Veggie Ploughman’s

This is actually something that I started making in December when my own garden was full of lovely fresh tomatoes, and my neighbour’s garden was producing so much zucchini that I was obliged to take a bit of the excess (wasn’t that considerate of me?). My own tomatoes and my neighbour’s zucchini have since ended, but I know a lot of people who planted later are still getting crops, particularly those who live further south. The other nice thing about the ploughman’s of course, is that you can just substitute whatever you have available — so for instance, if I were to make one today, I would use French beans instead of zucchini, and some fried eggplant instead of tomato. And if you wanted a more traditional ploughman’s, you could just add some salami or ham.

The egg that I’ve used in this recipe is from Mulloon Creek Natural Farms, located in Bungedore NSW, which is less than 300km from Sydney. I love these eggs — they’re free range (you can read all about it/see pictures on the site), and I think the health of the Mulloon Creek chooks is reflected in the quality of the eggs. They taste amazing, and they’re strong. This is really important when you’re boiling eggs, as eggs with a weak shell will crack (and when you’re frying an egg, the yolk is more likely to break if the egg isn’t of a good quality). I also love that you don’t just get brown eggs in their cartons — you get white and speckled eggs too, which means that they aren’t just throwing away the eggs that look less appealing. The yolks, too, range from yellow to orange. Of course, any good free range egg will work, and I’m always on the lookout for good egg producers.

VEGGIE PLOUGHMAN’S
I made this as a supper for one, but of course you can increase the quantities to serve more people

Ingredients

From the Garden

• 1/3 green zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1/3 yellow zucchini, thinly sliced
• A handful of cherry tomatoes

Australian

• 1 free range egg
• 4-6 slices of hard cheese (I can’t remember which cheese I used in the picture, but I suspect it was a cheddar
• 1 slice of wholemeal sourdough (or other delicious bread), buttered
• 2-3 tablespoons of your favourite pickle/relish/chutney — the one I used here is an eggplant and chili relish that I picked up from The Salty Dog Cafe in Coolongolook on the NSW mid-north coast. (This is one of the most amazing relishes I’ve ever tasted, but to my despair, they don’t sell it online! However, this does give me a very good excuse to make my own, as I have both eggplant and chili growing in my garden right now.)
• Salt, pepper, mixed herbs
• A bit of canola oil

Imported

• Ground black pepper
• Mixed herbs

Method

Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil (I like to cheat by boiling it in the kettle first) — once boiling, gently lower the egg in with a spoon, and leave on the boil for 8-9 minutes. This will result in a “semi-boiled” egg — the yolk should be not runny, but not quite hard either. While the egg is boiling, fry the zucchini in a tiny bit of canola oil (you want the zucchini to absorb most of the oil, you don’t want it to be dripping when you take it out). Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and mixed herbs while cooking. Remove from the pan when they are just starting to get a bit of colour. Once the egg is done, remove from the heat, pour out all the hot water, and bathe in cold water to stop it cooking. Peel while it is still warm, and chop in half. Arrange egg and zucchini artfully on your plate, along with the cherry tomatoes, cheese, bread, and pickle.

Enjoy with a nice cool cider.