Missed one. After 3 days of not going to the allotment, found this enormous marrow

 Missed one. After 3 days of not going to the allotment, found this enormous marrow.

So off I went to the internet and found this extremely tasty and easy courgette soup

The first of the runner beans were ready too but not enough to make a large meal, so the runner bean samosas are on the menu tonight.

The filo pastry I made before and froze to make it a quick and easy snack.

Halloumi and Broccoli couscous

Another wonderful sunny day, today.  What an autumn treat!

We went to the allotment where we harvested, a beautiful broccoli head, spinach beet and tomatoes and mint.



We will be preparing the mint in such a way that we strip  all but the top set of leaves. Those leaves were chopped for the couscous but the stems with the few leaves on top will be put in water to start rooting and become another plant for next year.

The Halloumi Couscous and Broccoli dish went down a treat.

With the broccoli stems, spinach beet and marrow chunks (left from a large Marrow that we started using at the beginning of the week)  we made a delicious soup topped with crumbled feta cheese and a delightful blue borage flower
                 

Ingredients

extra virgin olive oil

A small onion, roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 cups broccoli stems, chopped

4 cups spinach beet or chard chopped

4 cups courgettes chopped

Gorgonzola dolce (optional)

1 litre vegetable stock

Borage flowers for garnish, if desired

Feta Cheese for garnish, if desired

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Add oil to a large pot.
2. Add in onions and cook for 2 minutes.
3. Stir in garlic and cook for an additional minute.
4. Toss in broccoli and cook for 10 minutes over medium heat.
5. Stir in vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Simmer until broccoli , spinach and courgettes are tender.
6. Take off of the heat and stir in  Gorgonzola  (optional) salt and pepper.
7. Cool soup slightly and puree with hand blender.
8. Pour soup into bowls and serve immediately.
9. Garnish with crumbled feta cheese and a Borage flower or chives.

Tried and tested by June, Lucy, Ana, Angeles, Sue and  Karina 

Wednesday - Dolmehs and creamy courgette soup (all gluten free)

After a very successful dolmas making session last week with the Monday group, I have been asked to have a repeat. This time the stuffing is going to be with an Iranian slant. I would like to thank Simin for her recipe as it turned out delicious.

Yesterday I went to my garden in Garden Walk and picked 50 vine leaves, about as big as a lady's palm of her hand. I let it sit in a brine until this morning.  I rinsed and dried them for use today.

We had a very large group 9 of us, we also went out to pick the vine leaves from our opposite neighbour. A 2 minute job that turned into some delicious food.

Ingredients:  1/2 cup rice (I use basmati rice); 2 table spoons of split peas; 3 T.S of chopped parsley; 1 T.S of mint (of course fresh ones); 2 T.S sultanas; sundried tomato and tomato puree; 1 big onion; turmeric; salt and pepper.  You can use more parsley if you want to add them to the juice at the end.

Boil the rice and the split peas together.  Make sure they don't become mushy. There shouldn't be any water left.  When cooled down a bit add the herbs and sultanas plus tomato puree and other spices. When completely mixed put a portion of a large tea spoon inside the leaf.  Wrap them and put them one by one in the saucepan.  We had 2 layers in the pan.  At the end add about 1/2 glass of stock and some olive oil, put a lid over the pan and let them cook for about 15 minutes. 

Chop the onion finely and fry it in a frying pan with some olive oil.  

When the colour starts to change add a tea spoon of turmeric add to all the other ingredients and use as stuffing of the leaves.

With the courgettes ready to harvest we made a vegan,creamy gluten free soup served with a slice of toast. This was a wonderfully tasty and easy recipe

From Spade to plate: Monday 2nd October: Pumpkin many ways Part 2 - No bake Pumpkin Pie

As our sessions are relatively short (2 hours) I would like to start straight away with the making of the breadrolls and the pumpkin Pie.  Although these are quick 30 minute bread rolls, they need proving so hope it will be ready in time to have with our soup.



The pumpkin pie, is a no bake recipe and need refrigerating for a couple of hours, so again, hope that works for us in time.

No bake pumpkin Pie
This is a made up recipe, with inspiration of 3 other recipes I had, I have tried it and it tastes lovely. Just hope that we have enough time to refrigerate it enough to make and eat it at the same from spade to plate session.

No Bake Pumpkin Pie

1 c cooked pumpkin

1 c milk

¾ c brown sugar

2 tbsp cornstarch

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp cloves

½ tsp ginger

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

Making the shell

2 oz melted butter

7 oz crushed ginger nuts biscuits

2 tbsp maple syrup

Mix and press into the bottom of a lined pie dish

Combine all ingredients in a heavy duty pan, consistently stirring. Bring to a boil over medium heat until thicken. Pour into the pie crust and let cool before refrigerating. (have put in the freezer to speed up the cooling period)

For lunch we will make some Lentil and Zucchini Soup. The zucchini are in fact the marrows we picked a couple of weeks ago and could do with turning into something warm and hearty.

This recipe serves 4.

2 cups red lentils
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 tsp sunflower oil
2 medium zucchini diced
3 3/4 vegetable stock
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
salt and pepper
Crusty bread to serve.

Cook onion in oil until soft.
Reserve a hand full of zucchini to use later
Add the remaining zucchini to the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes, add the stock and tumeric and bring to ta boil.
Reduce the hear over and simmer for 30 mins. Season with salt and pepper
When the soup is ready,  puree with the hand blender. Then just before serving add the reserved zucchini to the soup and cook for 1 minutes. Serve with warm crusty bread.



This coming year I hope to plant more vegetables in my back garden so that the from spade to plate group does not have to go out in wind and rain to the allotment to get the produce. Having the main ingredients in my back garden should be much easier.



This week we shall plant red baron winter onions, which we hope to harvest June 2018


This week we June, Sayoko, Glo, Simone, Maria Jose, Rozenn and Sarolta joined me.