En Papillote

With the summer months come delicious grill cooking and experiences for the taste buds. Our grill has been out for a couple of months now and we've cooked several meals on it, but none as good as the one we had today! My favorite way of preparing vegetable is by far "En papillote" (in parchment), where vegetables are cut and placed into an aluminium pouch that is then carefully closed and put on the grill. The steam created allows the content to cook perfectly, and the taste is just awesome! One can choose pretty much any combination of vegetables for a papillote. My combinations are usually dominated by root vegetables.

Vegetables En papillote, served with a yummy, tender steak

I prepared such a papillote today, and both my husband and I were pleasantly surprised at the result, as I tried a combination I had not tried before. Here is the recipe:

(For 2 papillotes / 4 big portions)

- 2 big sweet potato
- 3 big potato
- 2 big parsnip
- 4 small to medium carrots
- a few broccoli pieces
- 1 big onion
- fresh ginger (to taste)
- fresh garlic (to taste)
- fresh chives (to taste)
- fresh oregano (to taste)
- butter
- salt
- pepper

Before grilling

1) Lay out 2 big pieces of aluminium foil.

2) Cut the potatoes, parsnip and carrots in cubes, sticks or slices (Do not mix together)

3) Split each veggie portion in two, and place in layers on the aluminium foil in this order: Parsnip at the bottom, carrot, potato, sweet potato.

4) Cut the broccoli in bite size pieces. Place on top of each pile.

5) Cut the ginger and onions in small fine pieces and sprinkle evenly on top of each pile.

6) Cut small squares of butter and place at various places on top of each pile (3 squares each papillote)

7) Garnish with fresh chive and fresh oregano leaves.

8) Add salt and pepper to taste

9) Close each pouch, folding the paper carefully so all the steam can be contained.

10) place and the grill and cook for 30 to 45 minutes.

And you're ready to enjoy a wonderful bouquet of flavors!

Happy grilling!

Root Aphids

Do you remember my small Euonymus Fortui - Emerald Gaity? (Plant Needs Help)

Well, it has now been 2 weeks since I tried to help it gain some strenght. At first, it was encouraging, because I could see new leaves starting to grow, but then, it started to go south again. :(

While some new leaves continued to grow, some of the already existing leaves started to look very unhealthy. They pointed down, even though there was no lack of water, nor was there too much of it. They started to get brownish. Now they are pretty much withering and falling off.
The new leaves are still growing, but they are quite fade in colour. The growth is also uneven from stem to stem.

After researching some more, it appears my poor little plant might have root aphids. :( That is a tiny little bug that lives at the root and gets all the nutrients before the plant can absorb them, resulting in stunted growth, unhealthy coloured foliage and premature loss of leaves. All the symptoms fit.

So I took it out of its pot to take a closer look and, sure enough, there's a colony of little crawlers in there. :( It's unclear to me how to treat this problem. I am also afraid that my other plants will get affected.

So after a good run with us, out it is for Emerald Gaity. Sorry little plant, I really tried...

That said, any advice is welcome! Does anyone know how to treat this issue? Better yet, how to avoid it?