Recipe: Green Vegetable Bake.

The half demolished Bake

I am always looking for recipes that utilise our abundant garden greens. The accompanying picture looks unappetising but the leftovers were refridgerated


 1. Collect your greens and any other vegetables. I prefer to use tomatoes in a salad rather than a bake but I use any of the following in a mix of greens :

• Small chokoes  • pumpkin leaves, • Katuk • Okinawa Spinach, • Ceylon Spinach, spinach • silver beet or beet leaves • Surinam Spinach • Brazil Spinach  •sweet potato leaves  • some chili or capsicum leaves • capsicum • various herbs • spring onions • Moringa leaves and flowers • cooked Chaya Spinach Tree leaves • cooked Warrigal Greens •mustard • rocket • zucchini 

2. Rinse well if required.

3. Fry some garlic and onion in oil (I prefer olive oil but coconut oil also works) .

4. In a 'kitchen whizz' chop a layer of hard vegetables such as pumpkin and carrot with the cooked onion and garlic. Add an egg or two and some cream or a little milk or yoghurt. Season. Also add some tasty cheese or feta cheese.

5. Layer the chopped vegetables in an oiled or buttered oven proof dish.

6.  'Whizz"/chop the green vegetables along with some seasoning,  eggs and a little milk or cream and add as another layer to the ovenproof dish. Keep the amounts of liquids small because the greens generate plenty of liquid. If you like you can just mix everything into one layer.

7. Bake for close to an hour in a moderate oven until dry on top.

8. Optional: Top with cheese (feta, tasty or parmesan) and bake for another 5 minutes.

9. Serve warm or cold with a salad.

See also:

Eat your Pumpkin leaves and links to vegetable recipes using indigenous plants

Garlicky marrow rings- Using zucchinis & carrot top pesto

Says Jack: This is one way to cope with a glut of marrows(overgrown zucchinis/courgettes). Why not try this with cucumbers.

Garlicky marrow rings… that actually taste good!

  See also

Preserving Courgette Gluts For Winter

  from

   

 

See also

Carrot top pesto recipes

From:

Carl Legge Seeking sustainability on the Llyn Peninsula

Says Jack: I suppose any green, which can be eaten uncooked, can be used to make pesto. I will use Okinawa Spinach because I have a glut at the moment.  A little perennial basil (also a glut) will add flavour and I have unshelled macadamia nuts I should use. There is a host of recipes for the use of pesto.

Bellingen Seedsavers visit 'Ohana' at Thora

Rob shows us around his large garden. Click on any pic to enlarge.

Thora is about ten minutes drive west of Bellingen. Kirsten and Rob welcomed us and shared their large vegetable garden and orchard with us. The area has been reclaimed from weedy Lantana which had climbed five metres into the fruit trees. Rob and Kirsten used goats, horses and human power to clear the land and discovered the mature fruit trees. The garden, previously cultvated and now enriched with plenty of animal manure is very productive. You can see more of Rob and Kirsten's garden at www.ohanathora.blogspot.com.

The rich soil has been sculpted into vegetable beds.

Amaranth provides Kirsten and Rob young leaves for a salad

The tomatoes are protected from birds with nets

Rob grows large quantities of parsley.

Yellow Evening Primrose provides flowers for a salad.

Yellow Zucchine

Water melon

Egyptian Spinach seedlings

Seedling Black Walnut

Black Walnut trees provide shade but not fruit. Apparently they are also useful for rootstock.

A large unpruned plum.

A fruiting Persimmon

This mature Nashi Pear is loaded with fruit.

Mature Feijoas

A 1.5m resident goanna checked on our presence.

Bellingen Seed Savers Stall at the Autumn Plant Fair

We had a superb day. The weather was fine and mild. The number of helpers on our Bellingen Seed Savers Stall was numerous and the load was shared. Once again Irene's extensive preparation was evident with loads of information for passing folk. We are also indebted to David and his van for transporting the furniture.

Double click to enlarge any photograph.

Our stall was busy. We aim to disperse our seeds for a gold coin donation. By the end of the day the seed tray was looking very sparse which is not surprising given that the seeds are grown locally for our climate conditions. Irene's previous post lists all the available seeds. We much prefer to spread the seed amongst growers rather than face the problem of storing seed to keep it fresh.

Here Irene shares information and Allan serves at the seed table.

Our list of seeds and information about Seedsavers. Our small efforts at collecting and growing out seed contributes to a rich store of seed available to local gardeners and ensures a rich source of seed during possible future seed shortages.

Interesting to note that during a recent reported shortage of Snake Bean Seed from commercial companies, Bellingen Seed Savers had a very adequate store of this seed.

Our produce raffle was popular which was not surprising given the increased cost of 'veges' following the floods and the cyclone in Queensland. Beryl, pictured,  contributed jars of her much lauded relish to the produce raffle. If you have a question about how to cook and preserve your produce Beryl is a wonderful source of information.

Carol and Linda at the raffle produce box. Can you see the gourd in the centre of the box? That is a New Guinea Bean, a useful substitute for zucchini. Zucchini tends to succumb to moulds and fungi during our humid summers. These gourds can grow to a metre long but are best eaten under 40 cm in length. Obviously Carol and Linda were having a great time at the Plant Fair.

Members had potted up plants. These were also dispersed for a gold coin donation. We don't aim to make a profit, just to cover our costs. We want to encourage the growing of as much food as possible in the home garden to reduce food miles and encourage the eating of fresh produce without pesticide contamination. We discovered how to cook Taro from two visitors with a cultural heritage in cooking and preparing Taro and Taro leaves. Paulina also showed us how to tell the edible Taro from the ornamental Taro growing in the creek behind the stall.

We were told the ornamental Taro has shiny leaves but the edible Taro had velvety  leaves, not at all glossy.

Most of all our members enjoyed meeting fellow gardeners and folk who share our philosophy. After all the preparation and the the usual chores it was a positive delight to be at the Plant Fair amongst friends. Many visitors to our stall took away information about seeds, plants and about Bellingen Seed Savers and our blog.

Maybe we will meet you at the next Plant Fair or at our next members meeting. Membership is free and casual. Just turn up at the meetings you can attend and help out when you are able. That is the spirit of Bellingen Seed Savers. You can contact us at bellingenseedsavers@gmail.com
If you were at the fair we would really like you to make a comment below. What would you like to see on our stall?