October 9 is National Garden Day!
National Garden Day is a chance for people across the country to down tools and celebrate their gardens.
Everyone can take part, regardless of the size of their gardens – rolling lawns, potted window sills, urban rooftops, and patio planters – all are welcome.
It is not news that food gardening is the hottest trend in home gardening right now for several reasons.
Growing your own fruits, vegetables and herbs is a more sustainable option than buying them from a grocery store, and it is a super-easy way to lower your carbon footprint.
Growing your own food also teaches you a new skill. Growing your own fruits, vegetables, and or herbs will help you practise patience. It is also a good lesson in dealing with failure, as there is no guaranteed success when it comes to growing vegetables. Both are valuable life skills that can be applied to other areas of your life.
To celebrate Garden Day, The Electric Café in District Six in Cape Town has created and shared below some of the most delectable dishes using fresh, organic produce sourced from in and around Cape Town that you can try today.
Roasted heirloom tomato tart
Tomatoes are in season during South Africa’s springtime, which makes this tomato tart ideal for a Garden Day lunch.
Ingredients
1 ready-made roll of puff pastry defrosted
200g mixed heirloom cherry tomatoes halved
75g goats cheese crumbled
Salt and pepper
4 garlic cloves sliced
1 red onion cut into 2cm chunks
2 sprigs of rosemary leaves, picked and finely chopped
4 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
Fresh basil leaves
Olive oil spray
Method
Using a sharp knife, trim the puff pastry to 25cm x 28cm. Place it on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and score a border of 2cm in from the edge all the way around.
Prick the pastry within the margin using a fork. Leave to rest in the fridge for about an hour.
Preheat the oven to a 220-240°C fan.
Fry onion cubes with rosemary, thyme, and garlic. Add cherry tomatoes and fry for three minutes or until soft – do not overcook.
Brush puff pastry all over with milk and sprinkle with a little salt. Blind bake for 10 minutes or until slightly golden.
Brush the pastry with pesto (optional) and layer the tomatoes over the flat pastry surface.
Crumble the goat's cheese on top and bake for another fifteen minutes or until the cheese has melted.
Sprinkle with fresh basil leaves and cut with a pizza cutter.
Vegan power bowl
If you love nature’s abundance - what better way to celebrate this than to cook a delicious meal using freshly picked veggies and herbs?
Ingredients
90g quinoa
1 avocado
100g cherry tomatoes
25g rocket
25g beetroot cooked and cubed
110g butternut cooked and cubed
25g cranberries
85g roasted chickpeas
Tahini
Dukkah spice
Method
Roast the chickpeas with chilli flakes, dukkah spice, and sunflower oil for twenty minutes and let it cool.
Assemble the quinoa, sliced avocado, rocket, tomatoes, cranberries, butternut, beetroot, and chickpeas in a bowl.
Sprinkle it with tahini and dukkah spice.
Roasted aubergine with tahini mint and pomegranate
Ingredients
Eggplants
3 large eggplants
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1⁄2 pomegranate, de-seeded
2 tbsp honey
Handful of coriander
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp sesame oil
Fresh sea salt to taste
Cracked black pepper to taste
Garlic granules to taste
Tahini dressing
3 tbsp tahini paste
3 tbsp cold water
1 lemon squeezed
1 tsp garlic paste
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Wash and pat dry the eggplant, then cut in half lengthwise (keeping the stalk on). With the tip of a knife, score the flesh deeply in a diamond criss-cross pattern by making five or six long cuts on the diagonal, cutting at a steep angle, and then rotating the eggplant to make another set of similar cuts (although, do not cut through to the skin).
Brush both sides with two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and sesame oil. Put the eggplant cut-side facing up on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Season with sea salt, black pepper, and garlic granules, place in the preheated oven and bake for 40 - 50 minutes.
Check often to make sure that they do not burn. If your eggplant still is not tender all the way through, bake for a further 5 - 10 minutes, then proceed with the rest of the recipe.
Remove from the oven, drizzle with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, then leave to cool.
To make the tahini paste, mix either by hand or in a mini food processor. Add the tahini paste, water, lemon, and garlic paste, and season with salt.
On a larger platter, place the roasted eggplants around the plate. Spoon the tahini paste around the plate.
Drizzle honey around the plate and over the eggplants. Then garnish with the toasted sesame seeds, fresh coriander, and pomegranate seeds.