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.
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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.

Happy harvests

Harevsting is starting to pick up at the allotment with lots of goodies ready for picking. The garlic I planted before Christmas is finally ready so I've hung that out to dry. Looking forward to using this. Not as big as I was expecting but I am happy with the results. I think next year I will plant double the amount.

The first proper strawberry harvest weighed in at about 2lbs. Not quite as many this year as last from the looks of the plants, but that is probably my fault for not sorting out the bed early enough so they had a lot of competition from the weeds. I think I need to plant out some additional plants to boost the health of the row. Lots more strawberries ready for picking soon. This batch got made into a strawberry & fudge cheesecake and 2 jars of my very first strawberry curd.

Amongst the harvest were some freaky-looking strawberries! These made me laugh. Tasted just as nice as the others, though you wouldn't see these in the shops. I wonder how many cosmetically-challenged strawberries get wasted...?

My first mangetout (left) and first kelvedon peas were tasty, eaten whole and super fresh.

 

I've got a BUMPER harvest of blackcurrants this year again. This haul was from just 2 bushes and only half of what is there. I didn't bother netting these so just imagine how much more I'd have if I did! I wouldn't be able to move for blackcurrants!

Courgettes are ready for picking. I wonder if they'll be as prolific this year as last. Probably! At least I now have courgette recipes :)

Saturday: My box is full of tits!

Ok, before I get going, really I should explain the post title! Yes, that's right kids, there is a family of Great tits nesting in one of the boxes fixed to my shed. How exciting! I was getting some water into a can from the waterbutts and I heard some tweeting above my head. Giddy, I decided to sit a little way off and wait to see which flavour parent bird would come to the box. Turns out Great tits are in residence. Lovely little birds. I'm made up to have a fledgling family living on my plot. I took this picture of the adult feeding the squeaking babies, but only had my snappy camera so the zoom's not great.

I've been a bit quiet the last couple of weeks as I've had visitors, so not a lot of lottie time had. The bank holiday weekend my parents and older brother came to visit. We had a lovely time exploring locally - walking from my flat around the local countryside, as well as driving out and about visiting places. We even had a bluebell walk. The weekend after that my aunt & uncle came to visit. On the very wet & bitterly windy Saturday we went to the Malvern Spring Show. I got carried away and bought some plants and took oodles of photos of things that caught my eye :)

So, anyway, back to this weekend just gone. Saturday, as this is what this post is about. I went to buy some compost to pot more seeds & strained my back restraining a runaway trolley full of growbags. Not good! The seeds I've already sown are looking a bit sorry for themselves in the main. I think alot of it is due to Mr Slug & Mrs Snail, but probably the cold too. This is sum total of my propagation so far - pathetic really!

Anyway, I got lured to Homebase's 15% off day and bought a few bits. Um, and kinda bought a lawnmower! It is the same model as I've used before but now I have my own and don't have to struggle to get it in the car boot and lug it across 2 counties each time I want to use it! Alas, it is currently still on a palette somewhere in the warehouse, but I got it on the 15% discount. I am sure it will earn its keep :) I also bought a little patio appletree. It only grows 2m x 2m so will be tidy on't lottie. I've put it in the centre of my new mini-beds, road end. I like the name too - 'Patio Sophia'.

My aunt had brought me lots of seedlings she'd progagated, much more successfully than me so far! I planted out the cosmos at the road end, as they were about right to go in the ground. They should look pretty as I pull up when they're in flower. They will easily fill the space I popped them into. I also divided up the big road end bed, with string, into 9 sections, to make things less daunting.

Finally I tackled the nightmare that is my strawberry bed. Weeding. A lot of weeding! Here's the before...

...and after. I have only done 1/3 so far :(

All the photos are a bit orange, probably as it was quite late in the day when I took them.

I will post about Sunday's antics asap :)

Making new beds

Well, down the allotment I went today, with a helper - huzzah! My friend, Nick (a star of a friend, if ever there was one) volunteered digging services today. Of course, I happily accepted :) While I waited for him to arrive, I gave my shed's potting bench a dust down and found these bulb cards hiding. Now I know what should be popping up in the 2nd bed, 'shed end'. This is great as I didn't really make a proper note of what I planted. Tut tut! This is one of the great things about a blog - a searchable record of what went where, when :)

I also took some snaps of yet more shopping I did on Friday evening - more seeds for this year:

Celariac: giant prague, sugarsnap peas: sugar bon
& kohl rabi: purple vienna (which I have never eaten,
in any form, so this will be a proper first!)

Sunflowers: sunburst mixed, marrow: long green bush2 

(LOVE marrows!), leek: lyon2 prizetaker (sounds promising!), 

& some mixed annuals - planning to plant these in strips 

at each end of the veg beds.

The crocuses growing next to the shed are also further on than last week. lots more of these stunning purple ones and each one open. Sigh :) Looks like even more will come out soon too.

So, what did we do? Well, I attacked the 'dump mound', left by the last tenants, next to the globe artichoke, on the end of my herb bed. It was full of old potatoes of various varieties and jerusalem artichokes (all rotten), as well as loads of bloody sloe tree roots! Grr! Ahem. My cunning plan for this area is to build a cold frame. It should then be sheltered by the shed and close to it for moving and acclimatising my new plants. The soil, once I'd attacked it for a couple of hours, was perfect. Just right for purpose :) No raking needed - which is good as I snapped the rake before Xmas! I also dug out last year's woody spinach so there is another bit of bed ready for something new, next to my tree onions. The pic above shows how it looks now. I really want to get hold of some scrap wood to edge these beds, now I know I will be keeping them like this. I shall keep my eye on skips...

Nick, well, he's a digger. A digging machine, who will work as long as there is a supply of tea and biscuits (and cake!). I set him about digging over last Sunday's new bed which I'd de-turfed. I was going to bury the turf but he ended up shifting it onto an existing mound behind the shed. Out of sight out of mind ;) One day I will sort it out. Perhaps. This just needs attacking with a rake - which I need to buy. Nick did take one off the shed (read earlier posts if this sounds odd!), but I reckon it will snap soon enough, like the other one.

Bed dug over, time for tea. Nick brought his camping stove and some chocolate biscuits. Nick rocks! :)

His next task was to dig another new bed, a bit bigger this time, between the strawberries and the other globe artichokes/spring onions/asparagus. Safe to say he did this MUCH quicker than me last weekend. But then I am a feeble girl ;) Again, this just now needs to be raked over, once one is purchased!

The other job we did was to move 3 compost bins out from behind the shed and under the trees, into the open. I am hoping being in full sun will create some heat to break things down faster. It also means they are easier to get to. We put lots of the rotted compost onto the beds and Nick dug it in. I was on barrow duty. I also put the unrotted compost back into the bins. To be honest, a lot of what was in the bins was trash, literally! Jam jar lids, sweet wrappers, crisp packets, carrier bags. Doesn't make any sense to me. Hardly going to rot down eh. There were also lots of sticks, stones and bits of metal I also picked out. At least I know what's in the bins from now on will be useful for the allotment!

This last pic shows the 1st bin we moved - the bin far right was already out on the plot. I now have 2 more black bins between the two. I may move the black ones down to the other end of the plot, the 'road end', so there is compost on each half.

Well, might pop down the allotment tomorrow, might not. We shall see! I do need to mow though. Claire's mower wouldn't get going today so I think it needs some 'go-juice'! Hope you're making the most of the finer weather this weekend. :)

Firsts in the latest food harvest

I didn't get too much done this weekend down the allotment. Mum and I did pop down on Saturday morning to water - and, as usual, got distracted by other tasks! We did some harvesting which was the main reason for going. We picked raspberries and gooseberries and the final redcurrants the birds hadn't eaten! They look beautiful, like little jewels. Hopefully there is enough to make a jar of jelly. I am planning on making a cake and some oat bars with the raspberries and some chutney with the gooseberries - all will be adapted recipes I am sure :) Mum took some fruit for herself.

We also got to harvest my very first broccoli florets and a head of cauliflower. I also picked a bunch of sweetpeas but have found the flower stems are shorter on the new blooms. That means a smaller vase is needed! When I inherited the allotment, some produce was already there. I had a poke about in amongst the weeds and found a few (what I assume are) shallots ok to pick. I am drying these out and will see if they are edible!

We also picked, but didn't photograph, more charlotte potatoes (delish!) and the first globe artichokes. I am going to try mine tonight and see how it tastes. Will let you know! Cauliflower cheese is also on the menu. Yummy :) I hope you are enjoying your harvests.

I have now taken the netting off the strawberries and started to pot on the runners. Hopefully this will give me more strawberry plants to keep or to pass on to others, perhaps in a plant swap which they do at the allotment - not that I have had time to go to one yet!

Bringing it all home

As I was away at the weekend I popped by the allotment tonight for a check-over and a water. I was expecting to harvest more strawberries but brought a lot more home than expected :)

I thought I'd bring one of my basil plants home for the kitchen windowsill now it is a reasonable size (grown from seed). They're very slow growers so this has taken a while, but hopefully I can keep it going for a long time. I seem to be quite good with basil plants - water from the bottom!!

Lots more sweet peas were ready for picking. Bit more of a proper bouquet this time around. My lounge smells amazing now!

Strawberry and raspberry tubs full to the brim :)

Raspberries picked from under my net. A lot more now than thursday night's less-than-ten crop! Must be over 1lb there. I had to stop picking as my tub was overflowing! Shared some with the neighbours though :) Think they enjoyed them. I also ate a lot as I was picking them! I'm not a fruit person but real fruit beats shop-bought fruit any day.

Lots more strawberries to be picked - they're even still flowering!

'Surgery', strawberries and sale plants

...hmm, how do i do this??!

Saturday afternoon/eve was spent down't allotment with my friend, Eva. I needed a helper so I could get my raspberries netted - not a solo task! - so I was terribly greatful she volunteered her help. There are many jobs an allotmenteer can do solo but sometimes one needs help! It took a while to decide how best to tackle the netting as the raspberries are mixed in with the other soft fruit in a 7 x 5m bed. It would cost a fortune to do the whole thing so I am prioritising raspberries this year as my fruit to protect :) I plumped for a longer-lasting net and went with 2 packs of 8 x 2m 12mm pond netting. Luckily most of the raspberries are at one end of the bed so I could net most of them. Here's some pics - I was quite pleased with the results and, like ever, I did a neat (read "perfectionist's"!) job and more or less sewed the two nets together - I felt a bit like a surgeon!

i'm going in!

...and for my next trick, i will make a raspberry net out of bamboo canes, plant ties and pond covering!

ta da!! surgical stitching!

here's the finished result. no bird is getting at them there raspberries!! muhaha!

So, job done :) That was all I'd planned to do. That, and water the plants. However, we all know it is far too easy to get distracted, especially by reduced sale-price plants. Yes, I succumbed to 2x sweet peppers, 1x tomato (will look up the type), 1x pack of 6 cherry tomatoes, 4x pumpkins, 2x leek packs. I also got drawn in by a handsome-looking blueberry bush. Not that I needed more soft fruit but I don't have a blueberry... oh it is all too easy to get sidetracked!

2nd big bed, newly planted out with pumpkins, peppers, tommies to go with already planted sweetcorn, aubergines, baby sweetcorn and potatoes - busy bed!

Next, plant out that impulse-buy blueberry...!

Look at me go! ha! However, this next photo will show you why I bought it - it's so handsome!

*sigh*

I am also having a fantastic run on juicy, scrumptious strawberries. I picked about 750g of ripe red beauties. The net I put over them really has protected the crop and more or less all were pristine. There are some real whoppers and the taste and smell is heaven!


The rest of the allotment is coming on in leaps and bounds. Here are a few snaps of what's growing...

sweet peas

developing flower and herb bed

vialii primula

ripening blackcurrants

globe artichokes starting to flower

charlotte potatoes - bottom right's looking a little sad :(

broccoli, red onions and charlotte potatoes

charlotte potatoes, red onions, broccoli and cauliflower

So, all going well. I hope your growing's going good :)