Most people decide their New Year's resolutions come January 1 but this year our family made a resolution early in December. We made a commitment to using only New Zealand produce at our restaurant Sidart from January 2018. While Sid got busy sourcing New Zealand-made olive oil, chocolate, parmesan and other ingredients, Hospobaby and I decided this was the perfect opportunity for us to start a vege garden and grow our own produce to supply the restaurant.
We did a mini course on worm farming and started our own worm farm to provide us with worm tea and compost. We cleared room for four raised beds and prepped containers with potting mix and compost. Then we went shopping for plants: anise hyssop, lemon balm, lemon verbena, Thai basil, white chrysanthemum, chillies, lettuce, coriander, sage, thyme, corn and more.
As much fun as we have gardening and learning about plants, it is actually more rewarding to pick the produce and use it in the kitchen. Although the corn won’t be ready until next year, the coriander is good to go and so are the chillies, which the grown-ups will use to add heat to these tacos that make the most of the last of the Kiwi summer.
Prawn and corn tacos with coriander and lemon mayo
