Organic Vegetable Garden – Phase 1 – “Enriching our soil”

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At last…. our journey to begin the organic vegetable garden at The Food Design Agency has begun to take form. It all started with me deciding to get involved with this little project because there is nothing better than your own produce, especially organic! We got in touch with Earth ProBiotic which is a fabulous business with wonderful people that simply want to make the world a better place – and whatever we can do to be “greener” in our world we will do! The best part about this project is that it is extremely simple, you just need a dedicated team to stay on top of the process and voila! You have a fully functioning organic garden. Also, by using food waste to enrich soil instead of just throwing it in the bin for the council to collect you decrease your carbon footprint – which we of course love!

Now don’t get me wrong… this does not happen over night. The process is a bit lengthy but with patience and love you will soon be seeing the results. In our kitchen we have started off with a set amount of specialized buckets for storing our organic waste and we have also been provided with something called Bokashi which is the Probiotic infused with bran to ferment food waste quickly into a valuable soil enricher. So… after each bucket is filled with the mixture of Bokashi and food waste we let it stand for 2 weeks to ferment and then we add it to our beds to feed the plants that we will eventually be planting in the spring time.

A few days ago Earth ProBiotic arrived with their team to start the veggie garden, they do it in sections to make it easier to control where you have “fed” the beds and by doing this you can keep feeding the beds one by one and when you get to the end you simply start at the beginning until you are ready to plant your first crop. They start by digging a 1m squared area about 30cm deep, they pile the sand aside the hole and once they have dug it they add the Bokashi treated food waste that has been fermenting – note: because of this process of storing the food waste in these specially designed buckets there is no fowl smell at all! It smells like very sweet, strong beer which is not offensive to the nose at all – so, we have added a thin layer of the waste to the bottom of our hole, then a thin layer of soil is added, after that a thin layer of compost. After that another layer of organic waste gets added with the remaining soil from your hole on top, patted down gently and then the final stage is to add a bit more compost. Our soil has now been enriched with organic waste. Once this process has been done, we wait for 3 months for the beds to be ready for planting which will be just in time for spring. In the meantime… we dig up more beds as and when our buckets are ready to be buried and keep watering as well to obviously keep the soil moist to quicken the breakdown of the waste.

All in all, we are extremely happy to have finally started this project and I can not wait for phase 2 – “Taking roots”

Lamb, rice and sweet potato tagine

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INGREDIENTS:
 
300g                        rice
1                              onion, finely chopped
1                              leek, finely chopped
3                              garlic cloves, finely chopped
15ml                         ground cinnamon
2                               star anise
4                               cloves
600g                         lamb stewing chunks
100g                         dried apricots
30ml                         chopped mixed herbs
5ml                           seasoning
2                               big sweet potatoes cut into cubes
1L                             lamb stock
 
METHOD:
 
  1. In a pot gently sauté the onion, leek and garlic until soft, add the cinnamon, and whole spices and fry until you can smell the spices.
  2. Add the meat and brown until golden.
  3. Add the sweet potato cut into cubes, the dried apricots, rice and the stock, and allow simmering gently for a few hours until the meat is soft and the rice and potatoes are cooked. If you need to add more stock you can.
  4. Finish with chopped herbs and seasoning.

Roasted Tomato & Basil Soup

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Serves: 4 people, cooking time: 35 minutes
 
INGREDIENTS:
 
2 Tbsp.           olive oil
1 large            onion, diced
6                     garlic cloves, chopped
3 cans            whole peeled tomatoes
2 cups            chicken stock (or vegetable stock for vegetarian)
1/2 cup           cream
1 Tbsp.           crushed red pepper, seeds and white flesh removed
20                   fresh basil leaves, chopped
TT                   salt and pepper, to taste

 

METHOD:
 
  1. In a heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat, pour in the olive oil and sauté onion until translucent. Add the chopped garlic (except for 1 clove) and sauté with the onion for 2 minutes.
  2. Next, add the cans of whole peeled tomatoes (including the juice) to the pan and cover for about 15 minutes, stirring as needed. Add the chicken stock and cream and bring to a simmer. Cook uncovered, for 10 minutes or until it has thickened.
  3. Add the remaining chopped garlic clove, crushed red pepper, fresh basil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Lower your heat to medium-low and cook for 5 minutes more.
  4. Using an immersion blender (or carefully transfer soup to a blender), puree soup until there are no large chunks of tomato left. Serve immediately with a hunk of warm French bread and get to dipping!

Note: Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Heavenly Chocolate Mousse

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INGREDIENTS:

 

224 g               dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
120 ml             water, divided into 2x 60ml
30 g                 butter (no substitutes)
3                      egg yolks
25 g                 sugar
295 ml             whipping cream, whipped

 

METHOD:
 
  1. In a double boiler, heat chocolate, 60ml water and butter until the chocolate and butter are melted. Cool for 10 minutes.
  2. In a small heavy saucepan, whisk egg yolks, sugar and remaining water. Cook and stir over low heat until mixture reaches 70 degrees C, about 1-2 minutes, or until sugar is completely dissolved.
  3. Remove from the heat; whisk in chocolate mixture. Set saucepan in ice and stir until cooled, about 5-10 minutes.
  4. Fold in whipped cream. Spoon into dessert dishes. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Chicken & Leek Pie

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INGREDIENTS:
 
1 Tbsp.             olive oil
4                       large chicken breasts, cubed, or 375g cooked chicken from a roast
1 tsp.                butter
3                       large leeks, washed and cut into 1cm thick rounds
1 Tbsp.             plain flour
125 ml              white wine
200 ml              chicken stock
100 g                cheese
1 Tbsp.             parsley, chopped
1 Tbsp.             olive oil
2 sheets            phyllo pastry
 
METHOD:
 
  1. Heat the olive oil in a sturdy frying pan and cook the chicken until tender for about 5-10 minutes until cooked, stirring often. Remove from the pan and leave on one side. Omit this stage if you are using cooked chicken.
  2. Add 1 teaspoon of butter to the same pan and soften the leeks, without colouring, for 5 minutes. Sprinkle over the flour and cook, stirring all the time, for a further 2 minutes.
  3. Stir in the wine and chicken stock and bring to a simmer – cook for about 5 minutes – until lightly thickened.
  4. Add the cream cheese and stir until it has melted into the sauce. Add a dash of water if it looks a tad too thick.
  5. Return the chicken to the pan and add the parsley. Then spoon the mixture into a shallow, 1 litre ovenproof pie dish and leave to cool.
  6. Brush the edge of the pie dish with olive oil. Unroll the filo pastry and lay a sheet of pastry over the pie dish. Brush with olive oil then repeat with the other sheet. Scrunch up the overhanging pastry, fold onto the pie’s surface, and brush with olive oil.
  7. Bake in a pre heated over at 190c/ gas 5 for about 30-35 minutes, until golden and serve straight from the dish.

Beef & Carrot Soup

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INGREDIENTS:

 

2                      onion, sliced
4                      cloves garlic, crushed
10ml                paprika, ground
10ml                salt
500g                stewing beef, cut into 1cm cubes
800ml              Beef stock
200g                carrots, chopped
300g                potato, cubed 1cx1cm
45ml                hot peri peri sauce

 

METHOD:
 
  1. Sweat the onions and garlic until soft.
  2. Add the paprika and salt and fry for 2 minutes.
  3. Add the meat and brown.
  4. Pour in the stock and simmer for 45 minutes or until meat is tender.
  5. Add carrots and potatoes and continue to simmer until vegetables are cooked through.
  6. Season well with salt, pepper and peri peri and serve.

Chicken & Tomato Paella

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INGREDIENTS:
 
30ml                olive oil
2                      tins Italian tomatoes
150g                Arborio rice
2ml                  saffron
400ml              chicken stock
250g                chicken thighs, deboned and cubed
1                      lemon
10g                  parsley, chopped

 

METHOD:
 
  1. Heat the oil in a wide based pan and add the tomatoes, simmer for 5 minutes and then add the rice and saffron
  2. Stir fry the rice until it is completely coated by the tomato
  3. Add the stock and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the rice is just tender
  4. Meanwhile, in a separate pan brown the chicken in batches until golden
  5. Add the chicken to the rice and season well with lemon and parsley
  6. Season well

Tomato tartlets with a basil emulsion

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INGREDIENTS:
 
For the tomato tart:
Freshly made puff pastry
Cherry tomatoes
Olive oil
Salt
Black pepper
Sugar
Fresh basil
Egg wash

 

For the basil emulsion:
50ml      milk
150ml    basil oil
TT         salt
TT         white pepper

 

Micro greens for serving

 

METHOD:
 
  1. Blanch the cherry tomatoes in boiling water for 5 seconds and chill them immediately. Remove the skin and cut them in half.
  2. Mix the rest of the ingredients together, making a marinade. Pour it over the tomatoes.
  3. In the meantime, roll out the puff pastry, using a round cutter, cut out rounds. With one smaller cutter, cut into the bigger rounds, but only halfway into the pastry.
  4. Place the pastry rounds on a greased oven tray.
  5. Place the marinated tomatoes in the middle of the puff pastry round, the amount of tomatoes will depend on the size of the pastry round. Make sure the tomatoes are only in the middle round of the pastry, otherwise the puff pastry won’t puff up on the sides.
  6. Brush the sides of the pastry with the egg wash.
  7. Bake the tart in a pre-heated oven of 200C. This should take about 10-15 minutes, but check on the tarts regularly. It is ready when the sides have puffed up and the pastry is golden brown.
For the basil emulsion:
  1. Cover the garlic cloves with foil and place in an oven on 180C, until the garlic is soft enough to squeeze out, about 15min.
  2. Blend the garlic and milk together with a hand blender, whilst the blender is running, begin adding the oil drop by drop until it stabilizes; thereafter pour the oil in a faster steadier stream.
  3. Continue adding the oil until a thick consistency is reached, then season with salt and white pepper to taste.

Sticky Chicken Wings

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INGREDIENTS:
30                    chicken wings
200 ml             fresh lemon juice
200 ml             soy sauce
140 ml             smooth apricot jam, melted
140 ml             chutney
2                      large onions, finely chopped and fried

 

METHOD:
 
  1. Preheat the oven to 160 ºC.
  2. Arrange the chicken wings in a shallow ovenproof dish.
  3. Blend the remaining ingredients and pour over the wings.
  4. Marinate for an hour or longer.
  5. Roast for about one hour or until the chicken wings are cooked and golden brown.
 

Hearty Vegetable and Barley Soup

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INGREDIENTS:
 
½                           onion, diced
2 ribs                     celery, diced
2                            carrots, diced
125ml each           any other vegetable desired
30ml                      oil
2 liter                     water or vegetable broth
250ml                    pearled barley uncooked
250ml                    pinto or white beans, pre-soaked if dry
80ml                      tomato paste
1.5ml                     salt
2.5ml                     pepper
1.5ml                     celery salt (optional)
½ t                         basil
½                           oregano or Italian spice mix
2.5ml                     thyme
5ml                        onion powder (optional)
2                            large bay leaves

 

METHOD:
 
  1. Heat a large pot with the oil and when hot add the onions, celery, carrots. Sauté for approximately 3minutes.
  2. Add any other vegetables desired and sauté for a further 2minutes.
  3. Add the barley, beans, herbs and the remaining herbs.
  4. Add the water or vegetable broth. Bring the soup to a heavy simmer and then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.
  5. Cook until the barley is soft and fluffy.
  6. Add more spices to taste if desired.