Nuffnang

Monday, October 5, 2009

Edible balcony update - October

Well I'm very happy with how the greens and herbs are thriving. I'm watering them every second day or so and fertilizing  them with liquid seaweed once a fortnight. Only a few bug invasions which a couple of douses of Pest Oil quickly sorted out. This basket of balcony produce is off to my mother-in-laws - it contains rainbow silverbeet, sugar snap peas and tendrils, basil, parsley, rocket, rosemary, thyme and curry leaves.

The balcony basil looked so good it inspired me to make a Grand Final pizza.
Recipe

Pizza Dough (makes 2 x 16cm x 32cm rectangular pizzas)
4 cups plain flour
1 x 7g sachet dried yeast
2 level teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/4 water (a mixture of half boiling and half cold)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and make a well in the cnetre. Combine the water and oil, then pour into the well. Mix the wet and dry ingredients with a wooden spoon until most of the flour is incorporated, then use your hands to mix until a soft dough forms.
Turn the dough onto a floured board and knead for ten minutes. Put in a lightly greased bowl, brush the top with a little warm water, cover with a greased plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until doubled in size, about 35 minutes.
Punch down the dough and knead on a lightly floured board for about 1 minute. Divide in half and roll each out to a 16cm x 32cm rectangle (about 4cm thick) or into rounds to fit pizza pans (or freeze half the dough for future use - which is what I usually do!)
Topping
Your favourite tomato sauce
Meredith's marinated goats cheese
chargrilled red peppers sliced
half a white onion finely sliced
grating of fresh parmigiano reggiano
and MY BASIL LEAVES

8 comments:

  1. WOW! Your homegrown produce looks great!

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  2. wow, what a basket of goodness. so impressive.
    i repotted some of my plant this morning - no dig style. hope to have a good harvest such as this!

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  3. Oh Dearindira, you're driving to distraction...my basil isn't thriving...they're the same damn size as they were when i planted them as tubers 3 weeks ago! Yours is so good!

    I'm now feeling inspired enough to make pizza this week...i have marinated goats cheese in the fridge and buffalo mozzarella in the freezer...Yep that sounds like the kind of pick me up i need (writing a thesis that's driving me mad. I haven't had a lot of time to cook & blog..so my last post was about citrus squeezers LOL
    great blog post!

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  4. Your Pizza looks scrumptious Indira! I too am growing my own basil so I am going to have to make your pizza for dinner one night.

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  5. Hi Rachel,
    yes the bugs think so as I have just discovered Indira

    Hi deborah, good luck! My tips - try to give your basil lots of light, mulch with straw or similar and liquid fertilise every couple of weeks. Indira

    Hi Suziwong, what's yout thesis on? Sounds exhausting. Pizza is always the antidote. Indira

    Hi Phoebe, I'm a big fan of homemade pizza. It can be a wholesome and delicious meal when you know what's gone into it. Indira

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  6. Hi Indira

    Your pizza looks delicious - I'll give it a go on Friday. Too bad I can't grow anything in a pot, I always kill my potted plants for some reason?? I've got a huge collection of empty pots in my garage but no plants. Guess I'll keep the local greengrocer in business!

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  7. Dearindira,
    my thesis is on the classroom management practices of beginning teachers in terms of their preventing inappropriate student behaviour, intervening when it presents and reconciling relationships. I have video data of 3 South Australian early career teachers that i'm coding and at the same time writing the damn thesis (plus a full time study load). I really just want to cook and then blog about what i cook!

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  8. Hi suziwong66, what an amazing contribution your thesis will be when its completed. So little is really understood about the dynamics of classrooms and how we can support students to excel. Indira

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