Monday 14th August - From Spade to Plate, Vegetarian Sushi

Having some lovely Japanese and Korean friends, I decided to make some sushi with a difference. The vegetarian version, especially as there will be a few ingredients on my allotment that we can use to make an authentic Japanese/Dutch vegetarian sushi!

We  went to the allotment and picked: tomatoes, cucumbers, the first carrot of the season and a few bunches of lavender.

We spend a lovely morning making the sushi and lavender bags.

In addition we used

Smoked Courgettes (rather than smoked salmon)
Pickled cucumber
cream cheese
sesame seeds

June Picking lavender

Sarolta and Camila making lavender bags

June and Yuji harvested the lettuces from the back garden which we used to make a salad using the left over ingredients from the sushi making.
The sauce was oil, balsamic vinegar, whole grain mustard and a little sugar.
In addition to the vegetables,  I added walnuts and Gorgonsola dolce.

From Spade to plate: Wednesday 9th: Gluten Free Courgetti - Bami

With all this rain the courgettes have grown into Marrows in a very short time.
The good thing is that we have managed to borrow a very good Spiralizer that would do the job to turn these monsters into delicious healthy 'noodles'.

When my friends turned up the weather was as forecasted, wet and autumnal.
This morning I had gone to the allotment to get the leeks, courgettes and runner beans, as I did not think it was necessary for us all to get wet and cold.

Sarolta turning the marrow into noodles

We turned them into courgetti noodles  with a Bami topping -

Using leek,  Pak choi, carrots, french and runner beans, courgettes from the gardens. We noticed that the Bammi Goreng pack thatvI bought in Holland was not gluten free, so when checking the package for what spices to add, we added coriander, tumeric, garlic, ginger and cumin.  When the vegetables were cooked we added the cougetti noodles and served with (gluten free soya sauce)  silver onions, pickled cucumbers and fried bananas.
The fried eggs (free range eggs from Susan and Mike's hens, thank you) turned it into a delicious meal.

We did manage to go into our garden for a little bit, so we picked the french beans that i have been growing in  the bottles and the Pak Choi, that planted itself a little while ago, so a nice surprise.

Whatever the weather was outside, the friendship and chatter was warm and kind.
Another lovely day.  We are blessed.

From Spade to Plate: Spinach , new potato curry with garlic flat bread

As the summer has been so good to us, the vegetables in the allotment are in abundance

The interest in our group has grown too, 12 people wanted to join this Monday but as my kitchen is not big enough have decided to have two groups this week.  6 guests and me, would work well (me thinks!)

Maria, Servane, June, Akiko, Ryoko and Miyoko

What a surprise, reunited again!

The first meal we made was a Spinach, new potato curry with coconut, serviced with rice and flat bread

Ryoko picked the tomatoes and basil for a  simple tomato salad

This is how you use the picking stick, years of experience, showing the next generation

Noticed that the apples are ripening too, will pick some with the group to give them a taste of what is to come. Those apples that were slightly blemished, we turned into apple stew, topped by a few juicy black berries

Maria showing her picking technique

apple stew with cinnamon and black berries

1 August - my lovely garden

One year ago we moved into our house on Victoria Road and  planted up the garden.
I am so grateful for all the delicious food and joy it has given our family and friends.

Our Garden February 2016

view from the kitchen  1st August 2017

View from the kitchen 1August 2016

Beetroot ready to be harvested

Chickpeas, lettuces and cucumber

Blueberries, had a daily harvest for more than a  month

Yellow pear tomatoes in bottles, sweet and self watering

31st July: From Spade to Plate:

This week June, Kiyomi, Sarolta, Camila, Sayoko, Simone and Maria Jose joined me for the harvest and cooking session.

The weather was much better than last week, no need for raincoats and wellies. The sky is blue and we are ready to make a colourful dish.

The beetroot have benefitted from the rain and are growing well. Time to harvest them and turn them into beet burgers.

Beetroot burgers

Mixing the ingredients

making the burgers and frying them

500 gr grated beetroot

100 gr porridge oats

3 eggs

1 onion finely chopped and fried

4 tbsp chopped dill

2 tbsp chopped thyme

2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Mix, make into a burger shape and fry.

Raymond has a row of new potatoes that he would like me to dig up, so we got the forks out to reveal these treasures.  I expected little potatoes, but they were enormous, still nice though to have with  Must  a little bit of butter and mint is simple but gorgeous.

Sayoko, Sarolta and Maria Jose in action

The french beans I have been growing are low growing (dwarf french)  and climbing so nice to experience which is the easiest to grow and harvest.  We  blanched the beans, then added a little butter and lemon.

Sayoko picking dwarf french beans

Where are these beans?

Found them!

Miyoko found one too

Going back  home with our produce

For dessert, we had the blackberries we picked in the allotment with some yoghurt and blackberry paste (which we made last week). 

Most of all, we had a lovely time, sharing the work and the friendship

Figs - Victoria Road - Kirsty

If the figs are ready contact kh540@cam.ac.uk

From Spade to Plate: 24th July: Black Berry Jam and Courgetti with Spinach and blue cheese sauce

The season of black berries has arrived!  It seems to come earlier and earlier and this year the fruits are plump and sweet, perfect for jam, cordials, fruit leathers and crumbles.

And even better to show the dear friends from the Newcomers and visiting scholars the delights of the British hedgerows.

As the weather was bad I went out before the group came and harvested 1.5kg yesterday with Thomas and Mark, bringing back memories of blackberry pick with my mum as well as with my own children in years gone by.

Today I went again to pick the berries in Garden Walk. They were large and very juicy. Turned them into 6 jars of jam.

Andrea, came today with a 2kg bag of damson that she still had in the freezer from last year. We decided to make a selection of different jams.

1. Using the Dutch Gelei suiker, half zoet (500gr sugar to 1225 gr of black berries)
2. Using jam sugar bought from ASDA (800 gr black berries to 1kg sugar)
3. Using the jam sugar and a mix of black berries and damsons.

We also turned the berries and damsons into 10 bottles of cordial and some fruit leather.



In addition the courgettes and spinach beet are abundant in the allotment so I am planning  to try out the borrowed Spiralizer to turn it into a courgetti dish.

The Spinach and blue cheese sauce came from the Riverford website.

The healthiest way to cook courgetti, because no fat is involved. Simply put the courgette noodles into a sieve and pour over a kettle of boiling water. This takes the rawness out the noodles without breaking them down too much. Strain well before adding pesto, sauce or toppings.

Glo, June, Miyoki, Simone and Michaela, Andrea, Anne-marie and Sarolta will come to share the lovely produce into some tasty dishes.


I already look forward to this next session.

From Spade to Plate: 17th July Vegetarian Scotsch Egg

What to do with an excess of beetroot and eggs? Last week I went to the Farmer's market and had a Vegetarian Scotch Egg. It was delicious and went about looking what I had in the garden so I could replicate it. After a couple of trials, I think it would be fit for use at our Monday morning harvesting and cooking sessions.



We harvested the garlic and onions a couple of weeks ago so easy to get hold off. The beetroot is ready for harvesting as well as the parsley and chives. Looks like we have the majority of ingredients so let's see how our foreign visitors enjoy this twist to a classic British picnic ingredient. Scotch eggs.
 I have swapped the carrot for beetroot and added  1 tbsp Za'atar with the herb mixture. Rather than deep fat frying, I placed them on a baking tray and bake in preheated 190 C / Gas mark 5 oven until lightly browned, about 25 minutes.
Lovely with the sweet chilli jam that I made last week
We will also pick the Rocket and turn it into a salad, with  pine nuts and parmesan cheese.





     

As a desert we will pick the blueberries and make some Blueberry Pancakes I used the Telegraph recipe and we will add handfuls of delicious fresh Blueberries.

Delicious pears grown from a pip

Today  (3/9/2015)I went to see Alison on Harvey Goodwin Avenue to finish the picking of the pears.
The tree was laden and Alison told me that this is an annual event. She received the tree from her mum when she moved in. She grew the tree from a pip from a pear she bought from the supermarket.
Did not know that it could be so successful, will try it as well. watch this space.

She also had a passion fruit plant full of fruit. I always wanted to have one as the flowers are so beautiful and the fruit so decorative. It turns out the the fruit is edible, don't eat the skill, just the pips. They are sweet and crunchy a bit like a pomegranate.  Delicious.

A few weeks later Alison had dropped a little cutting off at my house. Although I had not room yet for this plant, I hope to plant it in my new garden on Victoria Road. next year.

 Update:
on 1/7/2017 we took some pictures of the cutting.
It is in bloom and it even has some fruit on it! Will have to wait for a while for the fruit to ripen and see if it tastes as good as it looks, fingers crossed as signs are promising


On 27th August we started eating the fruit. One a day for with our breakfast.


Lovely sweet and giving a bit of a crunch