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

From Spade to Plate: 28th August Gazpachio, bean salad and poached pears

Coming back from holiday and 10 days of no harvest the garden is full of goodies that need immediate attention.

Constanza, Serolta, maria Jose and June picking sunflowers

The tomatoes have started to show signs of blight so will be harvested immediately and turned into soups, sauces, cakes and will be dried.

Where are the tomatoes?

yellow pear and cherry tomatoes for the soup

Today we will make a Gazpachio as it is lovely and warm outside, a perfect cold soup for a hot day.

Gazpachio
1kg tomatoes
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 cucumber
2 garlic cloves
100ml olive oil
2 tblsp balsamic vinegar
pepper and salt

Maria Jose dishing up the Gazpacho

Cut the vegetables roughly and put in fruit processor together with the oil and vinegar.  Puree until very smooth if too thin add some bread crumbs. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Top with finely chopped cucumber, yellow tomatoes and basil.

Constanza 

The beans that we sowed a few weeks ago are ready for harvest and we will turn them into a warm bean salad à la Jamie Oliver.

As a desert we will have poached pears with chocolate ice cream and a splash of blackberry cordial
To make the syrup I use 1 liter of water to 250gr sugar and  a vanilla pod.

June picking her pear for the dessert

Sharing our meal together

A bag of eating apples appeared on my doorstep this morning, so we will turn them into some nice nibbles, Personally I will dry them in the sun the next few days