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Category Archives: Houghton Valley Community Garden


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chilli and gerkin salsa verde

If you live in Houghton Bay, it’s possible that you will have so much flat leaf parsley that, at times, you fear you will wake up and be unable to open the front door – the whole house will be suffocated in a giant parsley bomb. Making salsa verde in these conditions is extremely satisfying… because you get to use up a couple of handfuls of the stuff in one go. Plus it tastes great. Especially with fish.

Nutrition wise, parsley is something of a superfood in it’s own right. It’s also a great way to get the super-duper health benefits of raw garlic on board without smelling too scary (parsley is a natural breath freshener). So since living in parsleyville I make a lot of salsa verde. As with anything, you can be experimental … and your life will just be that little bit more interesting because of it. Not as life changing as, say, a 3 month trip to India, but, you know, better than slopping out some shop bought tartar for the gazillionth time.

To make parsley, chilli, gerkin, salsa verde you chop up a few handfuls of flat leaf parsley with the zest and juice of a lemon, a grated clove of raw garlic, some chopped gerkins (you know you have some lurking in the fridge from the last time you made burgers.. and if you don’t leave them out / use cucumber / capers..), finely chopped fresh chilli and a good slug of olive oil. That’s all. It’s looks rather lovely if you have a pink bowl like mine, but the colour of the bowl really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.


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beetroot, prune, chocolate chia cake (gluten free)

I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by saying most kids don’t really like beetroot. Of course, kids are strange and unpredictable creatures, and there are probably some who do. I certainly don’t live with any. So when I pulled a nice fat beet out of the ground,  at the community garden yesterday, I assumed it would be consumed by the adults of the house. Then I bumped into Dave, the school caretaker. We got talking about the blog, and kids, and food. We talked about creating recipes that would get the kids excited about the community garden produce. Now, if you read my kid-food-wisom page, you see I believe inspiring kids to like adult food, rather than creating specific kid recipes. But talking to Dave got me thinking. Specifically thinking about beetroot and chocolate cake. Let’s face it – chocolate cake is about as exciting as it gets. It seemed like a sign. Me holding the beetroot and Dave talking about trying to come up with some recipes that would get the kids into the garden produce.

I started by putting about a half cup of pitted organic prunes in a little water to stew with the beetroot (peeled and cut into chunks so it would soften quickly. Over the top I melted about 70g of dark chocolate, 50g cubed butter and a couple of spoonfuls of chia seeds.

After about 10 minutes I caught the prunes  / beetroot just as they were beginning to boil dry – the ‘boil dry’ is never a good idea, I only mention it to illustrate the point that there wasn’t a lot of juice in the mix. I put everything in the little blender and buzzed it into a very think, absolutely gorgeous deep red chocolate-y paste.

Putting the paste to one side I whisked 3 eggs together with half a cup of granulated sugar, 1 and 1/2 cups of ground almonds, 1/2 cup cocoa powder, 1 tsp gf baking powder and 1/4 cup of brown rice flour. Then whisked in the chocolate paste and poured into a cake tin. Once again I failed to register the baking time,  but probably around 25 minutes.

Finished with icing. Made with a few squares of milk chocolate and a spoonful of greek yogurt. Can happily report the community garden beetroot was shared by the entire family – including the youngest who reached out and swiped some of  my slice while I wasn’t looking.


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jazzed up silverbeet

Silverbeet is abundant at the moment in the Houghton Valley Community Garden. It looks full of excitement and promise, with it’s vibrant red and yellow stalks. But actually, (in my opinion) it takes a bit of jazzing up when you cook it for the flavour to live up to it’s appearance. Alongside the silverbeet grows coriander and mint so I picked some of those as well. Stir fried the silverbeet in a wok with toasted sesame oil, garlic, chilli (cut into quite big chunks so I could pick it out of the little guys) lots of lemon juice and coriander and mint leaves thrown in at the end. Makes a good side dish for any kind of Asian meal.


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lazy girl’s pea and parmesan risotto with bacon and silverbeet and a side salad of shaved courgette, beetroot, avocado and feta

For those of us who live on Wellington’s rugged South Coast, where the wind is relentless and the soil is quite frankly a bit rubbish for growing stuff in, then cooking with freshly picked produce is a rare pleasure. Our own little garden has not exactly provided bountiful suppers, and so it was a real reat to discover Houghton Valley Community Garden this afternoon.

J sat contentedly on the camomile lawn surveying the bulging beds below, while the very friendly locals explained the basics of community gardening… there are no rules , no chiefs – muck in, take what you like and enjoy the garden. The sun shone, there was hot tea and they didn’t laugh when I mistook the silverbeet for rhubarb. So this is the first in what I hope will be many posts inspired by produce from the community garden.

I was planning on making a risotto for dinner, and even had ideas of simmering and stirring it slowly adding the stock ladle by ladle.. but then we spent too long out enjoying the Autumn sunshine and arrived home to the clock ticking rapidly towards bedtime and the kids demanding food with some sense of immediacy.

Put aside thoughts of ‘proper’ risotto and went for the lazy girl’s version instead. Start with a nob of butter and a few chopped garlic cloves then add a mug of risotto rice and about a pint of fresh chicken stock. Cover it, bring it to the boil and then turn it down to simmer.  In a separate pan cook some chopped streaky bacon with silverbeet. The silverbeet was so fresh it was literally alive (had to carefully wash off a few spiders – luckily just the little ones!). While everything cooked I shaved the garden fresh courgette  and beetroot with some chunks of avocado and crumbled feta.. oh and not forgetting the 3 cherry tomatoes from our own garden. After about 20 – 25 mins put some frozen peas and grated parmesan in the risotto – then after a couple more minutes it’s cooked. Dish it up with the bacon and silverbeet on top of the rice – squeeze of lemon over to help absorb the iron from the silverbeet (and because it tastes good) and the salad on the side – dressed with a little olive oil, apple cider vinegar and more lemon juice.

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