Renaissance lady gives gen on greens

The Grower's Cookbook
by Dennis Greville and Jill Brewis, $35,
available only from the publisher, calicopublishing.co.nz

Dennis Greville and Jill Brewis combine their gardening and cooking talents to show you how easy it is to grow and cook your own produce in the recently released The Grower's Cookbook.

Jill, who admits to being "more cook than grower" is not only a whizz in the kitchen but a bit of an adventurer. She has just finished writing about a trip she did with her husband driving from London to Bombay in an old Ford Prefect. I asked Jill a few questions about the importance of fresh produce and her contribution to this book.

ARE YOU THE GROWER OR THE COOK?

For The Grower's Cookbook, I was definitely more cook than grower. My co-author Dennis, who also took the superb photographs, was the grower wizard.

HOW IMPORTANT IS FRESH PRODUCE TO OUR MEALS?

There are two answers to this. First, the nutritional value of vegetables fresh from the garden is much higher than the same foods that have spent a few days getting to the shop shelves and a few more days sitting waiting for the customer. And second, there's the convenience of having something in the garden ready and waiting for you to pick it when you want to use it.

WHAT MAKES HOMEGROWN GOODS TASTE SO MUCH BETTER THAN STORE BOUGHT?

Flavour and freshness, flavour and freshness.

TELL US FIVE THINGS YOU ALWAYS HAVE IN YOUR GARDEN.

Lettuces, spinach, celery, rhubarb, a wide range of herbs.

Lettuces are easy to grow. Small varieties like tom thumb, butternut, buttercrunch and little gem mature quickly and are ready for picking in a few weeks. Almost all varieties let you pick a few leaves off the outside as you want them.

Spinach is a great mainstay not only as a green vegetable and in salads but also for making quiches, terrines and egg dishes.

Celery is great to grow because you can pick a single stalk for a salad or a sandwich or to go in a stew and the rest keeps growing until needed.

Tuck a rhubarb plant away in a corner of the garden and it thrives on neglect; a few sticks of rhubarb make the most wonderful compote for breakfast, fruit crumble for dessert and my favourite spicy-sweet pickles.

As for herbs, there is no comparison between fresh and dried herbs. It's almost as if they come from different plants. Dried herbs can be good in pasta sauces and stews but most savoury foods are enhanced by the addition of freshly picked herbs.

GROWING UP, WERE THERE ALWAYS HOMEGROWN VEGES AND FRUIT IN YOUR HOME?

I grew up on a small farmlet near Wanganui. We had a huge orchard with apples, pears, plums, nectarines and peaches. As children we did our best to eat everything that came off the trees but there was still plenty left to preserve for eating later in the year. Dad kept a vegetable garden to supply most of our vegetables. He even grew a tobacco plant but I don't remember he ever used it. We had a walk-in cupboard off the back verandah where the shelves were filled with jars of preserved plums, apple pulp, pears, peaches and beetroot.

IN THE 60S EVERYONE HAD A BIG GARDEN. FAMILIES AREN'T SO LUCKY NOW. CAN YOU STILL FEED YOURSELF WELL WITH A SMALL GARDEN?

A small backyard vegetable garden, even a few metres square, can provide a good ongoing supply of vegetables throughout the year. Forget about growing potatoes and other root crops that stay in the ground for up to six months. Instead, focus on leeks, spinach, dwarf beans, broccoli, silverbeet, spring onions, radishes, all of which mature quickly without taking up too much room. If you put in just six plants of, say, beans or spring onions at a time, and repeat with another six plants after a fortnight, you can have a continual supply throughout the summer and autumn.

IS THERE ANY FRUIT OR VEGES YOU DON'T LIKE?

I'm not fond of Brussels sprouts, but when other people serve them, they don't taste bad at all.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE?

Asparagus in season, green beans, a tomato eaten immediately after it's picked.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE HERBS AND WHAT DISHES ARE THEY MOST SUITED TO?

Basil, coriander, thyme and parsley are my favourites. In summer, basil is a must with both fresh and cooked tomatoes. Coriander also goes well in salads and is essential in Thai and other Asian dishes; it's also used frequently in Peruvian dishes. Thyme adds a subtle nuance to almost all chicken dishes and is particularly good in chicken soup. For a really easy stuffing when roasting chicken, put half a lemon and a bunch of fresh thyme in the chicken cavity -- that's all. Parsley goes with just about everything. A few sprigs can add pizzazz even when it's just sitting on top of the food.

OFTEN A HOME GARDENER WILL HAVE AN OVERABUNDANCE OF ONE FRUIT OR VEGETABLE. ANY SUGGESTIONS?

It's inevitable that the home garden will produce an oversupply of a fruit or vegetable at times. My mint plants flourish so enthusiastically that I can make pots and pots of mint jelly to give away. I'm also a fan of the freezer for looking after any vegetables that cannot be eaten immediately. Also, my neighbours enjoy any excess produce.

HOW DID YOU DECIDE ON THE RECIPES FOR THIS BOOK?

It was difficult to get the number of recipes down to just one or two for each fruit and vegetable and often the page layout dictated what could be included. Almost all of my recipes are easy to make, do not require exotic ingredients and yet taste fantastic.

WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE RECIPE?

Probably the recipe I make most often is lemon honey - great to have in the fridge to top everything from dessert tarts to toasted crumpets. The little thyme and cheese muffins are a good fall-back when people drop in unexpectedly. This week I'm going to make naked mandarins to serve as dessert over vanilla ice cream.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR YOU?

Since finishing The Grower's Cookbook I've written a book bringing together stories of my family's involvement in past wars - in the hope that my children will never be made, or agree, to fight in any war as my grandfathers and uncles did. This started off as a book about what happened to the women left behind.

There are wonderful stories about women baking cakes and knitting jerseys and socks to send to serving soldiers and prisoners of war during the two world wars.

I've also just finished writing about a trip my husband and I did driving from London to Bombay and on to New Zealand in an old Ford Prefect, which carried us through armed border controls in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, past officious soldiers in Iraq and up dry river beds in Iran.

I'm still wondering what my next project will be.