Marrow and Runner Bean Curry

 It has been a strange summer here in London. Boiling hot June then cold and wet July. Hasn't stop the garden cropping well but has deterred me from going down to the patch as often as I should (along with two new kittens arriving hot on the heels of the loss of our 20 year old cat Fitz). 

Onyx & Jasper

 So when I did pop down I found a courgette that had hidden from me last time and had gone rogue! The runner beans like the cooler, wetter weather and they are cropping well. So I needed something to use up the bounty.

 

 

A glut of Beans and Marrow

Ingredients (serves 2):

1 tbsp rape seed oil

1/2 Marrow, deseeded and sliced

1 Red Onion sliced into half moons

1 handful of runner beans de stringed and sliced

2 tsp curry paste - or more depending on your tastes

1 small can coconut cream

Splash of lime

Rice to serve.

Method

Fry the onion in the oil until it starts to take a little colour. Add the marrow and fry for a further few minutes. Add the runner beans and the curry paste and stir together and fry had for a few minutes. Add the coconut cream and a splash of water. Simmer for abut 10-12 minutes while you cook the rice and the vegetables are cooked. Add a splash of lime and serve.

Vegetarian Curry in less than 20 minutes.

It's Harvest Time - Summer Minestrone Soup

 

You go away for a week and let the garden get on with doing what it does best and this is the result!

Actually this is just one part of it! There is plenty more chard, more apples, potatoes and some aubergines ready to harvest! After a mixed start we have had a good crop of most things this year. Apples, chard and courgettes  have done very well. Sweetcorn has done well and the leeks will be ready soon. No plums at all due to a badly time frost, runner beans took a while to get going but are now cropping nicely. Tomatoes have been a mixed back, those in the greenhouse and at the back of the garden have done well but those in the main planters by the house less so. We grew them from seed this year and will do so again. Onions vanished - we planted a couple of rows of red ones but no sign of them!

Anyway when you have a harvest like that a summer minestrone is the order of the day.

Ingredients

Serves 4 for lunch with some soda bread

An assortment of fresh vegetables for example:

• One sweetcorn cob (corn sliced off the cob)
  
• One courgette (diced)
• Half an onion (diced)
• Two small carrots (diced)
  
• A handful of runner beans (sliced)
• A handful of very ripe cherry tomatoes and a few green ones (halved) 
• A small bunch of chard (stems sliced and leaves chopped)

• 2tsp rapeseed oil 
• 1 clove of garlic (crashed)
  
• 2 Bay leaves
• 1ltr veg or chicken stock 
• 1tsp mixed herbs
• Ground black pepper
• Handful of small pasta such as orzo

Heat the oil, fry the onion and garlic till softened. 

Add the carrot, beans, chard stems and courgette. Fry for a few minutes then add the bay leaves, herbs and tomatoes and again fry for a few minutes. Add the stock and orzo, simmer until the veg and pasta is coked. Add the chard leaves and simmer for a minute or two more. 

Serve with crusty bread. 

 

 

 

Seven Vegetable Soup

Crumbs it has been a very long time since my last blog entry! I've not stopped cooking - or eating, but work and a long commute have kept me very busy. However, the lockdown has given me the opportunity to experiment a bit with food again and the time to think and write about food again.
First of all, I know Liz and I have been very lucky. Both of us are able to work from home and so far none of us have contracted the virus. Secondly, we are still getting our regular organic fruit and veg box from Abel & Cole supplemented with an organic meat box from the same company which I subscribed too literally the week before the crisis hit. This has meant that our fridge has been full. Sometimes overfull as our last supermarket delivery from Ocado also came with some fruit and veg from someone else's order by accident (which they couldn't recollect so we suddenly had extra soft fruit and a lot of eggs!).

Anyway on to today's soup which combined a lot of the veg that we had collected in the fridge and 'needed using up. It's simple and hearty and went well with some of the bread I baked the previous day and a slice of cheese. The trick here is to use a mix of veg all cut up so as to cook at the same time.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients
1 tablespoon oil
1 rasher smoked bacon - finely diced
1 large leek - sliced
1 medium potato - diced
1 carrot - diced
2 small parsnips - peeled and diced
1/2 sweetcorn cob - kernels sliced from the cob
2 sticks of celery - diced
1/4 cauliflower - broken into florets, stems sliced
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp turmeric
1.5 ltr stock (veg or chicken)
Small bunch of parsley

Method
Fry the bacon until crisp. Scoop out and keep for later as a garnish. Fry the leeks until softened then add the remainder of the vegetables. Stir in the oil until coated then add the turmeric and bay leaf. Stir again then add the stock. Bring to the boil then simmer for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked. Blend with a stick blender. If the soup is too thick add more stock or possibly milk to dilute. Taste and season. Serve in bowls with chopped parsley and the crispy bacon and possibly a swirl of yogurt or cream if you are feeling fancy.

Harvest 2013

Compared to last year I've had a bumper harvest. Not the best ever but good quality and quantity of most of the crops. All are grown outside, tomatoes and peppers against the back wall of the house for warmth and shelter, the rest in the vegetable beds at the other end of the garden.

Tomatoes: This year I grew a selection of varieties which I bought from one of our local garden centres. All varieties did well, my favourite was a medium sized striped plum type which had a wonderfully rich sweet and sour flavour. The red and yellow cherry varieties have both cropped well and with good flavour. There is also a self seeded round variety that hasn't ripened yet - with nights drawing in I can see a green tomato recipe in my future.

Bell Peppers: These have produced a handful of fruit each and are currently green. Have a feeling they may remain so as the days get shorter and cooler.

Chillies: Very little fruit if any. May have to try again next time in the greenhouse or indoors.

Apples: Both trees did well this year. The Egremont Russet did suffer some damage from birds and bugs but the flavour from those that survived was very good. The other tree, which we think is a Cox, produced a very heavy crop of crisp, juicy and flavoursome fruit.

Victoria Plum: The tree is far too large for the garden and produces an enormous amount of fruit. Too much for us to eat but this year I've stewed them with vanilla sugar and frozen them for the winter as well as scoffing them straight from the tree, wonderful flavour.

Courgettes: Yellow and green round ones this year - they cropped well (three plants have kept us in courgettes for the whole season) but had a tendency to get too large very quickly. Good flavour and texture though.

Runner Beans: Good crop this year, enough to freeze, with good flavour. No idea what the variety is as I have been saving and planting my own seed for so long I've forgotten where the seeds came from!

Leaks: Early days as I won't harvest these for some time but they are looking good.

Jerusalem Artichokes: Good grief these will take over the world (if they aren't strangled by bindweed first) if I'm not careful. Just about to flower and not yet ready for harvesting. Should keep me going (and f***ing) well into the new year. Must be disciplined enough to harvest them all or they will keep spreading!

Blackberries: These are just wild brambles and we have to hack them back to get into the shed. High humidity at the wrong time meant that the 'crop' spoiled quickly and so very little ended up in the freezer.

Rhubarb: Excellent crop again, plenty in the freezer for stewing in the winter.

I'll probably grow the same next year, I need new planters for the tomatoes and I must push back the approaching artichoke apocalypse or I may never see the far end of the garden again. The shed needs painting with a preservative and new felt on the roof. Shrubs in the front half of the garden need cutting back as  does the eucalyptus tree. 

Rootie Tootie Curry

Have a bit of a glut of root vegetables at the moment; Jerusalem artichokes from the garden, carrots from the veg box and sweet potatoes from the supermarket. The solution - a hearty vegetable curry, mild yet warming.
Serves 4-5 

Ingredients
1 large sweet potato (I prefer the orange fleshed ones) peeled and cut into chunks
3 medium carrots cut into chunks
2 medium Jerusalem artichokes trimmed and peeled (I find this makes them less 'windy') and cut into chunks
1 medium onion finely chopped
3 cloves garlic
Thumb sized chunk of ginger peeled and grated
1tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp corriander seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp fenugreek
1 stick cinnamon
1 small bunch of corriander
1 can chick peas
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 can coconut milk
Small head of broccoli
1 fresh tomato
2 tsp garum masala
3 tsp oil
juice of one lime

Heat a roasting tray in an oven at 170C and coat the root veg in 2 tsp of the oil. When the tray is hot add the veg and roast in the oven - shaking occasionally - for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile make the curry paste by blending together the onion, garlic, ginger and coriander stalks. Grind the dry spices together. Heat the remaining oil in a pan and add the onion mix and fry stirring continuously. Add the dry spices and the cinnamon stick. Continue to fry for a few minutes then add the tomatoes, chick peas and coconut milk. Stir and bring to a simmer. Add the root vegetables and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the broccoli florets, garum masala and lime juice and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the broccoli is tender.
 


Sprinkle over the chopped coriander and serve with boiled rice or Indian breads.

If you want a less mild curry add 1-2 fresh green chillies chopped finely when you fry the onion mix.

Xmas Lunch

Glad that the snow has gone and the ice has melted - it made digging the vegetables for lunch a lot easier! Couldn't find many potatoes - not surprising as I hadn't planted any this year but there were still some that had self seeded from last year. Instead I harvested some Jerusalem Artichokes instead. Pearly white and of a good size I will roast these with the turkey. I also picked a trug full of Brussels Sprouts and pulled a trio of leaks from the heavy soil as accompaniments to the turkey. The turkey (crown only) has had lemony garlic butter and bay leaves stuffed under the skin and the juice of the lemon over the top before streaky bacon was applied.

Bread and cranberry sauces are now being produced (I like to add orange juice, orange zest and star anise to the latter giving it a warm mulled wine sort of feel).