New Year Seeds are Sprouting and Shooting

On New Year's Day my girls and I planted seeds in our new garden.

You can see their homes on the right in the picture above, a little sheltered spot by the Meyer Lemon we believe, planted here by the previous owners.

I just love the way Ess made labels from shells we have collected over the years.

These flower seeds came from a packet named "Rockery Mix".

Lots of alyssum will shoot I suspect.

On 7 January we saw, with great excitement in my little girls, that the seeds were sprouting

Some were clearly enjoying their new home and sprouting forth all their pretty two-leaved goodness.

Then ten days later on 17 January we find that the plants are really shooting up.  Soon the girls should have real flowers to plant around their little cubby house to enjoy before the frosts come again.

Or maybe they'll be big enough to survive some icyness.  I am still learning about gardening in Canberra where there are frosts from Easter to Melbourne Cup Day (first Tues in November).  The weather is amazing here.  This time last week it was 1.6 degC before dawn (a new record).  There was even some snow in the mountains.  It is summer for heavens sake.  Today it is hot again and we enjoyed an afternoon swim in the local pool.

At this stage also, it appears I have some competition - the lettuce has all been eaten.  Pesky snails I'm assuming.

A fitting way to commence the year in our new home don't you think.  Planting seeds, being thrilled and excited as we nurture and care for them and see them sprout and grow.  And all of this happening in our newly purchased own home.  I do love a bit of symbolism.

Moroccan Tagine and Lemon Cordial

Hospitality, n. The virtue which induces us to feed and lodge certain persons who are not in need of food and lodging. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911

We recently enjoyed a visit from by brother and sister-in-law. They left us with many things including having had a really inspiring time together as well as a lovely recipe which we tried very soon after their departure. It is absolutely delicious!

Moroccan Tagine

You can use any meat for this - chicken, lamb and/or lamb sausage.

• Brown meat. Add spices but watch for burning (alternatively add spices later).
• Soften onion and garlic.
• Add harissa if you like (for heat) and about 2 tablesoons of spices. I use Marrakesh Magic from Screaming Seeds, a beautiful fresh moroccan spice blend. Cook out rawness.
• Add veges including carrot, zucchini, potato, mushroom, beans etc.
• Add chopped dried apricots (or paw paw if they're in your cupboard) as well as some fresh apple if it takes your fancy.
• Add tomatoes or passata and stock perhaps if needed.
• Stir through some preserved lemons (or use some lemon zest). Also stir in some honey.
• Stir through chick peas, then parsley and mint fresh from your garden. Add more spices if needed and season lightly with salt and pepper.
• Serve with kamut couscous, rice and natural yoghurt.

This is absolutely delicious and another wonderful way to make use of your delicious preserved lemons.

As we did not yet have any preserved lemons ready to use I decided to add some grated lemon zest from numerous lemons. I then juiced the lemons to make some fabulous lemon cordial.

Lemon Cordial

Make a sugar syrup with 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar dissovled over low heat. Next time I might try substituting some of the sugar for honey for something different and little healthier.

Mix this syrup with fresh lemon juice. I used 400mL syrup with 6-700mL lemon juice.

Add about 1cm of cordial to your glass with some fresh baby mint leaves, then fill with water.

Enjoy!

Preserving Lemons

We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavours and furniture polish is made from real lemons. ~Alfred E. Newman

Sad isn't it!! But not in my house, our real lemons are being preserved for future consumption!

I am not certain what it was that enticed me to preserve lemons in the first place. It is not that I had a recipe for them. It is not that it is part of my family's traditions. Perhaps I simply thought they'd be yum (which they are) or that I simply had an excess of them from Grandad's lemon tree. Whatever it was, I am really glad I preserved them a couple of years ago as we now enjoy them in making Moussaka and casseroles and I'll try them in Moroccan Chicken soon as well.

It is time to preserve some more. I found these lovely jars at IKEA and now have some excess lemons to preserve.

The method for preserving is very simple. It needs to be done over a couple of days however so some planning for your week will stand you in good stead so as not to be caught out on the busiest preservation day.

Firstly break the pores of the lemons by scraping them gently against the medium setting of a grater. Put lemons in a large bowl and cover completely with water. Put aside in a cool place.

Next day, pour the water off the lemons and cover with fresh water. This removes any bitterness.

On the third day pour off the water. Using a sharp knife, make four deep slits in each lemon (they should go about halfway to the centre). Pack each incision with a good heaped teaspoon of rock salt. Ess loved helping with this part. She was master of the salt the whole time.

Place stuffed lemons into a sterilised glass jar (I placed mine in the oven to sterilise them while cooking some breakfast cereal on the same morning).

Add cardamom pods, bay leaves or chillies. We simply added bay leaves as this is what we had available.

Pour boiling water over the contents of the jar and place on the lid while the water is still hot.

Leave for 40 days in a cool place.

Enjoy your preserved lemons and please do share if you know of any great recipes using preserved lemons. I find Maggie Beer's recipes are marvellous so do try her Moussaka mentioned above. She knows exactly what to do to make food fabulous.