Downtime

I should be at the allotment today but I'm not!

I've booked next week off work so I am taking some time to chill. It has been insanely busy at the day job. Designing books for kids takes a lot of hard work you know! We've been prepping for the annual book fair where all our new ideas get showcased to buyers. We spend a good couple of months intensely working on covers to sell these new ideas. Our office is one of 3 - the smallest of the bunch with just a handful of designers, me included - 7 of us. We did about a third of all covers produced (just under 400 this year, I think) which is a big achievement as there are around 20 designers in the medium-sized office, and around 2 or 3 times as many as that in the 'big' office! I've also been in charge of orchestrating the whole thing - keeping tabs on illustrators, commissioning, fees, invoices, designs, feedback from our bosses... all the while getting not one, but TWO books off to print at the same time! No wonder I am pooped. I just couldn't face next week at work and Friday just gone was our official book fair deadline, so I made a break for it!

I am off to see my folks in Lancaster later on today for a while. It is my dad's birthday Monday so we're looking forward to a zoo trip (family tradition!). Maybe I'll make him a courgette cake?! I'm hoping the weather is alright as I've heard whilst we've had a reasonably nice spate of sunshine, they've had rain and gale force winds. Think I'll pack some warm gear and my waterproof! I'll be back later in the week to tend to the allotment - see if the butternut squash have grown much since I last saw them budding up, and dig up my 'rooster' spuds, along with other jobs. I also want to make some glassy goodies too. 'Back to the Future' is being shown at the cinema (HUZZAH!) so I'll be seeing that and out for a friend's birthday meal.

In between all those things, I plan on chilling. I find this very hard to do, getting 'lazy guilt', but I'll give it a good go!

Hope you're well doing whatever you are :) I am now off to make a batch of veg curry with squash, spring onions, green tomatoes, runner beans and a pepper. It will be based on the veg spaghetti curry. Something for the freezer.

Ohhhhhhhhh, now I get it!

After all my pontificating about what a let-down 'Vegetable Spaghetti' was I simply had to cook it! Now it all makes sense. The chunks I'd cut the flesh into got made into a curry and, low and behold, look what happens...

It breaks down into strands that look like - that's right kids - SPAGHETTI! ha! That'll teach me to waffle on :P

The curry I made was this recipe: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3982/tomato-squash-and-spinach-curry

I used home-grown tomatoes too - windowsill-ripened, of course! :) It is mighty delish! Something that could almost be made totally from lottie veg. I added some natural yoghurt this time but creme fraiche works well too. Do give this recipe a go. I've already made it with patty pans, but courgettes, pumpkins, sweet pots, marrow, any squash or even spuds would work.

Green Tomato Soup

(serves 6)

• 1 oz butter
• 1 lb green tomatoes, sliced
• 8 oz potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 pints stock
• 1 tin beans like barlotti/pinto/cannellini (I used the equivalent in dry lentils - around 1/2 mugful)
• 1/4 tsp dried sage/thyme/mixed herbs/whatever (I used 1/4 tsp sage & 1/4 tsp mixed herbs, 1 bay leaf)
• salt and pepper (JUST ADD PEPPER! My soup was too salty - forgot the stock has salt in it)
• a handful of rice (I used easy-cook brown - 1/2 a mugful)
• 125 ml single cream or a splash of chilli sauce (optional) (I used around 250 g natural yoghurt)

1. Fry the tomatoes, potatoes and onion in butter until softened.
2. Add the beans, stock, herbs, rice, salt and pepper and bring to the boil.
3. Simmer for 30 mins or until the veg is tender.

4. Blend the soup and return to the pan (I like it a bit lumpy).
5. Stir in the cream/chilli sauce, etc and reheat. (I didn't reheat it - it was still piping hot!)

Nom nom :)

So, bad Steph (again!), not been down the allotment for a while. I am sure everything is still growing away but I expect it is looking a little jungle-esque! I am planning on a salvage mission this w/e to put things back to rights and harvest what's ready. As usual, I've been busy with other things. I'm currently putting together a catalogue of my glassy goodies & working on commissions.

Last night I cooked up some of the veggies hanging around my kitchen, as it looks like a harvest festival! The pic above shows some roasted 'Hooligan' pumpkin seeds. I didn't really know what I was doing but they turned out reet grand. I added a little olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted at Gas5 for about 10-15 mins. The ones I didn't munch last night will make a tasty snack at work today. Waste not, want not :)

With the fine-looking 'Hooligan' pumpkin itself, peeling was a no-go so I sliced the little devil into two, added a touch of olive oil and roasted it too. Looking forward to scooping out the innards for dinner tonight :) Muhahaha! Ahem.

Don't suppose you remember the 'bell boy' pepper I got from Sainsbury's a while ago? Well, this is he. Look, FINALLY, the little peppers turned red. In a way it will be a shame to eat them. The plant looks great in my lounge in this red pot.

Another 'FINALLY' - the tonnes of tomatoes I've got from the 2 plants at lottie are turning. These ones are ripening on the windowsill. I am probably going to harvest all the remainder at the weekend & windowsill-ripen them too. Batches of tommie sauce ahoy methinks. The green ones I picked a while back are still lanquishing in the fridge. Also on my to-do list but they seem ok.

Hopefully next post will be photo-filled & actually down the allotment! I am also hoping to pick some blackberries this weekend. All this is weather-dependant of course. Fingers crossed for at least no rain!

Popularity of chocolate courgette cakes and muffins

Ha! Well, post a photo of cakes on facebook and you get recipe requests :) I've had 2 today from old schoolfriends which is really great. I hope they enjoy making them. I've had so many great comments on the taste of these cakes & how moist are. I have to admit to having 3 of the muffins today - can't help myself. At least they are crammed full of veg... I know one colleague defo had 2 today, if not 3 as well. The same colleague wanted to kiss me when I told her I'd made them gluten-free, just for her benefit & said she'd dream about them tonight ;) She went from sulking thinking they weren't GF to a super-big grin! Bless her. She's the one who invited us to 'tea' tomorrow. Looking forward to that. I tend to make most things GF - my mum has coeliac disease, so it is just easier to keep GF flour for when she visits. Probably does me good too. Everyone I've tried these cakes on loves this recipe - esp me!! Dead easy too, so get baking :D

 Mary Berry. Photo: ANDREW CROWLEY / telegraph.co.uk

Speaking of baking, my hero, Mary Berry, was on tv tonight. The Cotswolds, cake and MB all in one show? Fab! Did you catch it? No sign of courgette cakes, but one beetroot one! Series link here: The Great British Bake Off

Cricket, & chocolate courgette muffins

A bit of a random combo this post...

Not at the allotment, but nature-y so posting about this grasshopper cricket (corrected by science geek little bro!) hitching a ride on my wing mirror after work today. He/she did pretty well hanging on 'til dual carriageway speeds! Impressive little blighter :)

My friend @ work just invited us all over to hers for lunchtime 'tea', so thought I'd try the Chocolate Courgette Cake as muffins. Adjusted the time to 20-25 mins, filling the cases 3/4 full and they worked a treat :) These are the GF versions. I may or may not have had to taste test one...

Also tonight I cooked up this marrow and the jumbo yellow courgette. Made a tasty ratatouille again, with some chorizo thrown in :) The smaller yellow courgettes went in the muffins.

Chocolate Courgette Cake - nom nom!

• 120g butter (softened)
• 150g chocolate spread (Nutella, etc. I used 'Mr Choc' from Lidl - great name!)
• 100g caster sugar
• 200g soft brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 350g plain flour*
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 4 tbs cocoa
• 500g courgettes, peeled and grated finely
  (use the food processor if you have one, done in a jiffy!)
• 1 tsp vanilla

(*I've made this with normal plain flour, as well as gluten-free plain flour and it tastes almost the same either way. I did add some xanthan gum to the GF version, as per packet instructions.) 

1. Line a 20 x 35 cm cake tin with baking paper and set oven to 190deg C/350deg F/gas 5. (I have made this in a 23 x 23 cm and a 20 x 25cm tin and both worked fine.)

2. Mix the butter, chocolate spread and both sugars together until light and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs and mix thoroughly.

 

4. Fold the dry ingredients into the mixture, then stir in the grated courgettes and vanilla.

5. Pour into the lined cake tin.

6. Bake for 35-45 mins, then check with a skewer to see if it is cooked through. If cake mix sticks to the skewer, cook for a further 5 mins each time until the skewer comes out clean.

normal cake left, gluten-free cake right

For some of the cakes I made I put in a filling of chocolate spread and allotment-grown-blackcurrant jam. Nom nom!

The cakes are super-moist and absolutely delicious! I defy anyone who dislikes courgettes to be able to taste there is a vegetable in this tasty treat :) Hope you enjoy making your own. At work, they DEMANDED I make another cake, soon after the first one I made was eaten! I had a non-filled cake, warm, with custard but it would be equally nice with cream or a chocolate sauce...

This is a tried & tested adaptation of this recipe. I ditched the oil and replaced it with chocolate spread, and didn't bother with the milk as there is plenty of moisture in the courgettes. I've made 3 cakes so far (2 gluten-free) and I am currently in love with their moist chocolatey goodness!

Blackcurrant jam & blackcurrant booze!

This begins with maths. Maths and some improvising. The lbs of blackcurrants I picked were languishing in the fridge and I didn't want them to spoil so I had to do something with them. I really wanted to make a blackcurrant chutney, something different, but I've not found a recipe yet. I'll keep hunting and if you know one, let me know. Anyway, maths. There seems to be a fair few different ways to make b/c jam so I picked one which seemed most sensible and worked my brain to calculate how much sugar and water I needed, hence the numbers on the piece of paper in the 1st photo. I think I must've got it right as the jam seemed to turn out to a T.

Voila! Scrummy b/c jam on toast. Delish! Still got another bunch of b/c's to pick so more jam perhaps, or finally some b/c chutney. Might have to make up a recipe!

With the rest of the b/c's I made some b/c booze. I thought I had some plain vodka knocking about but no, I had to make do with raspberry vodka (not homemade). I think this is no bad thing and look forward to trying this in, alas, 6 months. Well, it will be a good Christmas! I kinda made this up from various research on b/c booze, so just stuffed the bottles with b/c's, squidged it down with the end of a wooden spoon and topped up with vodka. The bigger bottle I threw in some sugar too but I don't know if it will need it as the raspberry vodka is already pretty sweet.

Roll on Christmas!

Strawberry & Fudge Cheesecake / Strawberry Curd Recipes

What to make with lots of strawberries? Well, with my first batch I made this awesome strawberry & fudge cheesecake.

• 75g butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
• 250g HobNobs biscuits 
• 250g vanilla fudge 
• 300g mascarpone  
• 400ml double cream, softly whipped 
• 250g strawberries, sliced
• 2 tsp icing sugar

1. Lightly butter a 23cm springform cake tin. Pulse the biscuits to crumbs in a food processor. Add the melted butter and pulse until combined and clumped together. Tip into the base of the tin and press down evenly. Chill.

2. Meanwhile, put 200g of the fudge in a large bowl and melt in a microwave for 1 minute on High, or until it forms a soft paste (or alternatively melt in a pan over a very low heat). Cool slightly. Beat the mascarpone in a bowl with a wooden spoon until soft, then add to the melted fudge and mix until combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream.

3. Chop the remaining fudge into small chunks and stir into the filling. Add a few chopped strawberries too. Spoon over the chilled biscuit base, smoothing the top. Cover and chill for 6 hours or overnight – the fudge will set the cheesecake.

4. Once set, put the strawberries in a bowl and toss with the icing sugar. Set aside to macerate for 20 minutes. Cover the top of the cheesecake with these strawberries.

Serve chilled.
---

 
This is my work-in-progress shot...

And the final thing, ready to take to share at work.

I also made strawberry curd. Only made lemon curd before so wasn't sure how it would turn out. It isn't as set as a lemon curd but thickened ok and tastes amazing - actually just like a strawberry cheesecake!

 

• 500g (1lb) strawberries, washed, hulled & halved
• 100g (3 1/2 oz) white granulated sugar
• 60g (2 oz) salted butter, roughly chopped
• 2 large eggs, beaten

1. Place strawberries plus 2 tbsp of water in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Cover and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the strawberries are really soft.

2. Pour into a mesh sieve over a clean, heatproof bowl and use the back of a spoon to push the strawberry pulp through into the liquid. 

3. Place the heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water on medium heat. Make sure the bowl fits snugly and that the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl. Add the sugar, beaten eggs and butter to the bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until the butter melts. Continue to stir constantly for about 10 minutes.

4. Turn the heat up and continue to stir for another 10 minutes or until the mixture thickens. It's important to keep stirring otherwise the mixture could curdle.

5. Carefully pour mixture into hot sterilized jars and seal.    (Makes 2 jam jars)

Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.

Wigwammery, strange finds & a radish recipe (Sunday's work)

Remember my nursery snaps from earlier? Well, I went ahead and made a wigwam like the ones I'd seen. My join was a bit higher up than the ones I saw but I am pretty happy with the sturdiness of it. Last year the plants pretty much toppled the A-frame shape I made - *pic here*!
I used 8 canes, tying it together with string. I also added some string around the base to stop the canes from moving outwards with the weight of the plants when they get bigger. To support them as they grow, I made this star-shape. It will also guide the 2 black-eyed susan vines out to the canes. I got them to grow with the beans as they're so pretty. Nick thinks it looks a little cult-ish but was impressed with the wigwam itself :) So, there are 8 runner bean plants. Will see how they do.

In front of the wigwam, I planted two rows of self-blanching celery. I gave up trying to get the seeds I had to germinate.

I also planted some 'diablo' dahlias surrounded by celariac. There are 2 identical beds like this.

Whilst I was weeding the 2nd bed to prep for planting, I had a very random find. This rotten egg was in the soil! I wonder how it got there.

So, now the 'road end' bed is looking quite good. I also did lots of raking. It will look great once everything is established. I have some purple sprouting broccoli to go in, spring onions and some leeks. I've read up on how to plant the leeks out as my lot last year just died. I know my error now - not planted deep enough. Gonna get the dibber out :)

I also needed to do something with the 1st batch of radishes I harvested. I thought perhaps pickling would be something to try. I found a recipe and made up a batch.

I have to say, the end result looks disgusting in this photo! I am yet to try any yet. The recipe sounds tasty though :) It's all foamy as instead of getting a bowl to mix the vinegar, sugar and soy, I shook it together in the jar. The proof is in the eating I guess!

• 20 radishes
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tblsp soy sauce
• 3 tblsp rice vinegar
• 2 tblsp light brown sugar
• 2 tsp sesame oil
  
  1. Clean the radishes and cut off both ends - make 2 or 3 small slashes on each one to allow the pickle to infuse, but keep whole.
  
  2. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with salt. Leave for 5 mins.
  
  3. Mix the soy sauce and vinegar in a separate bowl, add the sugar and stir until dissolved. (This is where I shook the ingredients together in the jar.)
  
  4. Pour the pickle mix over the radishes and finally dribble in the sesame oil.
  
  Store in the fridge.

Gooseberry & green peppercorn chutney

From last year's harvest, my freezer still contains lots of fruit that needs using. Amongst the goodies were lots of gooseberries. Stewed fruit is NOT my cup of tea, so I needed to make something with them that I would eat. I spotted this recipe for gooseberry & green peppercorn chutney a while back - it has been on my recipe list (see the side bar) since last year! Anyway, this morning I cooked up a batch...

• 600g green or red gooseberries
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 300ml cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp green peppercorns
• 175g raisins
• 175g brown sugar

1. To make the chutney: put the gooseberries, onions, garlic, mustard and lemon juice in a preserving pan and pour over two-thirds of the vinegar. Add the peppercorns and bring to the boil.

2. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thick.

3. Add the raisins, sugar, the remaining vinegar and a pinch of salt. Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved, then simmer for up to 30 minutes, stirring frequently, until thick and syrupy. Remove from the heat, leave to cool, then store in the fridge for up to a month. Alternatively, pour the hot mixture into hot sterilised jars, seal and store in a cool, dark place.

I am storing two jars as a preserved chutney which should be ready in a few months - they may even make good Xmas presents. I kept one jar to go in the fridge to use straight away. I think it will probably have a bit of a kick to it.