Cypriot chard with rice recipe

Chard we planted in December is now ready to harvest and we are always trying new recipes to use our crop. One locally suggested recipe is a traditional vegetarian Cypriot recipe. Why not give it a try.

Chard is a good source of vitamin A and C, rich in lots of trace elements and dietary fibre.

Ingredients:

800ml water;
A bunch (10-15) chard leaves thoroughly washed and dried
350g of long grain rice;
A large onion, finely chopped;
2 large tomatoes, blanched, peeled and chopped into chunks;
Olive oil for frying;
a small bunch of parsley finely chopped;
a tablespoon of lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

Method:

1. Remove the ribs and stems from the chard and cut into large pieces.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large pan and cook chopped onion until softened.
3. Add the water, tomatoes, rice, parsley and lemon juice. Season to taste and stir to combine.
4. Bring to the boil and stir in the chard.
5. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes on a low heat, or until the rice has absorbed most of the water.
6. Take off the heat and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving with a fresh roll.

How to grow chickpeas

Chickpeas require about 100 days to reach harvest. You can sow chickpeas outside from mid-March or to get them off to a flying start sow your chickpeas indoors in peat or paper pots in late February. Transplant them outside, after hardening off, when the plants are about 10cm tall. If planting indoors, it's best to use peat or paper pots as chickpeas cannot cope with being transplanted. Just plant out the chickpeas in their peat or paper pots and the pots will rot away in the soil..

Chickpeas are a bushy plant which can grow to about 45cm tall and produce pods about 3cm long - each of which will contain one or two large chickpeas. Chickpeas prefer full sun and a loose but well-drained soil which is rich in previously included organic matter. Each chickpea plant will yields an average of 14-19 pods per plant.

If you are sowing your chickpeas direct, sow two chickpeas about 2.5cm deep and about 5cm apart but do not pre-soak as this promotes splitting. Sow in rows 60cm apart. Germination will take about 6-8 days. Keep the bed moist until the chickpeas emerge. Thin successful plants to 15cm apart. Cut away thinned plants at soil level with scissors, so as not to disturb the remaining chickpeas root structure.

Water regularly but especially during flowering and pod formation but always water at soil level, as spraying can cause flowers and pods to fall off.

Chickpeas can be attacked by aphids. Keep an eye out for pests and if needed spray with homemade organic solution. http://cyprusgardener.blogspot.com/2011/06/organic-pest-and-disease-control.html

Chickpeas will be ready for harvesting about 100 days after planting. You can enjoy chickpeas when the pods are still green. Or alternatively, allow chickpeas to dry before harvesting the entire plant. Harvest when the leaves have withered and turned brown by putting the whole plant on a flat, warm and sunny surface and leave until the pods are fully dry. Collect the seed as the pods split at which stage they should be thoroughly dry and can be stored for up to a year.

Tomatos - which varieties to grow?

Our ideal would be to begin picking our first crop of tomatoes when our preserved stocks, mostly frozen cooked with onions, garlic and basil, were just about to end. In reality though, in twenty five plus years of gardening, we have only achieved this once. Tomatoes are the base for so many dishes, salads and even juices and we love tomatoes.

Over the years we have tried growing many different varieties. Mostly red but some yellow, orange and even purple. We have grown cherry tomatoes which were tiny and at the other end large beefsteak ones. Some were juicy and some were very firm but there are literally many thousands of different tomato varieties in cultivation today.

If you have been gardening for years, you probably already have your favorite varieties which you save seed from and plant every year and your choice will undoubtedly have been influenced by your own taste buds.

If you have plenty of space, experiment with various varieties and continue with the ones you enjoy the most. If you have a limited amount of space, choose a variety which produces a good crop in a small area such as a bush or tumbling variety.

If you, like us, enjoy saving your own seeds from one year to the next, you should avoid hybrid varieties which will rarely produce an identical plant from saved seed.

We are currently growing the following varieties: gardeners delight, outdoor girl, tumbling tom red, alicante, marmande, red cherry, beafeater and various saved seed over many years which include yellow cherry, plum cherry and plum tomatoes. But there are plenty of varieties and whichever you grow you will not regret it, as the taste of your first freshly picked tomato is one of the highlights of the gardening year.

Origarum vulgare onitis or salvia lanigera poir?

A kind villager gave us a herb plant to add to our herb garden a while back and it has grown into a healthy looking specimen. We are now trying to identify it, which would allow us to look into the plants uses. The villagers refer to the plant as DRIGANO (or something similar). It's  a perennial, smells of menthol, with green but furry type foilage and is short and bushy. Cannot provide information on it's flower type as it has not flowered yet.

We think it appears to be either origarum vulgare onitis or salvia lanigera poir. Any ideas or comments would be appreciated.

 

Using a wood burning stove for cooking

We would be very cold without our wood-burning stove but are we using it to its full potential - could we also do some of our cooking on the wood-stove and save on our energy bills.

Our wood-stove is flat on top, so is able to support a saucepan safely and reaches a very hot surface temperature. So why not use this heat for cooking as well as comfort? We already use the wood-stove to boil a kettle for drinks or washing-up but have recently tried out it's cooking potential.

The wood-stoves heat output alters with the kind of wood burned and depending on how much air is allowed through it's vents. All woods burn differently and for example - pine burns quickly but doesn't give off much heat whilst olive wood makes a hot fire with a strong heat and a long lasting burn.

A wood stove's temperature is increased when wood is added, then drops as it burns. By adding wood frequently in smaller amounts, you can keep the temperature relatively even.

To test the surface temperature of a wood-stove, place a little water on the surface and see how it behaves. If the water rolls while sizzling, the surface is between 230-345 degrees celsius and you can easily boil or fry foods at this heat. If the water drops spread out slightly and sizzle steadily, the wood stove is between 150-200 degrees celsius and hot enough to simmer or bake. If the drops of water flatten and bubble, cooking will be slow, but perhaps you may be able to use the heat for slow steaming.

Our wood stove has it's own door for the removal ash tray and we have found this to be a good place to cook potatoes wrapped in foil. We have also successfully cooked beetroot on the top and made a rice pudding. Soups and stews are the next foods we are going to try and we are looking for wood stove recipes to add to our cooking options, possibly even using the ash try area for baking..

Time for a hot drink - the kettle is steaming hot and the room is lovely and warm on this wet and chilly day.

How to make your own olive tapenade or pate

Where would we be without our olive trees. Most importantly they provide us with olive oil and eating olives but also provide kindling and logs for the wood burning stove whilst pruning's can also be used as pea sticks and to provide support for growing vegetables.

We have recently also discovered another delicious use for pickled olives which is to turn them in to a pate or tapenade which is great spread on fresh bread, on pitta bread or used when making pizza's. Our recipe is vegetarian but you can add anchovies or other ingredients such as hot peppers or sun dried tomatoes for a different flavour. The following recipe makes about a cup and a half full and will keep in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.

(1) Remove the stones from a mix of black and green olives - enough for a cup full.

(2) Peel and cut finely two cloves of garlic

(3) Cut finely a sprig of parsley, some basil and chives

(4) Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend till fine

(5) Add a teaspoon of lemon juice and two tablespoons of olive oil

(6) Re-blend until all ingredients until thoroughly mixed.

Gardening in Cyprus - Jobs for March

We witnessed the unusual event of snow yesterday but March is usually a spring like month in Cyprus. Although temperatures can fall to as low as 5c at night - day time temperatures can climb to 20c plus with an average of 7 hours of sunshine a day. March weather can be unpredictable but there are plenty of jobs to be done in the garden and it's not too hot to work. Fruit trees are blossoming, especially almonds which can be seen everywhere, and spring bulbs are flowering. March is sometimes referred to as the yellow month in Cyprus as wild yellow flowers can be seen growing all over the island. We have had plenty of rain this winter and the soil is in good shape to start sowing. The following jobs should keep you busy throughout March. levels.

1.   Make and plant cuttings from geraniums, rosemary and sage 

2.   Start a planned program of organic spraying of fruit trees coming into bud

3.   Sow carrots

4.   Start cucumbers in a propagator

5.   Sow climbing french, dwarf french, string and haricot beans

6.   Want a later crop sow tomatoes in a propagator

7.   Sow molohiya 

8.   Plant out previously germinated marrows, squashes 

9.   Plant out spinach

10. A good month to plant out grape vines

11. Mid-month plant potatoes

12  Sow summer purslane a local favourite

13. Start majoram and chicory from seed indoors

14. Plant out lavender or rosemary plants

15. Plant out sweetcorn plants and start more in propagator for a later crop

16. Plant out tomato plants

17. Plant out kolokasi tubers

18. Sow chive seeds and or divide established clumps

19. Sow mid-month spring onions, beetroot, pak choi, rocket and salad leaves

20. Mulch goji berries with well rotted manure

21. Plant out egg plants, watermelons, melons and sweet potato during the third week

22. Plant out chrysanthemums

23. Prune grapefruit, persimmon, pomegranate, pear, citrus, almonds, apricot, nectarine and peach

24. Mulch apples, passion fruit and mulberries but keep away from the trunk

25. Sow lettuce plants out and start more seedlings for a continual crop

26. Towards the end of the month plant out pepper plants

27. Start more egg plants in the propagator for a later crop

28. Sow chickpeas and soya beans 

29. Sow coriander

30. Plant out comfrey, fennel, lemon balm, peppermint, sage, dill, oregano, borage etc

31. Alternatively start herbs from seed. We have got anise, lovage, korean mint and dill in the propagator.


Happy gardening and remember it's safer to grow your own. For further advice  go to cyprusgardener.co.uk