Progress: Rhubarb Champagne

Photo: Two bottles of fermenting rhubarb champagne.

My rhubarb champagne is now in the bathroom fermenting, it's not as pink as I hoped but I tasted it today and it was a lovely sweet rhubarb flavour. I have recently stopped drinking but this is an exception, because I love rhubarb! Right now it is a lovely sweet rhubarb soft drink, and that is only after 24 hours of standing. It apparently takes two weeks to turn dry and alcoholic, I can't wait!

Again, if you would like the details on how to make this delicious drink, please do comment and I will gladly direct you to the blog.

Spinach & Mushroom Pasta

I knew I was going to have swordfish tonight because that's what was in the fridge. But I had to think about what to put with it. So, I found a big bunch of spinach in the fridge along with some mushrooms and decided to make a spinach and mushroom pasta with white sauce (milk).

Prep time: 15-20 mins.
Cook time: 15-20 mins (depending on heat).

What I used:

* About 450g of Rigatoni pasta

* 1 desert spoon of olive oil (for frying)

* 1 glove of elephant garlic, minced  (or 3-4 cloves regular garlic, depending on how much you like garlic)

* 1 tbsp of freshly picked lemon thyme

* 1 tbsp of freshly picked rosemary

* 4 cups of button mushrooms, sliced (can use any you like)

* 2 desert spoons of all-purpose flour

* 2 cups milk

* 1 bunch of spinach, washed and ripped roughly

* 1 tsp salt

* Fresh ground pepper
* Freshly grated parmesan cheese (this ingredient is most important)

Photo: Spinach and mushroom pasta. 

Methodology:

1. In a large pot heat the oil on medium-high heat, add garlic, onion, thyme and rosemary and cook for about two minutes.

2. Add mushrooms, cook for about 10 minutes, constantly stirring, mushrooms with begin to release their juices, soften down and go brown. 

3. Mix the flour through, then begin to add the milk slowly, constantly stirring. Turn the heat up to max once all the milk is in the pot, keep stirring. The milk will start to boil, keep stirring until the sauce thickens. 

4. Once the sauce is thick enough turn the heat to low, adding the spinach, salt and pepper and cooking on low heat till the spinach has softened. Once the spinach has softened take it off the heat.

5. Cook the Rigatoni pasta in a separate pot and toss it in with the sauce, stirring  until well combined. Grate fresh parmesan cheese over pasta when served.


I had this pasta with a swordfish steak. The pasta was an amazing side and complemented the fish wonderfully. I pan fried the swordfish on medium-high heat in olive oil for 4 minutes on either side. Here is a photo of the dish (without parmesan):

Photo: Swordfish steak with a side of spinach and mushroom pasta.

Best Banana Bread in The World!

It's simple to make, it's delicious and it's addictive!

For best results use overripe bananas!

Photo: A photo of my banana bread/cake.

Prep time: 15-30 mins.


Cooking time:50 mins-1.5 hours depending on what oven you have and how much you make.

Makes: 1 loaf/cake

What I use:

*  Melted butter, to grease

*  80g of plain flour

*  530gself-raising flour

*  2-3 tsp ground cinnamon(depending on how much you like cinnamon) 

*  280g of brown sugar (packed firmly if you're using a measuring cup)

*  250ml of full cream milk

*  4 eggs, which will be lightly whisked

* 100g butter, melted, then cooled

*  4 overripe (for best results)bananas, mashed (any type you like)

Methodology:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (I usually preheat about 10-15 mins prior to baking, just to make sure). Use either a large cake tin or a bread tin whichever one you have and grease it with the butter. Line the base of the tin with baking paper, allowing it to overhang (sometimes I double up on the baking paper soit's easier to get it out).

2.  Sift the flours together with the cinnamon (if you don't have a sifter then just put all the flour into a large bowl with the cinnamon and get a folk and make sure you can see the cinnamon mixed thoroughly, also make sure there are no rocks or lumps of flour). Stir in the brown sugar making sure you've mixed it all thoroughly. Make a well in the middle of the mixture and then grab another bowl.


3.  Place the milk, eggs (which are already lightly whisked), melted butter (which needs to be cooled *TIP* put the butter in the freezer to make it cool faster) and banana (mashed) into a medium bowl and stir till thick and well combined.

4. Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and stir until combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface (bang it on the bench to make it level out, not too much though just 2 light bangs).


5. Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 mins (check it at 30 mins). The bread is ready when you can stick a skewer (or butter knife) into the centre and it comes out fairly clean. If you've had it in the oven for 50mins and the skewer comes out fairly dirty than you'll need to leave it in longer. Keep checking every 5-10 minutes, if the top started to crack open and the skewer comes out fairly clean then it's ready! Take it out of the oven. I don't have a cake rack so I just put the hot tin on top of the oven and take the cake out by grabbing the overhanging baking paper and put it onto a room temperature plate. I let it cool for 30 mins without covering then I either serve some up with melted butter or place into the fridge. The cake needs to be either in an airtight container or secure the plate with cling wrap. You can only keep it inthe fridge for about 3 days before it starts to go off.

Please comment if you have any questions or feedback :-)

Traveling Local: View from the top

The tallest mountain in the Northern Rivers is Mount Warning, it used to be a volcano but that was about 20 million years ago. It takes about 5 hours to walk to walk/climb to the summit and return. It's very steep in parts and before you reach the summit you must climb rocks, but there is a chain that is built into the rock surface which makes the climbing a bit easier.

Photo: View from the balcony at the summit on Mt. Warning, Far North Coast, New South Wales.

Photo: View from Mt. Warning, just before the the climb to the summit.

Photo: A different balcony view at the summit on Mt. Warning.

Photo: Another view from the top.

Work in progress shot

Photo: At this point in time I was pondering where the rest of these plants were to go.

Traveling Local: Protestor Falls

Just thought I'd throw in a picture or two of this really beautiful waterfall. It's near Nimbin in New South Wales, Australia. Which is close to where I live.

Photo: Protester Falls, Far North Coast, New South Wales. 

It takes around 15 minutes to walk to the waterfall, and once you are there the sight and sounds of this natural beauty will take your breath away!

Make sure you wear some good enclosed shoes and some warm clothes (if it's cool weather). The ground is very wet in parts but there is a man-made path to follow.

Photo: Protester Falls, Far North Coast, New South Wales. 

This is my rhubarb champagne

This was last night, it's now bottled and fermenting. I got the recipe from another blogger, let me know if you want it.

Photo: This is a photo of my rhubarb champagne mix just as I made it two nights ago. This recipe has come straight from another blogger. I will gladly direct anyone who is interested to her blog.

More of the back

Back garden (with new seedlings)

Photo: This is a photo of half of my back garden. I have some edibles growing here, this garden bed is about 3 meters x 3 meters and I would like to double that soon.

My front garden

Photo: One of my front gardens only partially finished. 

My garden, turned over, munched and ready for the new arrivals

Photo: I use sugar cane mulch and I turn my soil over with a garden fork and hoe. 

Big food shop!

Last week I went to bunnings and got some seedlings (capsicum, chili, oregano, basil, silver beet, lettuce, cabbage and more) I also got some seeds (onions, leek, cucumber and more). Here is a picture of what I got..

Photo: What I got from Bunnings.

Quit smoking

Photo: box of fruit from the local grocer.

I have recently quit smoking cold turkey. Just a quick blog to share that I could not have done so without the help of fruit!

Having an apple or mandarin when I feel like a smoke really helps me get my mind off smoking.

Ratatouille with mushrooms and without eggplant

The other day I found a red, green and yellow capsicum in my chiller so I decided I was going to cook something with them.

This Ratatouille is not a traditional recipe, but who really cares?

What I used:

1 large red onion (cut roughly)
3 capsicums (red, yellow and green, cored, seeded and cut roughly)
4 gloves garlic (just crushed not cut up)
handful snow peas (peeled and ripped into pieces)
handful beans (ripped into pieces) 
4 cans diced tomatoes (drained)
handful mushrooms (sliced)
Desert spoon extra virgin olive oil (for frying)
1 tbsp oregano (dried)
Fresh cracked pepper
Regular salt


Method:

In a large saucepan heat the oil on medium-low heat. Add onions and fry for about 4 minutes. You want the onions to looks slightly transparent. Then add the capsicum, garlic, beans, snow peas, mushrooms, oregano, salt and pepper and cook for about 3-5 minutes. Then add the diced tomatoes, bring to boil, once boiling reduce to a low heat. Deduce the Ratatouille for about 30 minutes on low heat. Serve with rice, pasta, on toast- it's up to you!

Photo: My version of Ratatouille.

This is not a traditional Ratatouille, but oh my goodness it was amazing! Had to share! and it's so simple!

I made the Margaret Fulton Ratatouille and I have to say, no offence to Margaret but I prefer this style. If you're thinking about making Ratatouille, I suggest making it with whatever you have! The only essential ingredient (I reckon) is capsicum and tomatoes. Some would say that eggplant and/or zucchini are essential.

Don't get me wrong I love eggplant and zucchini but when I made this dish I didn't have either.

My edibles..

Firstly, I will start by showing you what I am growing at the moment. 

Photo: My pineapple and rosemary.

This is rosemary with a pineapple plant growing right next to it. I threw the pineapple in there a few months ago, I checked it yesterday and it's started to root. So, I'm going to leave it there for now and let it grow a bit.

Photo: My recovering rhubarb.

Rhubarb, I planted this about two weeks ago. We had a lot of heavy rain recently which is why it looks all worn out. Yesterday I treated it with some blood and bone fertilizer, today it it looking slightly more alive.

Photo: My broccoli? might be cauliflower.

I am pretty sure this is broccoli (could be cauliflower), it looks really healthy at the moment. 

Photo: My hot chili plant.

This is hot a hot chili plant, some of you might say it's the wrong time for chili's, well, look! I have one growing!! :-)

Photo: My lemon thyme-want some?

My lemon thyme, would you like some?- seriously! I've had to trim this plant so much, I also have it growing in two other spots. It's delicious, but it is basically a ground cover.

Photo: My seedling trays.

I am trying to grow my new produce by seeds, here I have leek, onions (brown, red and white), silver beet, rocket, cabbage, cucumber, basil and sage. I'm using seedling mix in seedling trays I found at Bunnings. Next to that in the water saver container I have little basil seedlings and a bit of dill.

Photo: My oregano.

 This is my oregano, I've been trying to find a good one for ages. I've tried so many times to grow some by seeds but have never had any luck getting them to germinate!

I also have two other types of basil, some strawberries, more rhubarb, lettuce, cabbage, shallots, bay tree and some garlic growing in various spots.

First blog

Photo: Clouds at home two days ago.

Hi my name is Jordan and I live in Alstonville in the Far North Coast of NSW. This blog will be mainly about gardening, cooking and traveling. Once I moved to Alstonville about nine months ago I realised I had the opportunity to utilize the rich red soil, so, I created a patch (with the help of a friend) and I have began gardening edible plants, such as herbs and vegetables.
I am 22 years old, I have only been cooking independently (properly cooking healthily) for about 1 year. I use various books, and also just improvise.
I've done a horticulture cert 2, but have no real background with gardening.
This blog is just to share what I am doing and learn from others.
I have been to Bali before, but I would like to focus more on the local area first and maybe move onto international destinations later on.

So I'm just a beginner!

:-)

**UPDATE 24/02/13** I have since moved to Lismore and I do not have my old garden anymore. This blog is also going to change slightly :-)