From Spade to Plate - 26 June Peas and courgettes

Today we harvested the last of the peas and new potatoes in one of the raised beds in the garden.

June harvesting the peas

Some of our freshly picked peas

harvesting the Charlotte potatoes

Shelling peas with a few friends is so much nicer and more sociable than doing this on your own


I noticed that the first courgettes in the allotment are ready too so what better to make for lunch than Jenny's Pea fritters.

June and Hyungi on the way to the allotment with the spent Pea halms

harvesting the first courgettes

 She brought some to the Garden Walk street party and they were yummy so was inspired as with all the fresh ingredient to hand, I could share it with more friends?

As the new potatoes are ready too and are in the same bed, we harvested them today to get the bed ready to transplant some lettuces and sow some beetroot.

For Salad we will be making a Rocket, pear, walnut and parmasan salad.

• walnuts
• pear
• parmesan, shaved
• rocket leaves
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation time: 10 mins | Cooking time: 6 mins | Total time: 16 mins

Makes 12 Fritters

INGREDIENTS ·       2 Large courgettes (skinned) ·       150g cooked petit pois ·       A good handful of fresh mint, 1 tbsp lemon juice ·       140g flour ·       1 egg ·       Salt to flavour ·       Cracked Black Pepper ·      Olive Oil, or similar frying oil We thought that feta cheese incorporated in this mixture might be a nice addition, but we had not tried it. We had some runnerbean chutney with the fritters. Delicious

METHOD 1.     Grate the courgettes into a large bowl (be sure not to grate your fingers). 2.     Sprinkle grated courgette with a pinch of salt, stir through and leave to sit for about 10 minutes. 3.     In another bowl, combine the remaining ingredients (bar the oil). 4.     Once the courgette has finished resting, using your hands, squeeze over the sink with your hands to remove excess liquid. 5.     Add the courgette to the other ingredients and mix well. 6.     Heat the oil in a frying pan on a medium-high heat. 7.     Take a tablespoon, and transfer spoonfuls of the fritter mixture to the pan. 8.     Flatten the spoonfuls with the back of a wooden spoon. 9.     Cook for a few minutes on either side. 10.   Eat while piping hot, or leave to cool and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

From Spade to Plate: 19th June Meditaranean heat 32 degrees

HOT, HOT, HOT 32 degrees

A little before 11, June arrived and went to her favourite corner chair. Fan on and glass of elderflower cordial. What bliss!

Then on the dot Sangjo, Sun, Ga, Kuyung, Hyungi joined us.
After a cooling glass of water, we started the harvest.
We mostly worked in the shade, however, we needed to spend a little time harvesting before we could eat.

First we harvested the onions and the garlic to make Caponata, a Sicilian dish to go with this hot weather.

The garlic we harvested  has to dry before we can use it to store, I harvested some last week which are now ready to braid. With a rolling pin we flattened the stalks as they are then easier to handle. We cut off the roots and rub off the skins  to reveal a lovely white and pink clean bulb. Ready for braiding.

With the skins, roots and 2 garlic cloves we will make a pesticide against black and green aphids as the runner beans are badly effected this year.

After harvesting the garlic and onions,  we sowed french beans, Faraday, in the empty area which should be ready later this summer.

Whilst the girls were braiding, June started with the tomato sauce, the cooking went like a well oiled machine. Once the braid was done, the group come inside to make the caponata.
The baguette was cut, table set and together we enjoyed this tasty summer dish.

Before we left, we picked some lavender to make some lavender sugar
so that in a few weeks' time we can make some.lavender shortbread in the weeks to come, we harvest some lavender and make some
For lunch with a baguette we ate

Augergine Caponata

½ cup of olive oil

1 large onion chopped

3 table spoons of pine nuts

3 tbsp raisins
2 celery stalks

1 tbsp chili flakes

1 aubergine

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp thyme

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

salt and pepper

chopped mint

Tomato sauce

¼ olive oil

1 onion diced

4 garlic cloves

1 carrot finely grated

3 tbsp fresh thyme or 1 tblsp dried

1 can chopped tomatoes

Directions

In a larch sauté pan, over medium heat, heat the olive oil until hot but not smoking. Add the onions, pine nuts, raisins, and chili flakes and sauté for 4 minutes.

Add the aubergine,  sugar, cinnamon, cocoa cook for 5 minutes.

Add thyme, tomato sauce and balsamic vinegar. Bring mixture to the boil.

Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes

Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

For the Tomato sauce

In a large sauce pan, heat the olive oil then add the onion and garlic and cook until golden brown. (about 8 minutes)AA

Add the thyme and carrot and cook 5 more minutes until the carrot is quite soft. Add the tomatoes and bring to boil, stir often. Simmer for 30 minutes until thick.  Season with salt and serve.


The thyme and mint stalks we put in water in the hope that they would root, so that we can plant them in the garden in a few weeks' time.

From Spade to Plate: 5th June 2017 - Edible flowers for my salad

As the lettuces are in need of eating, having a group of 6 keen Visiting Scholars to help harvest, cook and eat, I thought this would be a nice complement to the Asparagus and Broad Bean risotto that we are making.

Currently I have Calendula (orange and yellow), Nigella (light blue), Cornflower (dark blue), Chives (purple and oniony tasting) and little yellow rocket flowers that we can use to add to the Salad.

There are many more edible flowers that we can add to the salad later in the season and will use them as and when they are ready for use.

Nigella

Cornflower

For now,  I make a basic dressing of Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, coarse grain mustard and a little honey (from Stella's bees) and add it to the mixed lettuces that are ready for harvest.

Mixed
Lettuces

Asparagus and broad bean risotto

From Spade to Plate: 5^th June 2017

Asparagus and broad bean risotto

Preparation time: 
15 minutes

Cooking time: 
25 minutes

Total time: 
40 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients

175g fresh broad beans

150g asparagus, trimmed and cut into 3cm lengths

1 vegetable stock cube

1 onion, chopped

250g  Risotto Rice

75ml White wine

3 tbsp grated Parmigiano

flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Method

1. Add the beans and asparagus to a pan of simmering water and cook for 3 - 4 minutes until just al dente. Drain and reserve the water. Use this water and the stock cube to make up 1.2 litres of stock, and keep it simmering in a pan.

2 Put the onion in a medium non-stick pan. Cook over a medium heat for 3 minutes until soft and golden. Add the rice and stir for 1 minute, then the wine. Add the stock a ladleful at a time and keep stirring until each one is absorbed. This will take 15 - 20 minutes.

 3 When the rice is almost tender, add the beans and asparagus and cook for a couple of minutes to heat through. Stir in the cheese, butter and parsley off the heat and season to taste.

strawberries in vertical garden

harvesting broadbeans

harvesting broadbeans in allotment

asparagus and broadbeans freshly harvested for the risotto

baby pumpkin, have great hopes for it!


These pumpkins were harvested in September. great way to use  this plot for 2  crops. Asparagus and pumpkins

Vertical garden

Khadia and Servan processing strawberries for the icecream

Servane and Khadya

Harvesting the first onion

shelling broadbeans for the risotto

The icecream is VERY simple.

I had three ripe bananas. I cut them in little pieces and open froze them.
We picked the strawberries and added them into the food processor with the frozen bananas. Blend until smooth and eat immediately or put in the freezer for another hour or so. Not too long as otherwise it becomes very hard.

Easy and delicious! Give it a try.  (Vegan and no added sugar)                                   

           

From Spade to Plate

Now I have my allotment down the road (2 minutes walk), a garden full of lovely vegetables and fruit and a kitchen to process in and enjoy the meals I cook, I thought it might be nice to invite people to join me to harvest and cook and have a meal together.

I have sent out a communication to the NVS group to see if there my be an appetite for this idea.
Fingers crossed, I will have a group of visiting scholars with or without their families who would like to make their first Elderflower cordial on Monday bank holiday.

Nuts

On my way to my friends Simin and Elsa, I found an abundance of nuts and fruit.
It was a glorious day, sun was shining with a slight feel of autumn in the air.
First I went to Simin to return her empty jar after finishing her delicious apple and ginger compot gift, which she gave last weekend as part of the Bring and Share event.

On the way there I noticed that the walnut tree on the corner with Akeman street and Stretten Ave was dropping its nuts. I picked up the ones on the pavement and the very kind builder who was working next door gave me some more handfuls. I was very grateful as I eat them every day in my salads. I better dig out my nut cracker so I can enjoy them in the months to come.

A few minutes later I arrived at Simin's on Lexington Close and when I was looking for a place to park my bike, I noticed a hazel across the road. No more nuts on the tree but on the ground I managed to collect a few hand fulls of nuts the squirrels had not eaten yet. With great excitement I have taken them home to see if the squirels knew something I did not.

The result: not one usable nut, the squirrels new better!

Then I went to see Elsa on Windsor Road, we had a lovely lunch and for afters went into the garden to finish picking the beautiful cooking apples on her tree. So great that Elsa has an apple picking stick as we managed to pick 3 large bags of unblemished apples  ready to store and turn into juice later next week.  Whilst picking we noticed that her neighbour still had some plums on their tree. Not many as most were rotting on the floor, but after finishing the apple picking we sat in the sunshine and enjoyed the taste of the last 4 perfect unblemished and sweet plums.  What a joy!

Pears in September

After seeing the pears on Canterbury street a few weeks ago, I decided to go back and see how the pears were doing,  as I needed to go to the shops on Histon Road so went via Windsor Road to Canterbury road.

Good fortune as the pears had just started to drop so harvesting was easy.
After only a few minutes, I returned with a large bag of beautiful conference pears. I will store them and eat one or two a day over the next few weeks as part of my breakfast.

Juicy and delicious.

Picking eating apples at Elsa

Today went to Elsa's on Windsor Road to pick eating apples. They were not too sweet and would be good to press without mixing with cookers.

On the way back I noticed an eating apple tree in the same street, over hanging the pavement.
Will see if next week they are still on the tree as the wheelie bin is totally full with apple pressing left overs.

Thank you Elsa for the lovely apples.

Apple picking at Jo's

After a false start on Friday (very wet weather) we picked some apples at Jo's across the street.
Not many but enough to have to do a few pressings with Weihua, Greg and Mayumi .
The weather was a little better but the first feel of autumn. 34 degree last week whereas 16 degree today.
Nonetheless we had a lovely time. We are blessed to have an Abundance of Lovely people and apples!

apple picking at St Edmunds' College

Due to the terrible weather on Friday, Mark and I took the opportunity today to pick some eating apples at St Edmunds' College as tomorrow will be apple juicing with some members of the NVS.
The apples are in abundance but very small. I even managed to pick some pears with the new pickers. A passerby who has lived here for 50 years told us about the plum trees she used to harvest. Must have a look next year to see if there are some to share.

The walnuts are almost ready too but the squirrels seem to have been there a little earlier than me!

Fruit at St Luke's school

Today I went to have a look at the school orchard. Many of the apples have already dropped on the ground. Should've been there a week earlier. Still some on the trees, will check with the school if they can harvest for a pressing session.

Pears are nearly ready and the quinces are still growing.

Lots of lovely trees, just need some more care and attention

Apples in French' road are ready

On my way to checking out St Edmunds I swung by French' road to see if the apple tree, Hugo and I harvested last year had any apples and if so if they were ready.

I notice a lot of rotten apples on the floor and still some to harvest. I have decided to go back this afternoon as the weather is beautifully warm and sunny. Such a treat at this time in the year.
There are not many, but they will be lovely for the coming breakfasts.

Apples, Pears and Figs on Canterbury Street

On my search for the last black berries, I went via Histon Road recreation ground. Unfortunately I was too late. None left but ending at the other side of the park found a lovely apple tree at 69 Canterbury street. It is a rented house and the tenant was happy for me to pick the apples. They are difficult to identify,  Pressing them made a lovely fresh juice. No need to mix with other apples.

The pears and figs in the garden are not quite ready yet. Will check next week.