.

Remove from the smoker with gloves after 30 minutes and let cool.  When cooled store in a glass jar or a
pepper grinder so you can freshly grind the aromatic salt as required. 

Add to cooked meat or vegetables or grind over fish, chicken or red meat prior to baking.

You will be amazed at how good this salt tastes and the superb addition of it to any recipe.

Please, if you have read this and enjoyed my smoked salt story, let me know as I appreciate all feedback.   Thank you, Merryn :D