A POT OF ORCHIDS
Cut back and tidied the roses after the most amazing flush of pink and red Pierre de Ronsards, red Father’s Love and yellow Holtemans Gold. Even the Glamis Castle, which I was going to dig out after it was decimated by chili thrip, has bounced back and had beautiful white flowers. No fresh flowers in the house presently, except alstromerias and a few pink Asiatic Lilies.
Decided on phalaenopsis ( moth) orchids to have on the table for the next few weeks. I bought a straight sided glass salad bowl from the op shop/ thrift shop plus three little brass drawer pulls from the hardware shop. Picked up orchid potting mix plus three white phalaenopsis orchids while I was there.
Glued the three drawer pulls on the base of the upended bowl using a clear multipurpose cement and left them to dry. Next day I planted the three orchids including most of their existing soil. Then I filled the rest of the bowl with orchid potting mix. The bowl sits on the table getting diffused light. The plants have settled well and each has had a new bud. When it gets hotter I will mound sphagnum moss on top of the existing soil to keep it moist.
PANZaNELLA
This traditional Tuscan salad is a way to use any leftover bread. Two days after a visit to a new Italian grocer, we had leftover bread and lots of it! I’ve made Panzanella before, using Jamie Oliver’s far more complex recipe, but as a fan of Nagi’s Recipe Tin Eats, (here) I decided to try her recipe. Both are good.
This is a traditional tomato and bread salad, requiring humble bread and seasonal tomatoes. This style of food, called ‘cucina povera’ or food for the poor, relies on beautiful tomatoes and rich olive oil for flavour, topped off with basil. Gather some stale bread, very ripe tomatoes, a cucumber, a handful of basil and, for the dressing, extra virgin olive oil, red or white wine vinegar ( I used red), Dijon mustard and crushed garlic and you’re ready to go! Use a French brand Dijon mustard for the flavour.
Nagi oven roasts her bread. I toasted slices of our leftover bread in the toaster then tore them into bite size pieces. Traditionally the bread is not toasted but, like Nagi, I find the soggy, lumpy bits of unroasted bread a bit unattractive. She drizzles olive oil on her bread before roasting it.
Quick, delicious and a great way to use up leftover bread this salad relies on very ripe tomatoes for flavour and moistness. Eat it when all the dressing is soaked up!
We really liked this salad, so I made it again. I oven roasted some leftover Italian bread, lightly drizzled with olive oil. I also added very thinly sliced red onion as I saw this in other recipes for this salad. Will do that again.
After a few hours, the bread has absorbed the tomato juices and the dressing and is really wonderful. Quick to make, full of fresh tomatoes, cucumber and basil and the best dressing.
So it’s no surprise I made another bowl of Panzanella two days later. This time I pulled apart an Italian loaf and roasted it in the oven, as directed in the recipe. The pieces of roasted bread were bigger than the toasted bread I’d used previously and absorbed more flavour. I’ll roast the bread next time, too, because there will be a next time!
Our new favorite salad, this time with oven roasted bread. Delicious.
OTHER THINGS
Our son came down from Kalgoorlie to spent the weekend here. It was my birthday. He gave me a lovely surprise! A new food processor which mixes, grates, slices and other clever things. I had to use it straight away, so made pastry. Very fast and mixes well. I really like the small rolling pin, too, and use it all the time. I commandeered it when my son stopped playing with Play Dough, so about 33 years ago. So versatile!
The pastry became the base for a quiche. I had lots of zucchini so I fried that with some bacon, then grated a variety of leftover cheeses ( Edam, Stilton and chilled Camembert, which grated well) added some eggs and a little Greek yoghurt and, viola, dinner. Served with some small boiled potatoes and some Panzanella salad. Dinner for two nights.
No recipe because it was just a mix of available ingredients. Only the pastry was made from a recipe!
OLIVE OIL CAKE
I did follow a recipe for the Olive Oil Lemon cake, from Jaclyn Crupi’s book, ‘Nonna Knows Best’. There’s definitely a Mediterranean influence to how we eat in Western Australia. We have access the best quality seasonal fruit and vegetables, plus very good wines and very good olive oil. We enjoy them all.
The cake also featured lemons. So many things I cook for about eight months of the year feature lemons and limes.
DID YOU KNOW?
There’s only 38 days until Christmas!