While John Hawkins is well-known around south east Queensland for his gardening expertise, and being a familiar face on Channel 7’s Great South East, his flair for cooking has been a well kept secret from all but his family and friends. Not any more ... meet the Cook and the Gardener!
When the majority of us like to go home and put our feet up after a hard day’s work, John likes nothing better than to take over the kitchen and use his creative energy to cook up some gastronomic delight.
But, it’s a meal with a real difference.
John doesn’t use a recipe, he likes to create the dish from scratch, and is passionate about cooking with fruits, vegetables and herbs picked fresh from his own edible garden. “Gardening and cooking are such an integral mix,” he said, “and there’s nothing quite as satisfying as going out the back and gathering the ingredients yourself.”
“You don’t need a big backyard,” he added, “ it’s amazing what you can grow in a small area, or even on the patio in terracotta tubs. The secret to growing in tubs is to choose one that is at least 30cm deep, use a good quality potting mix, water daily and mulch the pot to retain the moisture. Naturally, you’ll need a good fertiliser, like Hawkins Fast Food, and in 5-6 weeks you’ll be picking your first crop.”
John’s vegetable garden has a little of everything. Several varieties of lettuce, beetroot, tomatoes, shallots, silverbeet, basil, strawberries, capsicum, beans, thyme, aubergines, sage, chives, chillies, parsley, rosellas, coriander, oregano, red and green cabbage, snowpeas, radish, a mandarin and an orange tree. Companion plantings of marigolds, begonias, cock’s comb and torenia bring the bees into the garden to aid in pollination of the vegetables ... and that’s all in a area of 7m x 6m! The garden beds are raised to a minimum depth of 20cm and well mulched with sugar cane mulch to control weeds and conserve moisture.
Herbs play an important role in all of John’s creations, and a great way to get your herb garden started is with one of the multi packs of 6 herb seedlings. There are a variety of combinations, like parsley, basil, oregano, sage, tarragon and chives - a great selection if you like cooking mediterranean dishes.
The Cook and the Gardener will be launched at the Courier Mail Home Show from 1st to 9th March at the RNA Showgrounds. John will be demonstrating the pleasures of cooking with fresh, home-grown ingredients daily from 12 noon, and will be on hand to give any advice you need in setting up your own Cook’s Garden.
Visit the Cook’s Garden
at Hawkins Chandler
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All fruit and vegetable ingredients are available in seedling punnets, or in pots, from Hawkins Home & Garden Centres, or buy fresh from your local ACTION Supermarket. Talk to the experts at Hawkins about setting up your own Cook’s Garden.
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The Cook and the Gardener’s Recipes
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1. Grilled Chicken Breast or Grilled Salmon with Mango Salsa:
Ingredients
4 grilled chicken breasts or salmon steaks sprinkled with cajun seasoning.
1 mango, peeled and diced
1/2 roasted red capsicum, diced
1/2 cup spanish onion, finely diced
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons mint leaves, finely chopped
2 teaspoons coriander leaves, finely chopped cracked black pepper
pinch sea salt
To prepare capsicum:
Seed capsicum and cut into large pieces. Place fresh down on a baking tray and cook under grill until skin blisters and blackens. Remove from grill, allow to cool then peel off skin.
To make salsa:
Combine all ingredients together and gently mix. Place in fridge for 1 hour.
To serve salsa:
Spoon salsa over grilled salmon fillets or chicken breasts and garnish with lime wedges and chopped parsley.
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2. Mediterranean Vegetable Stack Terrine:
Ingredients
300g pumpkin, peeled and sliced
12 roma tomatoes, cut in halves
400g bocconcini cheese, well drained
1 bunch / 50g fresh basil
freshly ground black pepper
Dressing
1 teaspoon french grain mustard
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
(Whisk all ingredients together well and set aside)
To serve:
1 bunch rocket or baby spinach leaves
Warm crusty bread
To make Terrine:
Preheat oven to 180C. Place 1cm thick slices of pumpkin on a baking tray, lightly spray with olive oil and bake for 20 – 30 mins until pumpkin is cooked but firm.
Allow to cool.
Cut tomatoes in 1/2, remove seeds and press gently to flatten.
Cut cheese into slices.
Line a terrine dish with plastic wrap, leaving enough to wrap over the completed stack.
Layer tomatoes skin side down, basil and cheese twice, add a layer of pumpkin, followed by basil, tomatoes, cheese twice more finishing with a layer of cheese. Season each layer with cracked black pepper. Cover vegetable stack with overhanging plastic wrap, weigh down and place in fridge over night.
To serve:
Use plastic wrap to lift stack from terrine dish and cut into thick slices.
Serve on bed of rocket or baby spinach leaves.
Drizzle dressing over and serve with warm crusty bread.
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3. The Gardener’s Greek Salad
This salad is perfect as a side dish or simply eaten on its own with fresh warm crusty bread.
Ingredients
6 vine ripened tomatoes, cut in eights
2 Lebanese cucumbers, sliced
300g goats fetta cheese, cut in pieces
1 cup pitted black olives
1/4 cup mint leaves, roughly chopped
1 cup Italian parsley leaves
1/4 cup basil, finely chopped
cracked black pepper
Dressing
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 spanish onion, finely diced
cracked black pepper
pinch sea salt
Directions
Place tomatoes, cucumber, mint, parsley, basil and olives in a bowl. Pour over dressing and refrigerate for 1/2 hour. Remove from fridge and top with fetta and cracked black pepper.
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