The Tokyo Bekana was so nice raw that I decided I wanted to keep it that way so I decided to use it in some spring rolls. I’m not the best spring roll “roller” but it’s always fun making them and of course eating them.

I chopped up the Tokyo Bekana, some Spring Onion and Radish. Then striped the leaves of some Moroccan mint, Coriander and Vietnamese mint. Bron and Lucy like smoked salmon in their spring rolls so I tore some up to include. I also prepared some bean noodles by soaking in boiling water.

Almost any fresh vegetables are good in these rice paper rolls, but I found it quite satisfying to limit the range we used this time. I think getting the proportions of ingredients in the spring roll right is important. A lot of the Tokyo Bekana and the noodles and a little bit of everything else…

Bron and I then went about filling and rolling the spring rolls. The trick here is to not fill the rice paper too full, practice here is the key. I almost always overfill mine, but they still taste great!

I also made a dipping sauce from some fermented chillies from last season, a bit of honey from our bees, some tamari and sesame oil and sesame seeds.

I made this salad for our evening meal last night and it was a bit of hit, so I thought I would share it as everything except the Persian style feta and the balsamic vinegar came off the farm.

After harvesting the produce from the garden and washing it, I began by stripping the leafy parts from the ribs of the kale leaves, tearing them up and throwing them in the bowl. Then I massaged the juice and rind from a lemon into the torn kale leaves. I think this is an important step as it changes the kale from a tough texture to something much more appetising. You can see and feel the point at which the colour and texture changes. Some people use a bit of salt at this stage but I didn’t bother as the feta is salty enough.

I also just tore up the lettuces, wild rocket and mustard and added them to the bowl with the kale leaves, tossing the whole lot around to coat with the lemon juice. I then finished it off with half dozen or so small spoonfuls of Persian feta and a splash of balsamic vinegar. The Persian feta comes in oil so this combined with the lemon juice and the balsamic made a very tasty dressing for the salad.

The entire process was quite quick, less than 15 mins including harvesting and needless to say most was consumed with in a very short time too! We did have enough left over to have for lunch today, which is always bonus.

Ingredients:

Tuscan Kale – about 6 leaves

Lemon – juice and rind

2 Lettuces – I used a Dov (Cos) and a Marvel of 4 Seasons both where quite small (too small to sell!)

Wild Rocket – 1 handful

Ruby Streaks Mustard – 1 handful

Persian Feta – about a dozen teaspoonfuls

Organic Balsamic Vinegar – a splash