Just before the bad weather set in, we popped out to the front of the house where we have created our allotment, picked the veggies that were ready for picking and dug over the areas that were bare and starting to produce weeds.
For a small plot, we have had a lot of produce this year.
The potatoes were soooo good. I simply steamed them in their skins. They really didn't need anything else on them to taste delicious. There is nothing quite like eating veg that has been just picked.
As quiche is a family favorite, the peppers and courgette will be eaten that way. The last of the purple sprouting broccoli was steamed the same way as the potatoes as part of a roast dinner.
With so many tomatoes, we couldn't eat all that we picked before they became old and soft so more chutney was the solution. My favorite tomato chutney is with apricot, although I have never made it with yellow tomatoes. Wow! we had some with our lunch today and even though I say so myself, it was the tastiest batch I have made so far (and I have been making chutney for 30 years).
Usually, some of my chutney and jam is given to friends and family as gifts, then the family of the friends try to buy what I have left, but I make it for me and my family to eat, it's not a commercial thing. I have been using the same basic blue print recipe for 30 years. As if works so well, I do not see the need to play around with it too much. Over the years I have adapted it from a small batch made in the microwave (this is the original method) to large batches made in a pan on the hob. The jars you see before you were made with 2 lbs of tomatoes and 1 lb of soft dried apricots. There was a little left over that was not quite enough to put into a jar, so that is sitting in a dish in the fridge to be eaten straight away. It won't be there for long.
My mother was a bit of a forager, and I always remember that as a child she took us nutting. We would go out into the fields and hedgerows were we lived, having great fun collecting nuts. It was permission to climb trees, play hide and seek in the wild and get quite filthy with mud and grass and grime.
These days, I am a little more dignified but I still enjoy the process of walking in the country side collecting free food.
The hazel nuts will make pesto, cake flavouring and go into fruit and nut cookies. The apples are simply being eaten.
What can I say? free food and free exercise too. Thanks mum x
For a small plot, we have had a lot of produce this year.
As quiche is a family favorite, the peppers and courgette will be eaten that way. The last of the purple sprouting broccoli was steamed the same way as the potatoes as part of a roast dinner.
With so many tomatoes, we couldn't eat all that we picked before they became old and soft so more chutney was the solution. My favorite tomato chutney is with apricot, although I have never made it with yellow tomatoes. Wow! we had some with our lunch today and even though I say so myself, it was the tastiest batch I have made so far (and I have been making chutney for 30 years).
My mother was a bit of a forager, and I always remember that as a child she took us nutting. We would go out into the fields and hedgerows were we lived, having great fun collecting nuts. It was permission to climb trees, play hide and seek in the wild and get quite filthy with mud and grass and grime.
These days, I am a little more dignified but I still enjoy the process of walking in the country side collecting free food.
What can I say? free food and free exercise too. Thanks mum x
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