Here are this week’s largely perennial veggies made into a delicious and varied 42 variety pakora!
Picture 1 below (Roughly from left to right): Saxifraga pensylvanica (swamp saxifrage); Malva alcea (hollyhock mallow / rosekattost); Tragopogon pratensis (goatsbeard / geitskjegg); Campanula rapunculoides tops (creeping bellflower / ugrassklokke); Scorzonera hispanica ( scorzonera / scorsonerrot, svartrot); Houttuynia cordata “Chameleon” (kameleonplante); Fallopia japonica “Compactum Roseum” (Japanese knotweed / parkslirekne); Hosta spp.; Houttuynia cordata; Doellingeria scabra / Aster scaber (Korean Aster; Koreasters); Carum carvi flowering tops (caraway / karve); Allium fistulosum (Welsh onion / pipeløk); Allium victorialis (victory onion / seiersløk); Crambe maritima “Lily White” flowering tops (sea kale / strandkål); Hablitzia tamnoides tops (Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde); Smilax lasioneura shoot (Blue Ridge carrionflower):
Picture 2 below (Roughly from left to right): Urtica cannabina; Rumex patientia flower shoot (patience dock / hagesyre); Asparagus officinalis (asparagus / asparges); Cardamine raphanifolia flowering tops; Myrrhis odorata (sweet cicely / Spansk kjørvel) flowering tops; Aegopodium podograria (ground elder / skvallerkål); Allium ursinum (ramsons / ramsløk); Leucanthemum vulgare (ox-eye daisy / prestekrage); Parasenecio hastatus top; Brassica juncea (two cultivars) (mustard greens / sennepsalat); Urtica dioica ( stinging nettle / brennesle); Cryptotaenia japonica “Atropurpurea” (mitsuba); Allium scorodoprasum (sand leek / bendelløk); Campanula latifolia (giant bellflower / storklokke); Allium pskemense x fistulosum (Wietse’s onion / Wietsesløk); Lepidium latifolium flower shoots (dittander / strandkarse); Silene vulgaris shoots (bladder campion / engsmelle); Cichorium intybus (chicory / sikkori); Bunias orientalis flowering tops (Turkish rocket / russekål); Mentha (two cultivars)
(mint / mynte); Taraxacum sublaciniosum “Delikatess” (moss-leaved dandelion; mosebladet løvetann); Ligularia fischeri (Fischer’s Ligularia; Koreanøkketunge):
Picture 3 below Hosta “Big Daddy” blanched shoots and Allium sativum (garlic / hvitløk)
All posts by Stephen Barstow
St. George’s, ramsons and red-leaved dandelion pasta with Hosta icicles
Earlier this week with little time to make dinner this was the unlikely result: St. George’s, ramsons and red-leaved dandelion leftover pasta with Hosta icicles in Japanese dip.
Earlier in the day I had noticed a patch of St George’s Mushroom / vårfagerhatt (Calocybe gambosa) in the same spot it had turned up for the first time 3 years ago (see St. George’s Mushroom). They were then stir-fried with ramsons (ramsløk) and red-leaved dandelion (Taraxacum rubifolium) and some left-over wholewheat spelt pasta and were served with fried egg on home made garlic toast with a few prawns and some blanched Hosta “Big Daddy” shoots (Hosta icicles) as a side salad with an olive oil /soy sauce dip and the last bottle of St. Peter’s organic pale ale. LIFE IS GOOD!
Female pied flycatcher
There’s a pair of pied flycatchers (svarthvit fluesnapper) in the garden this year. I first heard the male singing on 13th and on the 22th I made this video of the female who is hopefully now sitting on eggs. The male continues to sing most of the day (20+ hours) and has since yesterday concentrated its efforts in a different part of the garden with a couple of vacant bird boxes, so it’s likely he’s enticing a second female (polygamy is not unusual for this species).
Bitter baccalao: roots and greens
No, I’m not vegan and have never been, I’ve been lactovegetarian with the occasional wild fish over 40 years. We always have some Norwegian dried cod (baccalao) at the ready in our cool larder. The usual way to make the dish baccalao here is to hydrate the fish for a couple of days and then layer potatoes, bulb onions, fish, tomatoes, garlic with olive oil, pepper and chili in large saucepan. I’ve always added seasonal greens too and often use green onions of various types instead of bulb onion.
Last night, we used the last of the potatoes from the cellar and as there weren’t many also used root chicory (di Sancino: an edible rooted variety that produces well here) and the last yacon roots, all still in perfect condition kept in the cellar in dryish leaves all winter! We also used a good bunch of nettles, tops of giant bellflower (Campanula latifolia) and sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata) tops including the flowers. For the onions, sand leek (Allium scorodoprasum) and victory onion (Allium victorialis) were in perfect condition (beginning to flower).
The verdict on our first bitter baccalao? Delicious, but probably not for everyone!
Wietse’s Onion Soup with Udos, Hosta, Ostrich Ferns, Sea Kale and Ramsons
The best of spring in one sitting. In celebration of the country Norway, we yesterday (17th May) harvested a small selection of the best blanched perennial vegetables (apart from the ostrich fern which had to be harvested or it would have been too late). This included three udo species (Aralia cordata, Aralia californica and Aralia racemosa), sea kale (Crambe maritima), Hosta “Big Daddy” together with delicious sweet blanched ramsons (Allium ursinum) . They were all eaten raw (apart from the fern which was steamed for 10 minutes) with a Japanese dipping sauce – olive oil (should have been sesame), tamari (soy sauce) and roasted sesame seeds. These accompanied an onion soup prepared with half of the leaves from one plant of Wietses Onion, a vigorous hybrid of Allium pskemense and Allium fistulosum!
It doesn’t get much better than this! More information with the pictures:
Some odds and ends this week in Malvik
- The best of vegetables ready to harvest this week: blanched sea kale (Crambe maritima), blanched lovage (Levisticum officinale) and nettles (Urtica dioica)! Delicious.
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IT’S DANDINOODLE TIME HERE IN MALVIK: one of the year’s many highlights!This is by far my earliest dandelion to come into growth in March. It was sent to me as seed from the Alps in Switzerland, following a talk I gave there and was supposed to be similar to the moss-leaved dandelion but the leaves weren’t similar at all. These are from one plant! I’m trying to fine out which species it is…
3. Allium paradoxum var paradoxum isn’t a plant you’ll want in your garden as this form has bulbils which can spread invasively. I was sent this 20 years ago from a garden in Sweden as Allium triquetrum but it wasn’t that one. I never considered either of these invasive Alliums as hardy enough to be a problem here and this one has slowly colonised the space around my oldest Hablitzia tamnoides. With warmer winters I have started more aggressive harvesting of this one.
I now harvest both the young leaves, the tops, in particular the bulbils to keep it under control. They are delicious both raw in mixed salads and cooked.
Around the World in 80 Mac-Cheese
Many thanks to all who sent birthday wishes as I transitioned to become a bonafide pensioner 
As usual, my celebration dinner was a green macaroni cheese (https://www.edimentals.com/blog/?s=macaroni), this year an Around the World in 80 Mac-Cheese with 80 different perennial greens harvested from the garden, some for the first time!
Spring wouldn’t be spring without Hablitzia
I’m in Habby Blitz (bliss) once again and Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach / Stjernemelde / Nordens spinat) is the most important vegetable once again. With some 30 plants (and increasing) there¨’s more than enough to harvest. Here’s a few pictures from an area on very shallow soil (10-20cm) under the shade of a large birch tree where it thrives. And it’s now 20 years since I planted my first!
Cellar and Garden Greens: 6th April 2022
The greens that went into last night’s wholegrain spelt quiche are listed below the picture!
CELLAR: Dystaenia takesimana shoots; Forced hogweed (bjørnekjeks) shoots (Heracleum spp.); Forced Taraxacum (dandelion / løvetann); nederst til høyre: Witloof chicory (sikkori); øverst til høyre: swiss chard (mangold)
GARDEN: Various hybrid onions (Allium senescens x nutans) and Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde)
Snow onions
Various Allium species are the hardiest of edible plants either staying green all winter (e.g., Allium cernuum and Allium carinatum) or sprouting very early and able to withstand some frost. With a minimum forecast of -6C tomorrow after a very mild March, it will be interesting to see whether any of these early shooters are damaged. Here are a selection of pictures of Alliums and other early spring shoots in this weeks snow.
