Grow Your Own #6 Roundup

This edition of Grow Your Own seems to focus on simplicity. Maybe it’s the cold weather here in the DC area, but the dishes we’ve served up using our homegrown foods make me think of all things simple, homey, and comforting. This time we had twelve participants from eight countries, and we cooked with our homegrown Meyer lemons, fennel, artichokes, basil, parsley, tomatoes, garlic, courgette (zucchini), eggs, beets, peppers, sage, cilantro, mallunggay, and bitter oranges. Every time I do one of these roundups, I find myself wanting to grow more things in my garden! Thanks for continuing to inspire us with your homegrown dishes.

Grow Your Own #7 has started, and the deadline is February 27.

And now for the roundup! Click the photos to see the posts.

Hank of Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook (Orangevale, CA, USA) writes for several food publications, and he also grows his own produce and hunts to put meat on the table. He made a Greek Rabbit Stew using meat from a recent small game hunt as well as Meyer lemons, fennel, and artichokes from his garden. The stew looks wonderful and reminds me of the rabbit dishes I ate as a child.

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This lovely hummus comes to us from Grace of The Kitchen Journal (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). She spent some time in the Middle East and occasionally craves hummus and schwarma so she made this one using the basil and parsley she grows on her balcony overlooking the Kuala Lumpur skyline. I can certainly understand her cravings! It all looks great!

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What do you do with more than 50 kilos of tomatoes from your father-in-law’s garden? According to Dhanggit of Dhanggit’s Kitchen (Aix en Provence, France), you use them in salads, turn some into pasta sauce, and you dry the rest in a slow oven and store them in jars with olive oil and use them in all kinds of dishes. The dried tomatoes look just beautiful!

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In New Zealand where they are celebrating summer, Arfi of HomeMadeS used her homegrown garlic and courgette (zucchini) to make a simple pasta dish, then topped it with a runny egg from her chickens!

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Some beautiful homegrown red beets had rested in the refrigerator just a bit too long, but Jennie at Straight from the Farm (Philadelphia, PA) salvaged them and made a pretty dish of spicy sauteed beets with mustard and lemon. This might get me to cook with beets again!

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Anna of An Australian Kitchen (Melbourne, Australia) shares her Nana’s recipe for zucchini slice, a baked dish consisting of her homegrown zucchini, cheddar cheese, eggs, olive oil, bacon, onion, and herbs. It sounds like great comfort food!

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Using some Portugese peppers that were still hanging around in her garden, Denise of Chez Denise et Laudalino created a lovely pasta dish by browning them with garlic, then tossing them with whole wheat pasta, butter, spinach, and some Parmesan. Quick and delicious!

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In Alaska, Laurie of Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska continues to grow her herbs indoors because nothing grows outside this time of year! She used some sage from her bedroom garden and paired it with pork to make a dish similar to saltimbocca. She pounded the pork and attached a sage leaf to each thin slice using toothpicks, then browned the pieces in butter. Very pretty!

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Cris of From Our Home to Yours (Brazil) used her homegrown cilantro and made a traditional fish stew know as Moqueca, which has layers of onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, fish, shrimp, and coconut milk. It’s so colorful!

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Malunggay is a vegetable tree that grows in semi-arid tropical and subtropical regions. In the Phillipines, Gay of A Scientist in the Kitchen has a malunggay tree growing in her yard. She used the highly nutritious leaves to make a dish called law-uy, which is flavored with lemongrass (which she grew), fried fish, eggplant, squash, string beans, and in her case tomatoes, onions, and a stalk of pepper that she had growing in her yard. Very healthy!

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Deeba of Passionate About Baking (Gurgaon, India) used some bitter oranges from her neighbor’s tree and made a lovely marmalade with just three simple ingredients: oranges, sugar, water. It doesn’t get any better than that!

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Fondue is a fun way to enjoy your food, and I made a chicken pesto broth fondue with a roasted red pepper aioli using our homegrown basil and parsley.