From Spade to Plate: Parsnip, Potato and peas

Although we have been trying to plant potatoes for a couple of weeks now, the weather has not been very favourable.  Frost is not good for our new potatoes (Charlottes) so they have been nicely chitting  inside. (we had the first harvest of these Monday 28th May)

sowing peas in the raised beds at home

potatoes chitting

In the previous years I grew a row of Early Onward Peas between the rows of potatoes and this worked very well. The peas don't grow very high and are propped up by the potato leaves. so no need for more support. They should be ready to harvest in June at the same time as the potatoes. I tend to harvest the whole bed in one go at the end of in June so it is ready to transplant the Beetroot and leeks and sow the Fennel in between.

Ingredients for the curry

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As we still have some parsnips in the allotment, we will be making a Parsnip and Chickpea curry with rice to have as our lunch.

Digging up the parsnips with Raymond

Bringing back the harvest to turn into a lovely lunch

As we had a rainy day the Wednesday group did not go  to the allotment to harvest parsnips, I harvested some this morning so we used them for the curry and the  Sweet potato and parsnip soup with some scones.  We also made another batch of parsnip and chick pea curry

As the weather was so horrible, we decided to sow  various types of french beans, mixed lettuce, beetroot and mini cucumbers  in the warmth of our kitchen.

Wednesday's from Spade to Plate: Visit to the allotment and a 3 course meal

Today we set out in the sunshine to sow some onions, beetroot and lettuces in the allotment.

We harvested the first of the Spinach beet for use in our Socca Pizza. (if you use vegan cheese this could be gluten free and vegan main dish)

For topping we used  2 red onions, garlic cloves, spinach, gorgonzola and parmesan cheese.

baked the base in a large frying pan,  when this was done, we topped it with the above vegetables and cheese, put it under the grill for a few minutes and had it with our Carrot and coriander soup

For dessert we made a vegan chocolate mouse we only used 3 ingredients, a can of chickpea water (whipped with a little cream of tartar) and melted dark chocolate.  

Would have been nice topped with grated orange.

From Spade to Plate: Carrot and Coriander soup

This week we  concentrated on indoor sowing of lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, thyme, parsley and basil.

The cooking therefore will have to be quick and easy.
A warming carrot and coriander soup with some freshly baked bread rolls.

From Spade to Plate 12th March: Dutch Mustard Soup and Mushroom gourgère

What about a warming Dutch Mustard Soup  it brings good memories back from when my mum and grandma used to make it.  Rather than breadrolls with it, we make savoury choux buns.(gourgère)

This gourgère is savoury but could just as well be made in a sweet version
We filled it with the blue cheese, pear and walnut mix and made up a mushroom filling.

A new twist on risotto - orzotto !

Last week one of the from Spade to Plate members mentioned that in all the time that we had done the weekly cookery sessions, we had not duplicated any of the recipes. This was mainly because I had been trying something new every week.

With it being winter there is not so much growing but there are still leeks.

This is why I chose the leek orzotto, which turned out to be easy and very tasty