Enjoy the good weather while you can...

Saturday brought us a rare gap in bad weather. The fluffy clouds in the blue sky and being surrounded by green and productive plants just makes makes you happy. Perhaps having had almost 3 weeks of constant rain make you appreciate things all the more.  All that rain has also meant that crops are swelling almost as you look at them - runner beans are growing prolifically, tomatoes are splitting with juices and courgettes are turning into marrows if you don't spot them early enough.  I discovered this monster when clearing the mildew-y courgette leaves. It weighed a massive 3.2 kilos. Luckily I bought "What will I do with all those courgettes?" by Elaine Borish which should help me find some recipe ideas on how to use the beast.

It is hard to believe on days like this but winter is coming - the mornings are getting chilly and in Scotland they are being threatened with light frosts. At this time of year it is important to keep harvesting but start to clear plants that are past their best. I have already cleared the last of the tumbling cherry tomatoes and pulled up a courgette plant that was suffering from mildew. When clearing the worst of the leaves on the other plants I had to debate with myself whether to compost leaves or to burn them as recommended by some.  In the end I compromise by piling them up around the corner and wait to see if it rots down without contaminating the rest of the compost. 

I have also started to plan ahead for next year. I already ordered in vast quantities of seed (despite having loads left over from my binge buying in Spring). I have also planted a soft fruit collection which includes a thornless blackberry, an autumn fruiting raspberry and a red gooseberry. As the gooseberry is spiky and grows vigorously I need to allow space.  Unfortunately this is something that is running out on the plot.  Maybe I can consider training it like they do at West Dean Gardens in West Sussex - amazing kitchen gardens that put my humble allotment to shame.

I also bought some scaffolding planks from the allotment organisers to make raised beds. This will make access easier and the marginally warmer atmosphere might make plants grow earlier.  The only downside, apart from having to build them, is that I will lose a bit of space as I sacrifice space for paths.  I did apply for another plot that has been overgrown on the allotment but it's a strictly one plot per person policy. I am still considering applying for one on another plot for my soft fruit (which are less trouble than vegetables I think)but I'm not sure if I can wait another 5 years.

In areas I have cleared I have sowed green manures which can be used to block out weeds and enrich the soil when they are dug into the soil. I started with Phacelia which is a quick growing hardy annual green manure that germinates at low temperatures and is ideal for sowing from March until September. Now all I need is on that is suitable for overwintering - mustard is a strong candidate.

Chateau Nouvelle Croix anyone? Brewing borrowed grapes...

In this wet weather my mind has been turning to Autumn and alcohol. Not just any alcohol, mind you. I have been contemplating making my own wine and am seriously looking into options.

The plot is lucky enough to have neighbours who have planted a grape vine in their garden and the fruit of their labours is overhanging my plot.  Having fought off a couple of neighbours who (very unusually for allotmenteers who are very rule abiding) were trampling over my seedlings to get to my grape leaves (and my courgette flowers), the fruit are ripening nicely despite the rain.  I snuck a taste in and the fruit are not sweet enough to eat alone but they could be viable for wine making.

Unsure of how heavy my haul will be I am not sure where to start but I have two alternatives. The first is the lazy person's option. That is to hire people to make your wine for you. You join a club and for £80 you get 6 bottles of a blend of South London grapes back. You can then buy extra bottles (yes please!) for just under £5 each. Seems a little pricey to me but you don't have to worry much about it and they might make a better result than a complete amateur. On the other hand it isn't exclusively your own wine and works out very expensive - we could be swimming in Blossom Hill for that price.

The second alternative is to go all heath Robinson and experiment with syphons and distillery things.  Hop and Grape sell kits that allow you to produce 1 gallon (4.5 litres) £35 or 5 gallons for £64. At almost 23 litres that's £2.13 per bottle.  However that excludes the sure effort that will be involved and the lack of guarantee that it will be in any way drinkable.

Decisions, decisions - it's enough to turn a girl to drink.....

Speedy salads and using up green tomatoes

Top tip - pinch out growing tips once tomato plants have set two or three trusses of fruit (cordon) otherwise you will be left with too many small green tomatoes at the end of the growing season. Save time by using salad seedlings to start off your salad collections.

If you do get stuck with some green tomatoes you can a) make more chutney or b) ripen green tomatoes using the banana trick. Basically, put your green tomatoes into a paper bag with a ripe banana and pop them in a dark place (a drawer will work well). Keep checking but the tomatoes should ripen.

Paul Merrett has a great recipe for Green Tomato Chutney in his book 'Using the Plot' which I adapted (as I didn't have all the ingredients to hand). I have used quantities that would make a jar's worth (again out of necessity as I didn't have that many green tomatoes).
500g green tomatoes, roughly chopped into small bits
140ml malt vinegar
1 onion, chopped
100g soaked dried dates (keep the juices)
2tsp mixed spice
2tsp cinnamon
2tsp ground ginger

Throw all the ingredients into a saucepan let the mixture boil for about 20 minutes. Turn down the heat and allow to simmer.

Every so often stir the pan to stop sticking. When the mixture is thick, dark brown and rich looking your chutney is ready. Cool and store in a sterilised jar.

At this time of year you can still sow salads to keep you going throughout Autumn (apparently you can even do this up to Christmas with a cloche or tunnel). It is important to choose a good variety that suits cooler temperatures.  These varieties tend to be spicier types although, actually, all lettuce germinates better in cooler (not cold) weather.

If you can't be bothered with sowing and pricking out you can still grow salad very cost effectively. Cut and come again salad leaves are now available from most supermarkets (I've seen them in Sainsbury's and Lidl). these are actually little salad seedlings and if you separate them and plant them out you'll soon have proper sized salad plants.

The sad little seedlings before they blossomed!
They were planted at the height of the heatwave....

Courgettes, Pine nuts and SULTANA pasta - adapting a great Nigella recipe

This is a testament to being adventurous in the kitchen (and other places of course!). Inspired by the Cookbook a month blog I decided to challenge my prejudices and try Nigella Lawson's recipe that involves sultanas with courgettes (which I have only tried in carrot cake style cupcake).
It has turned out to be yet another way to use up courgettes but this is worth it even when you don't have a glut as it's surprisingly delicious. The quantities are supposed to serve 4 but I found it was fine for two greedy people. I also reduced the parsley to 3 tablespoons and increased the garlic to 4 cloves (there is always a risk of vampires in South London and we need to be prepared). We also tossed in a couple of extra tablespoons of butter with the pasta at the end as we crave heart attack by fat later in life.

•3 tablespoons butter
•1 tablespoon olive oil

•675g courgettes (4 medium)

•4 cloves garlic, chopped

•salt

•3 tablespoons Marsala (keep it boozy!)

•1/3 cup sultanas (golden raisins)

•2 tablespoons pine nuts

•225g egg pappardelle

•5 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan

•3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Heat one tablespoon of butter and oil in a heavy-based saucepan, and cut the courgettes into very fine rounds before adding them to the pan. Chopped up the garlic and add in, season with salt. Cook over a low to medium heat for about 45 minutes, stirring every now and again.

At the same time, warm the Marsala, pour it over the sultanas and leave them to plump up for about 15 minutes (pop in the microwave for 30 seconds to speed things up). Once the courgettes are cooked, stir the sultanas and their juices into them. Taste for seasoning. Toast the pine nuts by cooking them in a dry frying pan until they turn a golden brown, and remove to a cold plate.

Cook the pasta according to package instructions, then drain and tip into a bowl, toss with the last two tablespoons of butter. Add the courgette mixture and fold and toss to combine. Sprinkle over the pine nuts, Parmesan and most of the chopped parsley and toss everything gently together again. Sprinkle with the remaining parsley and take to the table. Add even more Parmesan. YUM!

Saving the best to last

Top tip: Use vegetables as soon after picking as possible to keep nutrient levels up. If you can't eat them all immediately then blanch the vegetables to reduce harmful bacteria. Cooked tomatoes have higher levels of Lypocene which make them better at fighting heart disease and protect against cancer.

There is a saying that we are all either green and growing or we are ripe and rotten. This holds as true for fresh produce as it does for us.  Wine and cheese may get better with time and exposure to the air but this is rarely true for crops. Vegetables, like our skin, start to lose water and become flaccid as soon as they are picked. Why grow your own, only to neglect your crop once picked and eat vegetables that are no fresher than in the shops?

They also start to lose their vitamin content. The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation  of the UN) state that vitamin C content decreases with time after harvest, and that little may remain after two or three days. When you do cook the vegetables, bear in mind that overcooking means a significant drop of vitamin content - try steaming instead of boiling (also eat potato skins as their vitamins are just under the skin) and use the water in a stock as the dissolved minerals stay in the water.

It can be hard to eat all the vegetables fresh so it helps to have a few ways of processing them. Our new freezer arrives in three days and I can resume blanching duties (the existing two freezers are already full). In the meantime, I have got a free extra fridge (from Freecycle) to store jams and chutneys in.  I am particularly fond of Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall's recipe for 'Glutney'.

This is a great way to use up summer vegetables and you can just use whatever is taking over your plot at the time. The quantities he recommends make 10 jars so i halved everything here. I also kept out the chillis as I am a wimp. I also rarely have all the spice to make the spice bag so I just use some allspice and nutmeg.

500g courgettes, diced into 1cm
500g red or green tomatoes (I don't bother to skin them though it was recommended), roughly chopped
500g cooking or eating apples, peeled and diced
250g onions, peeled and diced
250g sultanas or raisins
250g brown sugar
375ml white wine or cider vinegar, made up to 500ml with water
1 thumb sized nugget of ginger roughly chopped
1 tsp of mixed spice
1/2 tsp of nutmeg
1 tsp mustard powder and 1/2 tsp salt

Put all the ingredients in a pan. Heat the mixture gently, stirring to dissolve the sugar, bring to the boil. simmer uncovered for 2-3 hours (this makes the kitchen smell great). Stir to make sure it doesn't burn. it's ready when rich, thick and reduced. Put while warn in sterilised jars. Leave to mature for 2 weeks, ideally 2 months, before serving.

This recipe is also a speedy way of using up cherry tomatoes that is surprisingly healthy - in fact I adapted it from a Weightwatchers recipe. It takes just 10 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.

150g ready rolled puff pastry (I used a pack of feuillete pastry that I picked up in France on a day trip)
60g light mozzarella, sliced
60g goats cheese
500g cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp green pesto (I forgot to add it tonight but bet it would be yummy)

Score a line around the pastry 2.5cm from the edge to make a border then prick all over with a fork. Chill for a bit. Preheat the oven to 220C, bake the pastry for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and using the back of a fork push down the centre of the tart leaving the edges puffed up.

Reduce the oven temperature to 200C. Cover the base of the tart with the cheese slices and top with the tomato halves and bake for 15 minutes. Remove and drizzle with the pesto. Leave for 5 minutes and serve with a fresh salad and balsamic dressing.

Dealing with a deluge of tomatoes

With over 6 kilos of tomatoes that have come off the plot in the last fortnight I have been investigating new ways of dealing with them.

As the majority of them are the 'Garden Pearl' variety that I have found a little watery and flavourless I was particularly keen to try out recipes that enhance the flavour.

A great one was to create 'sun-dried' tomatoes. Given there isn't an Italian level of sun around I used the oven instead.

Slice tomatoes into thirds (depending on size), scatter a little salt over them and place into an oven preheated to around 100 degrees C.  Keep an eye on them if your oven, like mine, has hotter patches than others. It's wise to use a silicone baking sheet to save on washing up as the juices caramelise and make it a pain to clean. When they look dried (but not burnt) then pop them in a jar and cover with oil. Scatter them in salads or in pasta and enjoy the taste of summer tomatoes well into the Autumn.

The tomatoes when ready for potting up.

I also slow cooked some cherry tomatoes, garlic, red onions and red peppers and blended it together for a healthy chilled soup.

When I get more flavoursome tomatoes off the plot then I might create great vats of pasta sauce but it's not worth it when the tomatoes aren't already bursting with flavour.

Autumn in August?

Top tip: Enjoy the daylight before the clocks go back (or forward - I always forget), keep harvesting crops and sow green manures when bare patches start to appear. Enjoy the bright colours of approaching Autumn.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Autumn is already here despite it being still not even mid August.  The days seem shorter and there is a definite chill in the air in the morning. Maybe this is normal and the exceptionally dry and warm summer we have had was the aberration but I had almost forgotten what rain was like. Last Tuesday, the skies decided to remind us with a vengeance. Following the driest weather for 80 years August 12th saw vast amounts of rain - so much so that the Met Office issued severe weather warnings. Looking on the positive side, it means I don't have to spend so long watering. It does, however,  encourage the weeds to spring into life and though you are supposed to keep on top of weeding a) I am not going out in the rain and b) there is no point hoeing weeds if the rain might 'replant' them. So I've stayed indoors and read gardening magazines.

This might be another reason why I think it might be Autumn as, infuriatingly, monthly magazines insist on talking about tasks to do in September despite coming out in early August. I seem to be living in a time warp.  Luckily I also buy Amateur Gardening (the UK's oldest consumer gardening magazine, I believe) and Garden News which are weeklies so they should be more relevant for mid August.  According to them, this week we should:
- Harvest early apples (only take them if they come off easily when twisted)
- Keep picking runner and french beans to keep the plants flowering and cropping
- Lift and sort out potatoes - eat damaged ones first (obvious I would say...)
- Sow salads. Apparently if you sow them in the morning they will germinate better. Worth a go.
- Direct sow spring cabbages now to either crop for winter greens or leave for fully grown plants in spring.
- Remove all but two or three fruits per pumpkin plant to allow them to ripen properly and put the fruits on a tile/ lift them off the ground to stop rotting and encourage ripening.

In this gloom it's good to have a few unusual and colourful produce to make a change from the tidal wave of green (courgettes, salads, cabbage, beans etc) so I was particularly pleased to see that my Swiss Chard 'Bright Lights' have produced a great range of coloured stems.  The variety of colour ranging from hot pink to burnt orange is truly psychedelic. Steam the leaves and use like spinach. Cook the stems separately and apparently you can treat them like asparagus spears. A good way to preserve the leaves and stems is to freeze them but rather than have the leaves in a giant block, steam them, squeeze out the water and then pop them into a muffin tin so that you have easy to use portions.

I'm also loving the cute mini-spaceship shaped Patty Pan summer squashes. I'm not sure what to do with them though the online view seems to be to either treat them like courgettes (ARGH - not more courgettes!) or to stuff them. Tempted by the latter, though I am a bit suspicious about stuffing things - it's almost like disguising the filling.  I also spotted among the triffid-like squash patch a developing 'real' pumpkin and a butternut squash so am watching their progress with interest.

PS Charlotte, her darling little daughter Tabitha and I harvested one of the neighbour's giant cauliflowers (he did give me permission). Though impressively huge it was also full of woodlice - less than appealing but I did get rid of them all by the time I posed for this photo!

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With over 4 kilos of mangetout, it's been hard to eat it all

Top tips: Keep picking mature pods to encourage flowering and therefore more pods later. At the end of the season leave a few pods on strong plants to grow big so you can sow them next year. Make sure the roots of your plants are well watered and there is space for the air to circulate. Aim the water at the soil not the leaves to avoid scorching and mildew.  When the plants are finished, cut the stalks off and leave the roots in the ground as they will fix nitrogen in the soil.

The mangetouts have finally given up the ghost. They have been a fantastic success. Initially, I thought they weren't going to perform well as all I got were a couple of pods sporadically but in the end they were miles better than the peas.

I guess I'd better come clean about my shameful secret. In a pretty anal way, I have been weighing the crops that I bring home.  A spreadsheet and graph even exist. 

Looking back I am glad I did as I can see that the mangetout started cropping on the 26th June. They produced a prolific crop of 2.7 kilos in  two weeks.  At that point the plants were looking sorry for themselves so I cut down half of them and left the others to see what would happen.  It was a good thing that I did as 10 days later they started cropping again and we got another 2 kilos. Not bad from half a packet of seeds.

On top of that you can use the new shoots in a salad - just like they do in smart restaurants. I've been freezing them like mad and have even had to buy a new freezer to accommodate them as unfortunately I don't have many recipes to use them up with.

Any ideas?

Three things to do with broccoli

Top tip: Bulk bake to add variety and stop you feeling like you're eating a mountain of the same vegetable.
I harvested my first broccoli at the weekend.  While not as big as the giant cauliflowers that were grown on a neighbouring plot (and were also left to fester and rot) it was pretty impressive and I decided it would make 3 decent meals.

The first dish was an easy mid week meal and a variation on a Nigel Slater recipe - broccoli in an holandaise sauce. I cheated on the sauce and used a packet and served it with runner beans mixed with onions and bacon. I am a firm believer in bacon jazzing up any vegetable.

The second meal was a broccoli and bean bake based on a recipe from The Great Allotment Cookbook.  I used cannellini beans instead of butter beans as it was all I had in the store cupboard and added horseradish and mustard to give it a bit of a kick.  I served it with a dollop of Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall's courgette 'glutney' (love that name!).

1 onion finely chopped
300ml milk
2 tbsp flour
1/2 teaspoon herbs
425g beans, rinsed and drained
tbsp of horseradish and mustard to taste
150g broccoli divided into small florets
8 cherry tomatoes or 4 full sized, chopped
1 tbsp of tomato paste
1 tbsp cheese
50g breadcrumbs
Preheat the oven to 180 C. Soften the onions then add the flour, milk and herbs and bring to the boil. Once sauce is boiling, reduce the heat and cook for 3 minutes or until thickened. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, horseradish and mustard and salt to taste.  Add the beans, broccoli to the sauce and bring to the boil. Pour into an oven proof dish. mix the breadcrumbs with the cheese and put on top of the broccoli mixture. Cook for 20-25 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the breadcrumbs are beginning to brown.  Here is what it looked like before I added the breadcrumbs and cheese.

I also prepared a twice baked cheese souffle as a friend is coming on Friday and i thought I'd serve it with a sharp green salad.  Souffles are not nearly as scary as they are made out to be if you follow the steps. 

Twice baking also means that you can cook it ahead of time (and even freeze it) and then just reheat it when friends are coming round. It's much more fun to socialise with them than worry about egg whites and souffles rising.
I used a recipe from the Fruit and Veg Grower's Cookbook.

75g butter, softened
150g broccoli (avoid thick stalks but some thinner stalks are fine)
25g flour ( I used wholemeal for fibre)
150ml milk (semi or skimmed is fine if you're watching your fat intake)
50g mature cheddar (the stronger the better), grated
3 large eggs, separated
2 tsp of mustard, powder or British (brings out the cheese flavour perfectly)

Preheat the oven to 190 C. Grease an oven proof dish (you can also do 4 large ramekins) and place a circle of baking paper on the bottom (though mine got tangled up and I had to remove it and the souffle still came out of the dish OK).

Finely chop the broccoli along with any small stalks until it resembles chopped herbs. Melt 25g butter in a frying pan and fry the broccoli until just softened. Remove from the heat.

Melt another 25g into a saucepan and stir in the flour. Cook while stirring for 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Stir in the milk bit by bit, then return to the heat until the mixture boils and thickens. Remove again from the heat.

Stir in the broccoli, mustard, grated cheese and egg yolks and mix well. whisk the egg whites till stiff and fold in with a metal spoon.

Pour into the oven proof dish and cook for about 30-40 minutes until risen and browned. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Cover and chill till ready to serve. Or you could freeze it at this point and it will last up to 6 months. If you do decide to freeze then let it thaw in the fridge overnight and then cook as below.

When ready to serve, preheat the oven again to 190C. Put the souffle on a baking sheet. Melt the remaining 25g and brush over the top. Sprinkle with a little Parmesan and bake for 20 minutes until warm and crisp.