Olé

 

It's a fiesta of chiles from my garden and a few from the Burnley Rooftop Garden.  The varieties include Thai, Habañero, Birds Eye, Jalapeño and yes, Fiesta!

Making Escabeche from the chiles, garlic from my garden and purchased carrots and cauliflower.  I posted the recipe here two years ago.

Bottled up and ready to go!

Next on the Mexican veggie harvest train were the Tomatillos...

Tomatilloes are the main ingredient in Salsa Verde and can also be made into soup or a number of other recipes including pasta sauce. I grew two types this year, purple and the regular green. They turn pale yellow if left longer on the plant but I prefer the tangier flavour when they are still green. They can be picked any time after the papery husk starts to break like the ones above on the right.

Tomatilloes are not eaten raw, the papery husk must be removed and the fruit is cooked before eating. Browning them on each side gives them a lovely smoky flavour. I chop them in half, grill them in a pan or under the broiler for a few minutes on each side and then freeze them in individual portion sizes in zip-lock bags.  They can be defrosted as needed and chopped up with some Escabeche to make a delicious salsa!

Planting Garlic and Purple-tinted Cauliflower

I love cauliflower! Yum! This is my first time growing it and one is almost ready to harvest.  This is 'Snowball Improved', an organic cultivar, seeds were from Green Harvest. I sowed the seeds in punnets in mid-March and transplanted them about six weeks later in early May.  As I have previously mentioned, we have had a VERY cold winter so these grew slowly. Everything just had a sudden growth period a couple of weeks ago with a bit of warmer weather (meanwhile, it's back to winter - it hailed yesterday).  Apparently the purple tint is normal.  In the past, farmers would blanch cauliflower by keeping it covered (like celery or rhubard). Cauliflower and all other brassicas (cabbage family) contain anthocyanins that can help protect the cells from sun damage. Sometimes the purple tint is a heat response.  I'm guessing this was a response to sunny weather after months of cold and grey.   Plants are amazing, they make their own sunscreen!  The purple cauliflowers that are available would have orginally been selected from plants that had a strong purple tint.  Anthocyanins are also antioxidants - the same ones found in blueberries.

Planting Garlic
In a temperate climate like Melbourne, garlic can be planted all year.  A couple of weeks ago I decided to plant the remaining garlic from my last crop early in the year.  Here's a step-by-step on how to plant garlic:

1. Choose garlic is still firm and has no sign of disease or insect damage.  Break them into individual cloves - each of these is a bulb, similar to a tulip bulb and will grow a new plant.  Keep the papery outer layer on - it will protect the bulb while it's in its early growth stages.  The bulbs don't have to be sprouting but they will grow more quickly if they are.

Aunt Judy's Famous Escabeche (Mexican Pickled Peppers)

All the vegetable ingredients except the onions were from my garden for this recipe!  

In Southern California and Mexico, there are lots of small take-away places where you can get little soft tacos with with grilled chicken, beef or pork and other healthy Mexican food.  There is always fresh salsa in a variety of styles and heat levels, cilantro (coriander) and at least one spicy pickle - escabeche (pronounced es-kah-BEE-chay).  My aunt Judy has lived in Mexico for 20 years and this is her famous recipe!  The chicken bouillon (she uses Knorr), her secret ingredient, makes a very rich and delicious brine.  You can make it without the bouillon and it's still very yummy.  Some people add cauliflower, I prefer all carrots.  Try it a few different ways and see what you like!  Try it on sandwiches and as a condiment whenever you feel like something spicy!  It gets better if it sits for a couple of weeks but mine doesn't last that long.