Hola!
I thought to begin today’s post with a Zinnia…for Zara of Las Ninas Textiles Co, who has been with us these last couple of days for a ‘pop-up’ of her joyful, colour-filled collection of clothing; all of which is so beautifully hand-made by traditional methods…the farming, the spinning, the stitching and embroidery, created by the skilled artisans with whom she has long collaborated in Latin America.
The Zinnia, just happens to be Zara’s favourite flower, and one with which I have been besotted these many years.
Lucky for us, late summer is the season in which it happily flowers its heart out, tying in with every exquisite stitch on Zara’s racks…making me happy as can be! (I might return to the Zinnia again in a post some time soon, when I have more time to explain my fascination, as today, we expect more visitors and so I’m betwixt and between, my head in a whirl!)
What fun I’ve had though, picking blooms of all the wild colours on display in the late summer garden, to amplify the pigments of Zara’s detailing. Dahlias of vivid pinks, through sunset and burgundy hues; roses from scarlet to the most pure pink of pinks…
To glorious rich heads of burgundy amaranth and golden-yellow, button tansy…
To see more details of the garments in Zara’s pop-up, you can take a squizz at the instagram post I popped up last night here.
I’ve had fun with morsels for guests to eat too, as they come and go…with Lemon Verbena and Rose Petal Tisane for early morning and late afternoon visitors, to Gazpacho (just couldn’t resist that Spanish / Latin American influence!), alongside a slice of my favourite you know what…Pumpernickel Soda Bread with good old Philly (can’t explain it…there’s something so Nanna about it that I often can’t resist and it’s perfect with this little combination) and a drizzle of pesto.
Someone asked for the Gazpacho recipe, so I’ll share it with you here. Which brings me to…you know I just can’t concentrate on a long post today as there are still visitors to the pop-up expected, so I’m not in my usual writing frame of mind.
Therefore, I’m going to share a post I prepared earlier! The RECIPE INDEX part two…which takes us from Sprinter ‘til Christmas…so you’ll be able to refer back to all the recipes I’ve mentioned since publishing the first Recipe Index: I hope you realise you can find all the posts to date, including that first Recipe Index, listed in the app. I’ve cross-referenced the index with their relevant posts, to make all the recipes I’ve included so far, easy for both you and me to find! I’m guessing there will be another index down the track, to pick up the recipes I’ve missed out mentioning so far, that I have on repeat as the seasons come and go.
So….whilst I’ll include the usual Productive Garden notes at the bottom of the post as always, I apologise for an otherwise abbreviated version this week. (The last visitors will need a teaspoon of my experimental Jelly Wine Palm Ice Cream - I couldn’t resist making it, as that tree, Butia capitata also hails from South America and the rich orange colour of the fruit it produces in such enormous bunches (in season now) is also on repeat in Zara’s textiles…I know…I’m bonkers! (There was an image of the fruit in last week’s post…and I’ve just added an image of the ice cream at the very bottom here, before hitting ‘send’!)
GLENMORE GAZPACHO - originally by Anastasia Georgieu @foodologygrams which she shared at a cooking class here years and years ago: I know when I’m onto a good thing…I stick to it!
Ingredients
6 large ripe tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 large Lebanese cucumber
1 medium red onion
1 medium red capsicum
handful mint and basil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
Method
crush the garlic with sea salt, chop the onion, cucumber and tomatoes; remove the seeds and white part of the capsicum (I just learned the white part is called a placenta…curious!) and chop
remove the basil and mint leaves from their stems
in a blender or food processor, puree the tomato, garlic and half the onion
add all the other ingredients and pulse, ‘til all the vegetables are well chopped but not pureed, so the Gazpacho is of a chunky consistency
place in the fridge for at least a few hours so the flavours can infuse
There you have it. No need to be too precise about the size of the veg and I often add extra tomatoes. The wonderful thing is…you can make it a day or two in advance and know it will be good to go. I find it keeps well in the fridge for a number of days so it’s such a beautiful, refreshing cold soup to have on standby on hot days.
While I’m here….
Mickey’s Pesto
Ingredients
garden basil (I like to use Genovese which has a huge leaf) - a good, full handful can be enough
a clove or two of garlic
pine nuts - a smattering
parmigiano - a smattering
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt & pepper
Method
so already you’ll have gathered I go by eye! To be honest I often make pistou of basil (just as I do all the other herbs I’ve mentioned…the parsley and fennel fronds in particular, as well as coriander) so without the pine nuts or cheese
but if I do want actual Pesto, I gently toss a scant handful of pine nuts in a dry pan to toast and rub a wedge of parmigiano over the microplane to make a fresh little mound
crush the garlic with a little sea salt
remove the basil leaves from their stems
pop all the ingredients in a food processor (if I’m making a tiny amount I might use a mortar & pestle but usually I make enough to warrant the blender)
I know…it’s not precise…but I don’t think you can go too far wrong!
How I hope this week has seen you well in the swing of things and I’ll look forward to catching you at the next post.
Warm wishes as always
Mickey x
Productive garden notes:
Eating from the garden:
Potatoes, onions, garlic, cucumbers, aubergines, zucchinis, tomatoes, coloured chard and spinach, lettuce, rocket. Figs! Many figs! Jelly Wine Palm fruits. Basil, lovage, mint, rosemary, thyme, chives. Beans…a handful! Corn…a few sweet cobs
Going / gone:
Seed saving: parsnip, beetroot, spinach, chard, parsley, land cress
Sowing: it’s more a question of what’s self-sowing…fennel, parsley, land cress but still a bit too early here to sow on purpose
Planting: brassica and lettuce seedlings - I intend to begin the crop rotation process this weekend
Ornamental garden notes:
Picking for the house: Roses, magnolias, frangipanis, tansy, dahlias, Cottonwood hibiscus, amaranth
Perfumes and aromas: have been less this last week after the explosion of perfume these last weeks. Still the frangipani, magnolia, rose and fig…the evening and early morning hint of Nicotiana in the kitchen garden, the pungent tansy and dusty, drying fennel
Pruning and other: a great deal of weeding and a little pre-crop rotation prep - barrows of spent stems that had dropped their seed and various tweaking of too-long growth throughout the garden alongside my every summer weekend tomato tying and rose deadheading
