Chefs

As well as Nigel Slater, Nigella (Lawson), Delia (Smith) and Jamie Oliver, we enjoy watching Lorraine Pascale cooking on TV.  
Today I've borrowed 'Home Cooking Made Easy' ('100 fabulous easy to make recipes') from the library on a seven-day loan. So hope to put some of her scrummy, easy recipes on here, such as 'Spinach, Rocket & Parmesan Roulade with Sun Dried Tomato and Pine Nut Filling'

http://www.lorrainepascale.com/

Three of Lorraine's ideas for pizza toppings:

1. Harissa, chilli, spring onion, sausages (skinned), fennel seeds.
2. Tomato-ey paste, thyme, goats cheese and salami.
3. Humous, feta, ribbons of courgette, tomato pieces, pepper

Cook for 10 minutes at 240C

The Merits of Seaweed

Why did I get damp and smelly down at the beach this week?
Well, it was all for the good of the allotment as I found out recently that seaweed's invaluable to improve the soil and the crop of vegetables and fruit because:

1. When spread upon the soil and 'rained upon' the salt permeates the soil, thus discouraging slugs and snails; 
2. Once the salt has been leached out the seaweed will be superb as it improves the water-holding quality of the soil (vital here by the seaside); and 
3. It will add many nutrients, although temporarily (about 15 weeks, with dried blood or loam speeding up this process) there'll be less nitrogen so Autumn is a good time to apply seaweed. It feeds the bacteria in the soil.  According to organic farmers it contains lots of nutrients: vitamins, all trace elements (in a form acceptable to plants), growth hormones, also disease- controlling qualities.  
4. It's sustainable and renewable.  

WOW!!

• Some people apply the seaweed at the depth of a spade or two at the rate of a barrow-load per square metre.  
• If putting on the compost heap, mix with woody or fibrous material, or paper such as newspaper, to help it avoid it becoming slimy. 
• Or can use as a mulch but this may become rather smelly (it's certainly been smelly in the car!).

However, there's no public right to collect it, unless you own the beach.  I should have thought we had the right to collect it because:

1. It would save the Council money by them having to clear less from the beaches; and
2. Surely we've paid towards it in our (high) Council Taxes and our (also high) Water Rates, which cover keeping our coastline clean.

Incidentally, at this site: http://www.giapo.com/blog/sea-weed-salad/, there's a recipe for Seaweed Salad Sorbet!  Also: http://www.oceanvegetables.com/seaweed-recipes.html.  Full of nutrients!

Easter Nests

Not very seasonal but just found this recipe on a piece of paper and thought it would be easier to find on the blog.

Easter Nests
4oz dark chocolate
4oz plain chocolate
1 oz margarine
4 oz Cornflakes (or Shredded Wheat)
1 dssp syrup
36 mini eggs

• Melt chocolates, margarine and syrup in microwave
• Stir in cornflakes
• Make 18 nests inside bun cases
• Put two eggs in each nest and try not to eat them all at once

The allotment experience

This is a really handy book* which I've borrowed from the library.  'The Allotment Experience' has been written using the experience of over 40 alotmenteers and contains many useful tips, mostly given in bite-sized portions, so very handy for dipping into.  I started jotting them in a notebook, then thought it would be more useful to write them here, more accessible and less likely to get lost.

The book starts right at the beginning with making the decision whether to have an allotment, how to start, growing vegetables, salads, flowers and fruit, through to harvesting, via plant protection, weeding and feeding: so pretty comprehensive.  


Some really useful advice includes the following for controlling pests:

• Aphids - soapy water or garlic water
• Casterpillars - derris/natural pyrethrins, bacillus thuring...
• Slugs - ferrus phosphate, ground coffee, nematode worms
• Birds - sticks and string
• Mice - fleece, netting
• nasturtums - couch grass
• marigolds - ground elder and bindweed
• fine weeding - knitting needle
• cloche - bring on brassicas - tunnel or drinks bottles

Fertiliser:
general all-purpose: 18N:8P:8K plus trace elements such as Mg.


N = green leaves
P = roots,general health, flowers
K = resistance to pests and diseases, flowers, fruits.
Mg = green
not yet finished ....


* The Allotment Experience by  Ruth Binney (ISBN: 978-1-905862-26-9.

Allotment Update

15 November: We've been busy digging over the new part of the allotment, making four sizeable beds, then covering them to suppress weeds.  It's a long, boring job but will be worth it.

Today I planted some broad beans.  Pushed finger/piece of wood 2" into the ground, dropped in a broad bean. Then raked over the area.  The hope is that planting them in early November will mean much less black fly than when they're planted in the spring.


16 November: Still picking the odd raspberry!
This afternoon it was pretty rainy and miserable but as I'd promised to show some prospective allotmenteers around our site to choose a new plot, needs must.  
Well, they both arrived on time, the first one paid and got his key ready to start digging as soon as it stops raining.  Then there was a long wait, which would have been great had the weather been more clement, would have made me get on with things.  But in the end I decided that, as it's not too cold this November, getting wet didn't really matter as could sit in front of the wood burner this evening.

So, scattered wood ash from the burner over the fruit bushes, planted the rest of the broad beans and clipped lots of the path, amazing to think the grass is still growing when it's only six weeks to Christmas - perhaps I'll be out grass cutting again on Christmas Day!
The second group of people came, suitably prepared with their wellies and raincoats and we trudged up the hill.  They had a good look and are very pleased, so are coming this evening to pay and get their key!  A good day's work!!
Someone said yesterday that the new plotholders are getting younger - I said 'no, we're getting older'!

19 November: Went up to Allotment today. David did some more digging which was heavy work as the soil is quite waterlogged. 
I hoed the leeks, then amalgamated the compost heaps, putting the good stuff onto the fruit bushes and pruning and tidying up their branches. 
Also (surprise, surprise) we picked six raspberries, so it seems we still have yet to experience a frost this autumn. So I haven't picked the parsnips and sprouts as they need a frost to become more tasty, although we brought home some cabbage for dinner tonight.
We're thinking of getting a bigger shed now that we have more land and here are two of our possibles:

(from: http://www.waltons.co.uk/wooden-sheds/ultra-value-range)

The summerhouse here in the garden came from Waltons Sheds and we're very pleased with it: 

It's down at the bottom of the garden and faces Tor Bay, looking towards Torquay and the rocks off Hope's Nose, so not a bad view.

Lancaster Bomber doing a 'fly past' a couple of years ago.

20 November: Finally got round to planting the onions.


22 November: Was lucky enough to procure an old square water tank from Freecycle (http://uk.freecycle.org/) and today went down to the beach and filled it up with seaweed left by the tide.  Rather a damp, smelly job but it will be worth it eventually, see separate item on seaweed.

24 November: It said in the weekly Herald Express that it's time to earth up the leeks, so that's one of today's jobs.
25 November: Collected more seaweed from the beach and spread it onto some of the bare soil to leech out the salt.  Did some more digging and weeding and covered the onions as something is starting to dig them up.  Mice? 
Am still picking the odd raspberry and cutting the grass verges (in November?!).  
This evening it was fun as we made out the seed order for next season.  It's easy to be ambitious at this time of the year ...

It's a bit late, but here's the recipe for Ritzy Rockets, traditionally made every year for Bonfire Night since about 1982. They keep in a tin for about a week.

Ritzy Rockets
Melt 6tbsp Syrup and 3oz Margarine, add 2oz Cherries, 2oz Marshmallows, 3oz Rice Krispies and 2oz Sultanas.
Spoon the contents into 12 ice cream cornets.
Melt 2oz Chocolate and dip cornets into chocolate and then into Sugar Strands or similar. 
Stick a 8" piece of dowelling into each cone to make a Rocket!!


Also: 
Jumping Jack Biscuits
Roll out Puff Pastry, spread with a mixture of Marmite and Butter. Concertina, then put in fridge to cool. Slice, then cook at No 7 for about 10 minutes.


Curried Vegetable Parcels
Use thin sliced loaf, make the day before
1 lb cooked diced vegetables, plus one potato diced.
1 onion, diced and fried
Add 3tbsp mild curry powder.
Cook five minutes, add s&p.
Add cooked vegetables.
Remove crusts from bread, roll bread thinly. 
Put a spoonful of mixture in middle of each slice.
Draw points together into the middle.
Put on baking sheet and cook at No 6 for about 10 minutes.

Loose Gardeners Society, est 1884

In about 2008 Loose Gardeners' Society produced an invaluable little gem: '75 tips from the Plots' - or 'Sage Gardeners who know their onions spill the beans'.  This Society has been running since 1884, so they must 'know their onions'.

As it says on the front page: 'there are no absolute rights or wrongs about gardening'.

Useful tips given in this handy booklet include the following:

• It's not just what you do, it's when you do it.  Regularly walk around your allotment site to see what other plotholders are doing, and how they're doing it.
• To plant parsnips: form a groove for planting and at the bottom place two layers of newspaper and water well. After spacing the parsnip seeds on the newspaper, cover with two more layers of newspaper, water again, and cover with soil - a 'snip tip!
• Dig up parsnips when they have matured and before wintry weather sets in.  Dig a pit, and put the parsnips in it upside down, with a good layer of straw or milch over them.  You will now have a well-stocked parsnip larder, accessible whatever the weather.
• To plant a tiny seed in very dry weather:  after making a shallow drill for the seeds, water drill well, sow seeds and then backfill with dry soil.
• To get brassicas off to a good start, and also deny the flea beetle the chance of ravenging young seedlings if planted on the plot , it is best to raise them in a greenhouse or cold frame at home: sow seeds in pots or trays in John Innes No 1 compost; pot on later, when the first true leaves have developed, in John Innes No 3 compost; by the time the strong young plants are ready to plant out on the plot, they will be in the best condition to overcome whatever might beset them.

• When you pass by your brassicas, do clouds of irritating whitefly rise up?  A way of reducing this pest is to plant french marigolds between the rows of brassicas. Not only will they attract hover flies which will feed on the whiteflies, but they will provide a spot of colour as well.  Growing French marigolds in the greenhouse will also help to protect tomatoes.
• If you've ever planted broad beans or peas and they've been eaten by mice (lots of holes in the soil - has beens). Tip: soak the seeds in paraffin for 24 hours which mice don't like much.
• If your leeks grow too big (never with me!), plant two or three leeks in each dibbed hole.
• Some seeds need help to germinate, try soaking in very hot water before planting, to give them the urge to get going.  Examples include parsley, spinach, beetroot and parsnip.
• Don't throw away worn out gardening gloves or thick rubber gloves without cutting off the fingers first. Give these unwanted digits a second leave of life by using them to protect the end of garden canes of any size.
• Old packets of brassica seeds? No sure if they are past their 'grow by' date.  To check for germination capability, place seeds on some moist kitchen towel on a shallow tray and place in the airing cupboard.  Keep an eye on progress - any survivors can be potted on in John Innes No 1.
• Early sowings of turnips can be prone to flea beetle attack, which late crop will avoid, so defer sowing seed until mid-August and to use quick-growing white variety of turnip.
• Old garden canes: cut into shorter lengths, tie into bundles. These are ideal overwintering accommodation for ladybirds, who'll be keen to rid your plot of aphids come the spring.
• Do you often wonder when will the ground be warm enough to plant seeds?  A good rule of thumb is to be aware that in Spring, the temperature of the air is in fact equalled by the temperature of the soil at ground level - if the air feels far too cold, the ground will be too cold.  
• Lettuce seeds will only succeed in cool conditions - if it gets really hot, don't sow them!
• Rhubarb is a slightly odd plant. For instance: is it a fruit or a vegetable? Whilst it is mainly used for pudding dishes, it is however classed as a vegetable when it comes to showing.  Stalks are edible - leaves definitely are not. So tip is when planting out brassicas, put some rhubarb leaves round their roots. This will them protection against attack by cutworms (fat grey or brown caterpillars, about 3 4 cm long which live near the surface and can sever stems at ground level).
• Pinch the tops of the broad beans when the first pods of have set, to make the plants less vulnerable to black fly attack.
• Gather the leaves of rhubarb, boil them up. Strain the leaves and apply the resulting liquid using a watering can onto the broad beans to combat the spread of blackfly.
• Cardboard tubes from loo rolls and kitchen rolls are great for leeks.  Dib a hole for leek plant, slip in cardboard tube, and at harvest time the leak will be lovely and clean.
• Another use for these cardboard tubes is to fill with compost and plant with broad beans or parsnips (at four seeds per tube) and cover them up. With parsnips, remove three weakest seedlings to allow strongest to carry one.
• With damsons, each year pick the whole crop - or you'll get none at all the following year!
• To ensure you don't mislay your tools, paint the handles in a bright colour, or fix coloured sticky tape to them.
• Roots of convolvulus are a nuisance.  Either pile tangled mass into a loose heap and allow to dry out, then burn. Or put roots into a bucket of water, leave for about two weeks by which time the roots will have turned into a harmless mush.
• 
  
• 
  

• TO BE CONTINUED .....

Beneficial Weeds - an Oxymoron?

Weeds - or Natures Helpers?

• Nettles - add fertility to soil (then compost heap) - good for caterpillars.
• Clover - adds nitrogen to the soil, use as green manure, dig up in spring.
• Comfrey. Medicinal and Horticultural (http://www.allotment.org.uk/vegetable/comfrey/index.php)
• Wild Mustard - can eat?
• Wild Vetch - green manure, over-winter, dig over in spring.  Fixes nitrogen.
• Chickweed - can be added to salads.
• Shepherd's purse - edible, can be sauted.
• Wild grasses - green manure, over-winter, dig over in Spring

.... and many others! 
Nettles and comfrey can both be picked, then steeped in water (terrible smell results). Subsequently they can be diluted and fed to plants.
Also read Richard Mabey's book 'Weeds' to make you think again about these plants.


According to the following website, weeds also hold the soil and act as an indicator to soil type.  See http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/1987-07-01/Good-Weeds.aspx.


An interesting site to follow up (very soon); http://www.thegreenmanproject.com/2011/08/

Best-Ever chocolate Layer Cake

Ingredients


175g self-raising flour
3 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp coffee powder (optional)
175g butter (softened)
175g caster sugar
1tsp baking powder
3 eggs
4 tbsp milk
100g 70% dark chocolate (melted)

Mix everything together, add cooled chocolate.
Put in three shallow 7" cake tins and cook at about 180C for 20 mins.
Cool on wire rack.


Icing
300ml double cream
300g chocolate (broken up)


Heat cream add chocolate.
Cool, sandwich between layers of cake and enjoy


(adapted from BBC Good Food website)


Ps  make sure the cake is completely cold before you put the icing on or all the icing will flow off!

Pauline's Chocolate Cake

Chocolate sandwich

Heat oven to 325F, 160C or gas mk 3.

grease and line ( with greaseproof) 2 x 8 inch straight sided sandwich tins.

Ingredients.

6 1/2 ozs Plain flour

5 ozs Castor sugar

2 tbs cocoa

1 level tsp bicarb of soda

1 level tsp baking powder

2 tbs golden syrup

2 beaten eggs

1/4 pint olive oil

1/4 pint milk.

ICING. (optional)

2 oz butter

4 level tbs cocoa

3 tbs milk

5 oz Icing sugar.

sift all dry ingredients into a large bowl. Make a well in centre and add syrup, eggs, oil & milk.

Beat well and pour into tins.

Bake in oven for 30 -35 mins.(until cake springs back when touched with fingers).

turn out and cool on rack. (without paper)

For icing.

Melt butter in a saucepan, add cocoa, and stir to blend. Cook for 1 minute. Stir in milk and icing sugar, remove from heat and mix well. Leave on side to cool, stirring occasionally. Sandwich cake halves together with half of icing and then spread remainder on top.

If not using icing then sandwich together with jam or butter icing. 

 For a treat I use cherries in kirsch and whipped cream for the filling, YUMMY.

Kidneys Turbigo

Today's recipe is one I used to cook regularly for Jazz Nights at The Old School, Stoke Climsland.  It's very useful if you have some sausages left over from the previous day:

KIDNEYS TURBIGO


3 kidneys 
3 sausages (cook in oven - or under grill - then cut in half)
2 oz onions, chopped finely
oil
2 oz mushrooms, chopped
1/2 tbsp tomato puree
1 - 2 slugs of dry sherry
1/2 stock cube + 1/4 pint water
1 tsp parsley
1/2 bay leaf
1 tsp flour


Cook sausages in oven, pour off excess fat.
Brown kidneys, add to sausages.
Cook onions, add mushrooms. Then add flour, stock, tomato puree, sherry, bay leaf. Simmer about 20 minutes.
Nice served with rice or mashed potatoes and lots of greens.
Serves 2 - 3

Wood Ash

In the Saturday Telegraph Gardening Section today there was a question about wood ash.  
Wood ash is a useful source of potash and also lime.  It is recommended that wood ash be put around fruit for the potash   Also it's good put around many plants and shrubs, whilst being careful to avoid acid-loving plants, such as pieris and azaleas.

a glorious pieris

However, it was suggested that if a great deal of wood ash is produced it might be better to put aside and add to the compost heap.  This would be especially useful in the summer when the ash can help wet compost, such as grass clippings, rot down better.


On GQT this week, Bob Flowerdew was quoted as suggesting that wood ash is good for gooseberries, which bears this out.

From the site: http://bobflowerdew.co.uk/

(I don't know how much he charges these days for his talks but many years ago (well about 15) he was asking £3,000 for an hour!  He must be good!)

Turkey Loaf

I bought some turkey breasts today and couldn't think what to do with them, apart from the usual marinade in oil, soy sauce and herbs, then cook under the grill.  So had a look on the internet and found several recipes for Turkey Loaf and finally invented one which used the ingredients from our kitchen. So here's the recipe, all amounts are very approximate:


Jenny's Turkey Loaf


11 oz turkey meat
8 oz onions
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 stick celery
1/2 green pepper
1 egg
1 chicken stock cube
mixed herbs

• Mix all these ingredients in the food processor, then put into a loaf-type tin.
• Swirl a little olive oil on top and sprinkle some herbs.
• Cook for about an hour at about 180C.
• Serves 4 - 5.

* Perhaps another time I'll try adding some wine, garlic, mushrooms, tomatoes, courgettes or other items, perhaps even chorizo sausage or bacon.

Pumpkins

Yesterday, instead of carving a ghoulish face out a pumpkin and standing a candle inside it we decided that for dinner we could try roasted pumpkin.


To some olive oil in the pan I added some parsnips, a courgette, some chopped garlic, a sprig of rosemary and some salt and pepper and a small sliced pumpkin.


This was roasted for about 45 minutes and we really enjoyed it. I forgot to take a photo to put on here, so we will have roasted pumpkin pieces again soon.