Saturday, July 18, 2009

Produce in the Pan

Flowers are wonderful, they make a garden colourful, fragrant and attract a bevy of friendly bees. If you want a post about pretty flowers go here. However, when space is tight, only beneficial flowers, impulse buy flowers and personal favourites make it in. For me ornamental flowers come second to the flowers in the veggie patch, and for the matter the veggies themselves. I grow to enjoy, and flowers are certainly enjoyable, but they are better viewed while munching on a lemon slice, made with home grown lemons or a salad from garden greens, or something equally delicious produced with the garden veggies.

If you haven't guessed by now this is going to be another cooking/gardening post. I wanted to show what I did with all that extra produce I found when I got back to Adelaide (click here to find out why totally awesome second balcony sitter did not devour it all, bless her.) This is only a basic recipe, a stirfry to be exact. But I just had to use all those yummy snow peas. And don't forget the broccoli shoots, which, having been left for 2 weeks grew big, almost to bursting/flowering stage. (aha now there is one flower that is not welcome in my garden, a broccoli flower which is an omen of the armageddon for the broccoli plant.)





I also had 5 bush beans, taken from my two bush bean plants which were now compost, well my balcony version of compost. Not a lage haul but I blame the time of year I planted them. I needed the pot for a tomato, and to help the leeks in there, because they don't really get along with beans and thus were not thriving. Presto chango, 5 beans to eat and one happy indoor tomato/leek pot.




I also had some more snow peas, coriander and silvetbeet. What to do?



Stick it all in a frying pan with chicken, a chili soy sauce (don't forget the teaspoon of sugar also) and noodles.



Serve with a side salad



et voila, one wonderful way to use balcony produce which may or may not be eaten in the vicinity of balcony garden flowers.

3 comments:

Dan said...

Your balcony meal looks great! It would be so nice to have veg so close at hand. I have to go down the basement stairs, out the back door, up the back steps around the back and up the side to harvest.

Barbara said...

Your contained garden is very interesting. I have started planting some flowers and seeds late in the season. I hope to have a vegtable garden next summer.

PJ said...

Hi Dan - it was rather tasty :) At least though you get fitter! Two steps to a garden bed hardly a fit person makes (that was unintended yoda speak)

Barbara - best of luck with your veggie garden! I never seem to plant things on time, and they still work so I hope your veggies and flowers thrive