August 2006
You are currently browsing the articles from 5 rods written in the month of August 2006.
Apparently it’s not a snake, it’s a legless lizard called a slow worm. It looks like a snake to me though, and I’ve seen a few, being an African girl. On Sunday, Ayrton and I were picking some bits for supper at the allotment and I found this beauty when I lifted the carpet on top of the compost heap to add a few weeds. It just lay there, perfectly still and waiting to be photographed. Apparently slow worms are protected in England under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 from being killed, injured or sold. We have invited our slow worm to stay and eat as many of our slugs as it likes.
Written by The Little Green House on August 22nd, 2006 with 2 comments.
Read more articles on Experiences.
Just a quick note - checkout the various suggestions for the courgette glut that have developed on the two courgette posts.
Here and here.
It seems that to much courgette is a national problem.
Written by exmonkey on August 21st, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on General.
Came back from holiday to find a bumper crop of plum tomatoes on the allotment. They are so sweet our baby Tilly, 14 months old, loves munching them straight from the vine.
We have so many we need to preserve some, so here are two things we’ve been doing with them:
1) Making tomato sauce for freezing, and using in pasta sauces etc. Thanks to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Cookbook for this tip. Cut the tomatoes in half and roast them in the oven with a clove or two of garlic and a little bit of olive oil. Then I skin them once roasted and sieve the roasted tomatoes. The pulp goes on the compost heap and the sauce goes in the freezer. It tastes almost as good as…
2) Roast Tomato Soup. From ‘Stones Spells for Magic Feasts’, a veggie cookbook from a cafe in Avebury, Wiltshire - near the stone circle.
Again, halve and roast the tomatoes with garlic and onion, scattered with oregano and basil (we used dried mixed herbs and fresh basil). When skins start to blaken, pulp in the Magimix. Put the puree in a pan with some red wine (we skipped that with no ill-effects), stock and tomato puree. Whisk to combine, reheat gently on the stove and then stir in some cream or fromage frais (we used double cream) when it simmers. Just delicious.
Written by giles on August 16th, 2006 with 5 comments.
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I don’t mean to spoil what is left of the summer by raising the spectre of the cold, damp, dark, depressing months to come, but it is time to start thinking ahead and preparing the ground for what will fill the spaces left by the potatoes, courgettes, corn and so on once they’ve all been pulled up, harvested and gone.
Of course, to be sure of having plants to fill these spaces, the preparation needs to have started some months ago when the seed should have been sown in modules. In spite of my best intentions, however, I have once again not managed to produce my own brassica or leek seedlings and am in danger of having an empty plot over the winter months and an empty larder next spring.
Am I despairing? Certainly not. All is not lost. I have not got this far in life without discovering that there are few disasters that can’t be repaired by going shopping and if you happen to find yourself in the same boat as me then read on and rejoice.
There are plenty of safety nets out there for allotmenteers as unskilled or disorganised as me, or for those who have recently taken on plots and need plants quickly to fill recently cultivated beds. Delfland Nurseries caters for those of us who try to be organic by providing plug plants and seedlings all year round, and at reasonable prices (no, I’m not on commission). True, it will always be cheaper to grow your brassicas from seed yourself, but at £1.50 for 5 cabbages, they’re still pretty reasonable. Alternatively, Dobies are tried and tested (though not, I think organic) and seem to get good results - we had some lovely over-wintering onions from them last year.
So, a plot full of healthy, thriving vegetables with minumum effort. What more could you want?
Written by Pumpkinsouper on August 16th, 2006 with 1 comment.
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Our spinach beet is growing beautifully at the allotment and it’s time to start eating it. These pasties were inspired by the recipe for Chard Pasties in the Five-a-Day Fruit & Vegetable Cookbook.
450g spinach beet, trimmed and chopped including stalks
2 tbsp butter
2 small or 1 large onion, finely chopped
10 rashers streaky bacon, chopped
80g Gruyere cheese, grated
1/2 to 1 cup fresh brown breadcrumbs
6 tbsp single cream
For the pastry:
2 1/2 cups plain flour
generous 1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
beaten egg, for glazing
To make the pastry, place the flour in a mixing bowl and rub in the butter. Add the grated cheddar cheese and a little cold water to mix to a soft dough. Add extra flour if the dough gets to sticky. Knead gently on a floured surface. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.
Place spinach beet chopped leaves and stalks into a heavy-bottomed pan, cover and cook over a low heat for 8 minutes until the stalks are tender and the leaves wilted, shaking the pan occasionally. Strain, pressing out the excess liquid and place in a mixing bowl to cool.
Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the onion and bacon until the onion is lightly golden and the bacon is browned.
Add the onion and bacon to the spinach beet and stir in the Gruyere, breadcrumbs, cream and seasoning to taste. Preheat the oven to 220′C/Gas 6.
Divide the pastry into four and roll out into rounds. Spoon the filling onto the centre of each and dampen the edges with water. Bring the sides together over the filling and press together to seal. Brush with beaten egg and then put on a non-stick baking tray. Bake for about 20 minutes until the pastry is golden. With the leftover edges of the pastry rounds that I cut out, I rolled two smaller rounds and with a little filling saved, made two mini-pasties for the children.
Written by The Little Green House on August 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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