Eating from the garden in late winter

Colour in the winter garden - beetroot, calendula and brocoletti flowers

Two years ago, if someone had told me that I would be able to eat veggies from my garden all through winter, I wouldn't have believed them. In the past, the only thing harvested in my winter garden was the silverbeet that had grown into a massive plant. I still have a long way to go in my winter gardening (no lovely heads of purple broccoli or cauliflower for us still), but now I can see the possibilities!

Snow peas in hanging baskets - snail and duck proof!

This winter promised lots of lovely silverbeet and peas, but my ducks put a stop to that. Instead, we've eaten great heaps of wombok cabbages, enough lettuce and rocket for salads and burgers, good supply of carrots, baby beets, some lovely stalks of brocoletti, the odd bak choi and masses of crisp and delicious celery. It's all been topped with the herbs that have kept going, and served with some of my summer preserved and frozen veg. It's not enough veg for us - I've still had to buy the odd pumpkin, frozen peas and bags of potatoes - but every day we eat something from our garden, and that feels very good indeed. 

Broad beans in flower promising more fresh veg soon.

Last night was a good gardeners meal. I made rosti with potatoes and a selection of fresh turnips, carrot, celery and herbs from the garden. They were served with new season eggs from our chooks (thanks girls!), sourdough toast, tomato chutney and the first few snow peas from my hanging baskets (ie. duck proof pea gardens!). It's a simple meal, but it tastes so good to eat all of those home grown and homemade items, knowing exactly what went into everything on the plate. 

Delicious!

With a bit of luck (and my planning paying off) and we'll continue to eat from the garden all through spring to make it a whole 12 months of garden consumption - yay!

Pretty purple and white turnip tops.

 

In pursuit of the perfect 'not sausage' roll

Yes, technically it is Screen-free Saturday in our house, and yes, I'm writing a blog post.  We've bent the rules today because it is the AFL grandfinal, and being Victorians (even ones who aren't massive footy fans - well Stu kind of is.....), we feel the need to watch the grandfinal on TV and eat junk food.  It is also atrocious weather, so we can't work outside.  This week we'll have Screen-free Sunday.

So, in grandfinal day tradition, we need to eat junk food of the hot dog, meat pie, chips, sausage roll etc variety.  Of course, I can't quite bring myself to buy these things anymore, so grandfinal day also means baking.

I took a deep breath and bought sausage meat to make sausage rolls for the boys.  I intend to make sausage rolls fit into my 'ok' list somehow, but for now.... I had some puff pastry in the freezer (which it turns out has palm oil in it too.....aaaaaagh!), so the boys are getting a pile of regular (though not especially ethical) homemade sausage rolls.

I can't eat them anymore though... Just can't go there.  So I am experimenting with 'not sausage' rolls.  I've seen this recipe which looks good, but not 'meaty' enough. And a while back I made this recipe.  It has a mixture of chickpeas, carrot and rice in it and uses regular puff pastry.  The boys ate them, though not enthusiastically.  I loved them and plan to make them again one day.  But today I wanted something a bit different. 

Today I made a filling that had borlotti beans (other beans would have worked though), rice cooked in veg stock, fresh coriander, taco seasoning, grated carrot, egg, breadcrumbs and tomato paste.  I didn't measure anything, so I don't have a recipe - sorry! I blitzed all of that in the food processor, and then rolled it in some homemade shortcrust pastry made using this recipe.  I also used the last bit of puff pastry to see which I liked better......

regular meaty sausage rolls take on their vegie friends (all were eaten!)

My delicious not-sausage rolls - they looked great!

The results.....YUM! We all enjoyed them, but they were a smidge spicy for the kids.  As to the pastry, I liked both, but the puff had a more decadent texture, so I'll be hunting for a good puff pastry recipe.  The not sausage rolls I will have to make again and work out a recipe :)

Do you have a good 'not sausage' roll recipe? Or do you make ethical sausage rolls? Please help me out on this quest and share your recipes!