Jottings from my African Kitchen Table: The case for organic growing

We all want the best fruit and vegetables! I realised long ago that to achieve this in Kenya the best way was to grow your own and have full control over what goes into the soil and onto the plants. However, this was not achievable for me until about 2 1/2 years ago when I moved into a house with a large private garden and an enthusiastic gardener/askari. With Michael's assistance my vegetable patch was soon feeding myself, friends and providing the work kitchen (we cooked lunch daily for about 15 staff) with a wide variety of vegetables. The odd slug in the salad was a small price to pay for the sense of achievment felt knowing we had grown everything ourselves and with only the help of our own compost and the odd bag of chicken poo! The pride on Micheals face when he brought the produce into the office to present to Peter the cook was irreplacable.

Since moving out to Kitengela the growing process has been a bit more of an uphill battle. Convincing Jim's staff that we can grow without lots of chemicals is just now starting to have effect. The soil is also very different, we have less rain fall and have to be careful with our water supply. The soil has started to benifit from our own compost, the odd pat of buffalo poo and crop rotation/resting. We have had a few disasters but we keep learning from our mistakes. Bernard is learning and is enthusiastic although he has other duties so in my view there is never enough time devoted to the garden.

I have now found a backup plan - The Nairobi Organic Growers Market has been going for some time in various locations. I had been once several years ago and was not so impressed. However, after reading something last week (and having some very poor quality imported fruit from our local green grocer) I decided to try again. Come Saturday morning - cold, dreary and rain threatening, I loaded the car with baskets and set out for 'Talisman', a restaurant in Karen, that hosts the markets in a field next door. I was very early but as the vendors where all just setting up, I got first choice. I was so excited. Everything had been picked just that morning, all so fresh looking and soil still on the roots! I bought the best strawberries I have ever had in Kenya and used every single one - no throwing out the squashed ones on the bottom of the punnet. Avocados that were just the right degree of softness for Jim to make guacomole that day and sooo much taste.
The growers are all very knowledgable on their produce and I have made a date for Bernard to visit one of the farms and earn first hand how we should be working our plot. I went home with two overflowing baskets (not a plastic bag in sight!) full of produce that will last the whole week rather than being sad and wilting in the bottom of the fridge by Wednesday

We had friends for dinner on Saturday evening and it was so wonderful to announce that all the fruits and vegetables had either been grown in our garden or come from the organic market.
I was telling my friend Susan about the menu I served and she has requested my Boeuff Bourguignon recipe, so here it is -

BOEUFF BOURGUIGNON
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1.5kg chuck, flank or skirt of beef, cut into large cubes
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
50gms plain flour
1 bottle red burgundy (750 mls)

300ml beek stock

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
200gm smoked lardons
250gm button onions
250gm button mushrooms

Heat the oil in a heavy casserole. Brown the meat a few pieces at a time on high heat. Once all the meat is browned, add chopped onions and cook for about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Remove the pan from heat and sift in flour. Mix well to absorb all the remaining oil. Return to heat and slowly add the bottle of wine and the stock stirring constantly. Bring to the boil. Return the meat to the casserole with tomato puree, herbs and seasoning. Cover and cook for 2-3 hours.

I have done this both in the oven and on the stove top and both work as well. The meat will not suffer from longer cooking. When I started cooking on Friday evening I did not have any home-made stock and too late realised that I did not have any stock cubes, so I put in the wine and water and other ingredients, cooked for an hour and then once cooled put the dish in the fridge overnight. Next day when I had the stock cubes I crumbled these in and slow cooked for about 4 ½ hours.

About one hour before serving - Fry the lardons until they have release some of their fat. Add onions and cook until they are browned all over. Add to the casserole. Add some butter to the frypan and fry mushrooms until just brown. Add to casserole. Stir to combine and cook for about another 30 minutes.
The French market
Jo Harris and Fran Warde