New Zealand Garden Diary: What to Cook When You Have a Lot of Kale

My submission for Lyttelton's Harbour Kitchen cookbook uses something I have in the garden all year around (and store cupboard ingredients). Don't you love kale?⁠⁠

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Quick Kale and Cashew Stir Fry

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Ingredients (per person) 

Small handful of kale

One serving of noodles

Small handful of salted cashews

Dash of soy sauce

Dash of sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) or sweet chilli sauce

Dash of sesame oil and enough sunflower oil to coat pan

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Method

If you want the recipe to be vegetarian, wash the kale. Then drain, pat dry and remove the big central ribs before cutting it finely.

Boil noodles until done, drain and set-aside.

Get the oils hot in a pan and stir fry kale until it all turns dark green, throw in cashew nuts and warm through for one minute.  

Add cooked noodles and soy sauces/sweet chili sauce,  stir through and serve.

New Zealand Garden Diary: Feeding the Right Kind of Birds

There are a lot of birds in our garden, but very few species come to the bird table, unlike in the UK. I mostly see sparrows (non-native), silvereyes (native), chaffinches (non-native), greenfinches (non-native) and starlings (non-native). The starlings are real bullies, scaring every other bird away and demolishing fat balls in a matter of hours. So it was a relief when the Sausage Shed stall woman (who sells the fat balls) gave me a method of putting the starlings off. 

A way to keep starlings away from the bird seed and fat balls and let waxeyes/silvereyes fight amongst themselves (Click to see options for using the image)

New Zealand Garden Diary: I'm Preparing for Winter But Flowers Have Other Ideas

The flowers may be all over the shop but the birds are acting like winter’s coming.

New Zealand Garden Diary: Feijoa Season is Here

I planted Fiona the feijoa back in 2018 and she is doing great, despite very little rain.

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New Zealand Garden Diary: Rampant Rampicante Squash

The cucumbers planted nearby are still tiny, but the rampicante squash is rambling all over. Tastes pretty good (like a courgette/zucchini) when young, but I’m looking to store the big one.

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New Zealand Garden Diary: Perennial Edibles and Sleeping Bumble Bees

This summer is very cool and my tomatoes, courgettes and pumpkins are sulking, but the beans are getting going and the bees and I are enjoying the flowers in my garden, including the artichokes.

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And there are some edible plants that keep going and going. I love how the walking onions are gradually moving around the vegetable patch.

New Zealand Garden Diary: Bees and Broad Beans

I love watching the bees do their work around the garden. Especially in the broad bean bed.

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