I have a few.
1. Where can I buy some chestnuts in New Zealand? Organic or sprayed, I'd just like to get my hands on some chestnuts. I used to make a chestnut and lentil soup courtesy of Nigella Lawson in the UK and while those Fougier canned chestnuts were easy to use, the price and food miles makes them ridiculous here in small town, NZ.
2. Borlotti beans. I shelled the first one tonight and the beans are so beautiful to look at. Red speckles. I need to find out what I must do to dry them for winter, as that is the purpose of the crop, though it will be a small crop this year.
3. Celery. I have to decide what to do with the lots of celery I have. I'm not a fan of it raw. I read a book on blanching it for the freezer, but would like second opinions before I do that. I have celery in the garden for using in soups, stews and casseroles (whatever the difference between a casserole and a stew may be). Except that my celery won't survive a frost and winter is when I'll want to use it in my cooking.
Where happiness is lurking
5 days ago
6 comments:
A stew is cooked on the hob while a casserole is cooked in the oven :-)
Cheers Tania. Are you a slow cooker girl?
Oh yes, I love my slow cooker! Depending on the recipe I chop onions/garlic/veggies etc up the night before and put them in the fridge. Getting organised the night before means when I wake in the morning I can throw the whole lot in with the meat and leave it to cook away till evening. It takes less than a couple of minutes in the morning and saves plenty of time later in the day too.
Too bad you get frosts - I just leave my celery in the ground and pick off what I need when I need it. If I were you (but you're not as lazy as me so you won't do this) I'd just bung it in the freezer without blanching - or for that matter, leave it in the ground and consider that to be your second freezer;-)
So is a slowcooker a stew or a casserole?!
OOO Borlotti beans are my (recently discovered)fave.....although I'm a can girl. You are so inspiring!
Hello Pippa. I am very excited to see all these comments.
Rachael I've googled a bit more and found that indeed I can avoid blanching, so I certainly will.
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