Courgettes and Zuchini

The weather has been hot and sunny for weeks now and the courgettes are thriving.
It will mean that for the next few weeks no doubt we shall have to be creative with some courgette (or Zucchini)

So here goes.

We started with making the Zucchini Cheese Loaf (recipe came from our old neighbours in West Bridgford, Chris and Ian) who used to see me come from the allotment with wheelbarrows full of courgettes and helped out with another great recipe. It  goes well  with the courgette and parmesan soup
    





These cakes have a tendency to stick, carefully run a knife around the edges as soon as they are removed from the oven, Leave in tin no longer than 5 minutes and then carefully remove from tin onto a cake rack.


 





Whilst Kazuki and mother Asako were making the savoury Cheese loaf, Bella and the two  Junes were making sure the ingredients for the soup were prepared. We used the spiralizer for speed (and fun)



  




We also made some stuffed courgettes, because we had some rice and roasted vegetables left over from yesterday's meal, we mixed this, stuffed the boats and topped it with breadcrumbs and grated cheese. simple but delicious




As a dessert at the end of this Courgette laden meal we made mini courgette cakes in a jar.



We added the dry ingredients to the wet ones, stirring gently until it was well mixed and poured it into the  greased and floured cake tins (ours were little mini ones because they would be ready quicker, but you can use any bread or cake tin)

As it was so hot outside we did not go into the allotments but just harvested from the garden outside the kitchen, we had enough to make all this for the 8 of us, however, as the food was so tasty and the chefs wanted to duplicate the meals at home, we went at the end of the session to the allotment to pick more courgettes.

Picking vine leaves around the corner

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

Drying courgettes, apples and bananas

With intense sunshine for a prolonged period, I have decided to dry my fruit and vegetables for use later in the year. I normally do this at the end of the season when I have a glut, but the glut has already arrived when it comes to courgettes, Eileen gave me a job lot of bananas and apples, so dried those too.

Making apple cider vinegar

Eileen gave me a whole lot of apples today, slightly blemished but still very nice.

Most of them, I washed, peeled, cored and cut in thin slices and have let in the sunshine to dry.

The cores, peel and bits of apple I could not use I have put in a container to make apple cider vinegar

I normally make it in autumn after harvesting and pressing apples, but it would be a waste not to make some vinegar. Good for cleaning as well as eating.

kale raviolli

Another warm day, I have decided to harvest all the kale to turn it into a filling for hand made ravioli


I found this recipe on line  which looked very nice. As I had some sundried tomatoes left I decided to add these too so the recipe is slightly altered from the original one.

Kale and Ricotta Ravioli

Kale Ravioli

Ingredients

         Makes 20 ravioli  (2cups of plain flour, 2 egg yolks, salt, 1 tbls oil, a little water to make the dough)

         1/2 bunch kale (about 1/2 pound), stems removed

         1 clove garlic, minced

         2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

         1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, plus more for pasta water

         1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

         1/4 cup breadcrumbs

         1/4 cup ricotta

      ¼ cup sundried tomatoes

         1/2 pound fresh lasagna sheets

         1 tablespoon unsalted butter

         1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves

         2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Put a large pot of water over high heat to boil.  Blanch the kale in boiling water for 1 minute.  Drain, rinse with cold water, and let cool.  Squeeze out as much water as you can with your hands.  Finely chop kale.

Stir together the kale, garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt , sundried tomatoes and pepper in a bowl.  Set aside 1/4 cup of this mixture.  Add the breadcrumbs and ricotta to the bowl and stir until combined.  Make ravioli.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the ravioli for 4 to 5 minutes.  They should float when they’re ready.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the butter in a sauté pan over low heat.  Add the sage and toast for 3 minutes.  Add the reserved 1/4 cup kale and garlic mixture and cook for 2 minutes. 

Drain the ravioli and toss with sage sauce.  Sprinkle with Parmesan before serving.

We had the last of the strawberries in our salad to have with the ravioli. The meal and company was excellent. Thank you Carmen, Gloria, Yumi and Tang (June) for helping clear the allotment patch and turning it in such a delightful meal.

Kale is ready

The kale is looking beautiful so thought we could make some Kale Patties with some new potatoes and a green salad with strawberries and feta cheese.
Rather than quinoa I am using couscous.

The pesto we made from rocket that was growing in the garden underneath the apricot tree. It got a little tough and has gone into flower  so a good trim gives it space to grow some tender leaves over the coming weeks.


With the Monday group we harvested new potatoes but the ones we did not need I stored in a large plant pot with soil, We dug these up and had with our Kale burger. When we harvested all the lettuces from the garden to make space for the new french beans  we noticed that the ones we sowed in March were now beginning to be ready so we shared them amongst ourselves. One each! they were worth it though.


We  also harvested the lettuce and some strawberries.  Yummy for in the salad as well as the strawberry icecream with only 2 ingredients

Spinach and new potato curry

We harvested spinach a few weeks ago and froze it for future use. So today is the Future and we will use it for the Spinach, new potato curry with coconut with spiced bread and rice.

So off to the allotment we went to harvest the potatoes, lettuces and the strawberries. Look was an amazing haul!

 

500 gr potatoes
500 gr spinach
2 tbsp oil
1 sliced onion
4 crushed garlic
2 tsp ground tumeric
a pinch of chilli
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground pepper
1 can of coconut milk
juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt.


Parboil potatoes in skins for 8-10 mins

Drain and cut in half
Cook spinach and chop roughly
Heat oil in frying pan fry onions with garlic, chilli, coriander and pepper

Back in the kitchen and it was time to process it all and turn it into a lovely lunch.

June and Bela prepared the strawberries for jam.

Add cooked potatoes and cook until slightly brown (6-8 mins) Add spinach and coconut milk, bring to boil and simmer for 7 mins.
Season and add lemon juice to taste.

For some Naan bread we doubled the recipe and used the poppy seeds from last year's poppies

Jasmin showed us how her mother taught her to make flat bread. 

As a side dish we made a green salad, strawberries, Kale, lettuce

INGREDIENTS

• 
  
• 3 cups torn lettuces
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/3 cup pureed strawberries
• Sliced fresh strawberries

As a treat we made some strawberry jam for us all to take home.

• 
  

DIRECTIONS

Combine kale and romaine; sprinkle with feta cheese and sesame seeds. Toss to combine.

Stir together olive oil and sesame oil. Whisk in honey, vinegar and lemon juice. Add pureed strawberries. Whisk until combined. Dress salad just before serving; top with sliced strawberries.

From Spade to Plate friends

 

From Spade to Plate