Simple Pizza, Organic of course

I was browsing on the internet yesterday, looking at winery websites in California, and found a simple recipe for an Onion Tart, which is basically a French Pizza.

The recipe was a bit dodgy, but I managed to make 2 pizzas, one of them looked like this

The yeast starter culture, placed in a pyrex jug on the concrete balcony, only took 5 minutes to kick off..
Anyway, the basic recipe is very very easy, so easy that you will have it made in the same time it takes to order from your local takeaway fast food hut!

Yeast starter

1 packet dried yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon whole flour, unbleached
whisk together, and sit in a warm spot and let it foam for half an hour

Pizza/tart dough

2 cups of whole flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
little warm water, enough to make the dough come together and not stick to your fingers
extra olive oil, about 1 tbsp

mix together in a bowl until it comes together, pour extra olive oil in bowl and turn the dough in to cover with oil
place in a warm spot, covered with a clean tea towel
let rise until double the size (about 3/4 an hour)
punch down, and roll out thinly onto a baking tray

top with your pizza topping and bake for 10-15 minutes, top shelf of a regular oven with the oven cranked up full belt

enjoy with glass of wine and company

French Style Topping: Makes a sweet onion base topped with salty anchovy, delicious warm with light rosé wine

2 onions, sliced very finely
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried thyme
pinch salt
2 cloves of garlic, minced
5 or 6 anchovy fillets or salt-cured olives
1/4 cup parmesan finely grated parmesan cheese (or grated french cheese!)

Sweat the onions in olive oil over low heat for half an hour, should caramelise slowly with a bit of salt
throw in your thyme and garlic
scatter over pizza base, top with anchovies or olives, parmesan cheese
bake

Alternatives
Pumpkin, Goat Cheese, Thyme
Potato, Rosemary, Garlic slices
Olive, cheese, dried tomato
Hint cook your pumpkin or potato first

An Indian Summer

Summer is finally here in Griffith, and it's hit with a vengance.

Temps for the last 10 days go something like this:

Wednesday 19th 30.2 degrees
Thursday 20th   35.3
Friday 21st      38.4
Saturday 22nd   37.7
Sunday 23rd      37.4
Monday 24th     35.7
Tuesday 25th    37.4
Wednesday 26th Aussie Day 38.2
Thursday 27th   35.2*
Today a balmy  33.8
Tomorrow it goes back up to 36
Sunday 39
Monday 42 if we don't fry by then.


* The fridge carked it

Organic Safflower Harvest 25/1/11 in pictures

A short note about posting comments

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Cheers

Andy

Ningana Enterprise Farm

There are farms and then, there are farms.  A farm is essentially an agricultural business that trades in products generated from the land.  It operates just like any other business with cash flow, debt, income, customers and stock (live, usually).  However, a farm is more then just a regular town or city based business, it relies not only on borrowing from Mr Bank Manager but borrowing from mother nature as well.  A small but important difference to most other businesses -  imagine the book seller having to build a shop from books, the hairdresser putting hair on instead of taking it off, or the miner making mountains out of mole hills? The farmer is making living produce from life itself.

That is why I like organic farming, because organic farmers borrow less from nature, working in harmony with the soil, the climate, and the microflora.  What is used in producing the crop or fattening stock, is put back into the ground: scraps are recovered, recycled, decomposed and deposited.  Manure is not wasted, everything has a use. The ground is turned over with love and care.  Chickens and small fowl peck away at the ground, pigs play in the mud all adding to the biodiversity.  And of course, the produce is usually of a higher quality, more nutritious and better for you then conventionally grown food.

Ningana Enterprise Farm, in Tharbogang, just outside Griffith is one such farm.  It is 100% organic, using No Added Chemicals, and local expertise to grow a range of fresh fruit and vegetables, from strawberries and zucchinis, right through to apricots, cucumbers and melons.  All on just 41 acres, with 7 workers, 4 pigs and a hatful of hens.

Humans have been cultivating on a small scale for thousands of years - to feed one's families, and to sell locally via the local town market in Timbuktoo or the big smoke in downtown Baghdad.  But farming is not only a source of income, it is also a social enterprise.  A way to help feed ourselves and our families, and sell leftovers to others with the need for food.  Combine the two- farming and social help - and you have more then a business model.

Ningana Enterprise farm takes social enterprise a step further: it provides employment for people with disabilities in the form of good, honest hardwork.  For you see, people with disabilities are just as entitled to employment as able bodied people.  In fact, you could argue that people with disabilities have a far greater right to a fair go - the great maker has dished out a bad hand (a terrible pun!)  - put simply, they deserve it.   Ningana supports people with disabilities, provides employment and training and the opportunity to make a dollar or 2.  Places like this are far far more worthy to our society then the simple big fast buck schemes that dominate modern Australia.

It doesn't happen all by itself though.  Some assistance is required, good people are needed. Organisations and local people need to get behind the project.  Just ask the Manager Jim Warr - " its hard work, but worth it at the end of the day" he says.  You can see what he means - the smiles on the faces of visitors, especially children with disabilities say it all.
However, as the entreprise accountant John Ciccia intones, "the dollars have to stack up.  The farm has to break even".  It is no good having an enterprise that can't pay it's bills.  Ningana is only a fledgling farm, still hitting its straps, small in size, but big on heart.  I suspect great things are going to happen, if not already.

Ningana Entreprise Farm is part of Ningana Enterprise Inc, a not for profit organisation that assists people living with disabilities to live and work in the community.  Their story continues at

http://www.ningana.com.au/

Organic strawberry patch yielding the best strawberries outside Wimbledon

they can sniff a meal from 10 miles away

With thanks to Jim Warr for showing me the farm.

Bob the Builder

Just quietly I'm going to play Bob the builder!  Have bought a small block of land in the rural town of Darlington Point, 30kms south of Griffith. It will become the permanent un-virtual home of Andy's Patch consisting of a dwelling+studio+cellar!

The Point as it is known is situated on the Murrumbidgee River, the river that in typical Australian fashion winds like a snake from the foothills of southern New South Wales to eventually join up with the Murray River, the magnificent river that eventually empties into the Southern Ocean in South Australia via Lake Alexandria and the Great Australian Bight. Lined with Red Gum trees, the Murrumbidgee river provides an Australian oasis from the often parched landscape. It is in Wiradjuri Country, the traditional owners existing here for (only) the past 40,000 years.

The Beach @ The Point



Reddus gummus

Gourmet Tomato Chutney

If anyone out there has too many home-grown tomatoes and wants to use them up, give this a go.  It is what I call wake up food, food that wakes you up and smacks you in the face.

It's fresh and zingy on the palate, sweet-sour, spicy, and hot if you like to put extra chilli.

1 kg tomatoes (I used nice little green tomatoes, worked ok)
1 small fresh chilli (or tsp of dried chilli flake)
1 chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
5 cm piece of ginger, sliced
4 tablespoons of sultanas
350g sugar (you can vary this according to the sweetness required)
1 tbsp salt (use sea salt crystals if you have them)
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp allspice
340ml apple cider vinegar (adjust down if tomatoes are green and acidic)

Method
1. Peel tomatoes by immersing in boiling water for a minute.
2. chop into quarters and put into a heavy pan
3. Add chilli, onion, garlic and ginger
4. Heat and stir until juices run
5. Add remainder of ingredients
6. Bring to the boil and stir occasionally while it thickens and reaches jam consistency

To bottle:
1. Clean and wash several glass jars with metal lids.
2.  Place the jars on a tray into a low 100deg C oven, and leave while you make the chutney.
3. Once the chutney is made, carefully spoon into the jars from the oven, and seal straightaway with the metal lids.  Don't leave any air gap, fill the jars as full as you can.
4. Be careful handling the hot jars, lids and hot mixture.  Use clean tea towels and definitely banish the kids from the kitchen!
5.  The lids will pop and create a good seal as the mixture cools.
6.  Allow to cool, and store in the cupboard away from the heat and light. Gets better after a month, best after 3 months.