La Greixonera

This is my favourite cooking vessel.  It's an earthenware casserole or cazuela which I bought many years ago in Mallorca, where it's called a greixonera.  (Pronounce it more or less as GRAY-shon-ERA.)  It has given rise to a dessert by the same name from the neighbouring island of Ibiza where it is made in such an earthenware casserole.

The dessert consists of ensaimadas which are a day or two old mixed together with egg, sugar, cinnamon and milk to make a sort of firm pudding which is sliced and served on a plate.  I use mine for making stewed dishes, meatballs and slow cooked meals which can sit on the back of my gas stove on a low flame until the contents are tender and flavourful.  It was customary in the Balearic Islands to use a cabbage or lettuce leaf to act as a lid for whatever was cooking inside.

Here are some more items from my collection of earthenware cooking vessels.  It amazes me that these cooking utensils cost so little - most of them under ten Euros, and they can be found in most supermarkets and hardware stores.  Although they will break when dropped or banged on a hard surface, my greixonera is over 25 years old and if I'm lucky it will still last for years.  I don't use a ceramic cooktop, and I don't believe these earthenware dishes could be used on them.  But they will go in the oven for baking and only need a little careful soaking in warm water for a few minutes before the first use.

I swear that anything cooked in them tastes superior than it would if it were cooked in a casserole made from another material.

Here is yet another of my cazuelas de barro or earthenware casserole dishes, together with another useful item...my wooden mortar and pestle which I use for grinding dry spices.  Both can be found in supermarkets here and are inexpensive.

And how I love my little olive oil can,  I keep it beside the stove and use it every day for a fine drizzle when cooking. This one holds half a liter but I recently found another one which holds one liter of oil.

Here is another supermarket find.  I was so pleased when I saw these individual earthenware soup bowls that I bought a couple and although we've had soup in them, I also tried them out for baking individual chicken pot pies in my toaster oven.

They turned out perfectly!

This morning we had beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures.  When I saw the sun lighting up my Phormium I had to run out and take a photo.  I brought this one with me from Canada one year and enjoy looking at it through my computer room window as the colours seem to glow in morning sunlight.

Thanks for dropping by.  Have a good week and hasta la vista!

67 ~ Sunday in the Garden

Phormium
What a beautiful morning it is today! Blue skies and warm sunshine. I've put on my shorts and a sleeveless top and have just made us some fresh coffee so let's go sit outside on the patio and watch the parrots in the trees while we drink it. Then I'm inviting you to come for a wander through the garden with me to take a closer look at what is growing.

The parrots aren't native to here but are escapees from a local parrot conservation park. They are quite happy to live in the free outdoors and congregate here in the mornings just outside my bedroom window making enough noise to wake me. This one sits in the Jerusalem Thorn tree. (Parkinsonia Aculeata.)
Look over there at the Opuntia cactus with the sun behind it.

Here are some of the empty flower buds after the petals have fallen.

The cat seems quite happy over there on the grass.

The little Yellow Palm (Areca lutescens Bory) from Madagascar has put forth a branch of seeds.

I love the way this little palm forms a cluster of thin bamboo-like trunks topped by the characteristic curved palm fronds. It looks like we need to get in there and do some pruning at the base so the trunks are more visible.
Everything grows so quickly here, our main garden work is pruning and cutting back the bougainvillae and succulents such as aloe.


I planted this wild grass years ago and although it becomes rampant on waste ground, it has been kept in check in our garden by neighbouring aloe and bougainvillae plants.





Cleistocactus straussii from Bolivia, although I refer to it as 'old man's head' after I heard it from someone.

Let's walk around to the front garden shall we. The Piccabeen palm tree there still has some strands of seeds hanging although the little blue tits have been doing a good job of cleaning them off.

I never tire of admiring the flowers of the white mandevilla.

And in the dim shade of a tangle of palm leaves and jasmine is a stag horn fern (Platycerium.) I like to photograph the dark surrounding shell with sunlight behind.

And who could ever tire of bougainvillae; I always love to see its constant blooms.

Well that's the end of our garden walk today. I'm going back in the house to make us some breakfast while you take another look at the roses, strelitzia and yellow winter jasmine. I hope you've enjoyed the visit.

Breakfast is ready!



I look forward to your next visit. Until then...Hasta la Vista!