Cherry Jam and stuffed Mushrooms

This was first posted 10/7/2018

Today we made a vegetarian gluten free  stuffed mushroom recipe with the mushrooms and rice and the french beans.

We went to pick the last of the cherries and turned them into jam. A bit of a messy job but the harvesters got stuck in and together managed to make enough for 7 jars.

 

As we had quite a few blueberries we made some blue berry muffins with a twist (in a jar)

We greased the 'bon maman' jars and sprinkled them with flour and cinnamon. Then filled them half full (don't fill higher) put them in the oven 180 C and when done, remove from oven and put the lid on it. That way when it cools down, it will pull it vacuum and you can keep it out of the fridge for weeks. 

Rhubarb cordial and crumble with a lovely Spinach and ginger soup

Looking back through my blog I came across the lovely day when Asako, Ada and Karina came to harvest spinach and Rhubarb a few years ago.  So when I headed to the allotment this morning for my daily exercise, I found a very chilly but Sunny oasis of peace and hope.

I came back hope with a bunch of tulips, Rhubarb flowers and forget me nots to put inside in a vase.

I picked some spinach for the spinach and ginger soup and rhubarb for a cordial and crumble. I used the left over strained rhubarb as the base of the crumble. The topping is one with ginger, almonds, sugar and flour.

 We even managed a glass in the sunshine, whilst the crumble was in the oven.

As a desert we have a rhubarb crumble I used the strained rhubarb that was left after making the crumble. The topping with the almonds was divine.

Dezyre making the crumble topping

For starters we made a spinach soup.
June and Asako cut the spinach and wilted it in some salted water,
They then added a chopped onion, ginger and a minced garlic clove.
Covered it with a vegetable stock to cover the greens and let it simmer until cooked.
At this point we added some cornflour to thicken the soup a little. Then added some milk to bulk it out.

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• Rhubarb, almond and ginger crumble from Delia online

Rhubarb crumble ingredients

Monday 6th August - a Mediterranean meal on a hot summers day

As the weather has been so hot for so long, it was a perfect day for a cold soup.  Today we made a gazpacho for starters.

the basil is growing really well in the stacked plastic bottles

First  a lot of chopping of onions, peppers, tomatoes, basil  and garlic

Carmen, June and Ada, the chopping team

Delicious Gazpacho, we added some ground lovage seeds for flavour

We also picked a marrow (as I overlooked it when picking the courgettes a couple of days ago) we decided to stuff it with couscous, peas, mint, blue cheese and topped it off with parmesan cheese

 

and a tray of roasted vegetables

Elaine picking cherry tomatoes for the roasted vegetables

As the oven is on for the bread and the roasted vegetables, we made some blackberry Bakewell muffins with the blackberries we picked.

Melendra and Simone making the muffins

Whilst everything was in the oven we walked into the garden and picked some beetroot for everyone to take some home and experiment a little. The egg timer went off so we went inside as it was time to indulge and share a delicious meal with the lovely From Spade to Plate friends

Courgette and bacon loaf with a courgette and runner beans salad

Today we made a Rustic soft zucchini ham and mozzarella loaf.
It could have done with a little bit more salt and even cheddar cheese instead of mozzarella.
I added a little bit of blue cheese to the mix which made it a little more tasty I think. Well worth doing again, especially when the courgettes are growing so well.

I am hoping that Melendra will send me a picture of it.

Ingredients for a plumcake mold 24 x 13 cm

250 g of sr flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

a pinch of salt

130 ml of milk

120 ml of sunflower oil

1 jar of white whole yogurt

4 medium zucchini

2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese

1 clove of garlic

100 g of cubes of cooked ham

150 g of cubed mozzarella cheese

salt and pepper

We made a Courgette and Runnerbean  side dish  go with this cheesey loaf.
This is meant to be done on the BBQ but even in the pan on the stove was it a delightful
dish

Melendra gave me this Healthy chocolate and zucchini muffin recipe, easy to make and a great way to use up the glut of courgettes, not to mention the gorgeous taste!

It was a great shame that we had to say good-bye to our good friend Felicia, she is returning back to China where maybe she can share some of the recipes she had done with us, it was a joy to have had her in our group,  and will be sorely missed. 

Because of this, we had forgotten to take the usual group picture as there was a lot of hugging and saying goodbye. 

From Spade to Plate friends

 

Monday 4th June: From Spade to Plate: Broadbean and asparagus risotto with strawberry and mixed salad

What a joy!  Both the strawberries and the broad beans are ready to be harvested.
Now what can I do to make a nice lunch out of this?

Thanks to the internet I have found two lovely recipes.

The Broadbean and asparagus risotto  is based on this recipe and added some lemon rind and juice to lift it a bit.


As a salad we will harvest the leaves of the lettuces we sowed in March and include the first strawberries

As the morning was very overcasted and a light rain, I harvested the broadbeans and the asparagus earlier in the day, just in case it would rain properly when the group would arrive. It turned out that it was dry enough to go out and pick more strawberries from the garden for the salad and the strawberry and banana icecream.

We also managed to go into the allotment where we picked flowers to cheer up our homes with colour and sweet memories. (somehow many of us have old memories when seeing Sweet William flowers)





The risotto and the salad were delicious!