It's a little bit light on the harvests this week 'cause I've been away for a long weekend camping in the New Forest for my brother's 40th birthday, (ponies, birds, very pretty, very cold at night). One day we went to Beaulieu and I remembered from a visit a few years ago that there was a community veggie garden, so I nipped up there for a few minutes whilst the others (several families with many children) were tucking into ice creams (yes, I did have an ice cream too, ginger flavour, yum). The photos are on my camera so I'll try and get them off it this week to share, it's a great place. I was very jealous of their amazing lettuces.
But in the meantime, here's this week's harvests:
I picked some more Purple sprouting broccoli leaves, which are actually really tasty
Which we had with poached eggs (Looks a bit like the grouch from Sesame Street)
More rocket
I accidentally pulled up a little garlic whilst weeding...
So that night, I pulled a couple of chard leaves from the tub in the front yard...
..and made posh baked beans (which is basically, fry an onion, plus the garlic, and some mushrooms, add the baked beans and then the chard. It makes a quick, tasty meal)
Before I went away I picked a big bag of chard from the allotment to keep Jan going for a few days (she's still not well enough to do too much, but is getting better)
On my last night we had noodle soup with some of the chard and one asparagus spear (ooh)
Then whilst I was away she had our new classic, spicy chick pea pie with greens
She also used some chard in a cous cous and chick pea dish but didn't get a pic. The chard looks nice though
I was travelling by train to the New Forest and was limited in what I could carry, but still wanted to take something home made, so I picked some rhubarb and we made Nigella Lawson's rhubarb shortbread, as recommended by CJ from Above the River
I didn't have quite enough rhubarb for the recipe so made up the additional weight with stem ginger. Here it is before cooking.....
...and I have no photos of it baked.....argh! It looked so good and was really delicious. We cooked it a little bit longer than the recipe as the top still looked a bit wet, but it hardened up the next day and cut quite nicely. Well, we shall just have to make it again when more rhubarb's grown.
So I'm a bit annoyed there was no photo of the shortbread (I was sure I took one of it cooling, sigh), so instead will finish with the laburnum tree in our back garden earlier this evening in the sunshine (which followed a miserable after noon of rain, that caught me on the walk home from the train station).
Pretty! And full of buzzy bees.
Linking in with Harvest Monday on Daphne's Dandelions
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Funnily enough I just got home from the allotment with some rhubarb to make another rhubarb shortbread. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I like the idea of adding stem ginger to the topping. Thanks for the mention. I like the look of the posh baked beans, I shall give that a try. I'll look forward to seeing your photos of the community veggie garden, I love that sort of garden. Enjoy the rest of the week. CJ xx
ReplyDeleteThanks CJ, mmm, yes the ginger added a bit of an extra zing. The beans are really handy for a quick meal, and adding some greens etc makes them a bit less claggy too. Hope you have a good week too!
DeleteThat soups looks so good. It was pretty cool yesterday and still is this morning. Maybe I should make soup for lunch.
ReplyDeleteThanks Daphne, I like making the noodle soup because I can just add the noodles at the end and they cook in the soup liquid...saves washing up an extra pan!
DeleteThat ginger ice cream would go very well with your rhubarb.
ReplyDeleteMm, that sounds like a good idea sue. Double ginger. One of the local ice cream firms in Norfolk makes gooseberry ice cream, I quite fancy having a go at making that later, especially if all the berries that are forming come to fruition (literally!).
DeleteI like the idea of spicy chickpea pies. Did you use North African spices?
ReplyDeleteHi mark, unfortunately I can't take any credit for the pies, they were bought, (a company called Clive's), the spices are Arabian, very tasty :) When jan's better we might have a go at making something similar, she's good at making pastry.
DeleteSparse harvests but mighty tasty, I'm sure. I love soups too - they are the ultimate "throw in whatever veg you want to use up" sort of dish and it always comes out delicious.
ReplyDeleteThanks Margaret, you can't beat a good soup!
DeleteI recently made some borlotti beans cooked quite simply ... wish I did bean dishes more often. You make them look so simple. And, WOW, your poached eggs (my favourite style) look absolutely perfect!
ReplyDeleteThanks Susie, I grew borlotti beans a coup,e of years ago and used them fresh ina soup rather than dried, they're nice aren't they. I've sown a few this year too but must do some more. I generally keep my cooking pretty simple, it saves time and washing up :D
DeleteI guess the poached eggs are a bit of a cheat, we have a shallow pan with individual cups for each egg,so you just have to keep an eye on them that they don't get too hard in the centre (I give them a little wibble to see if they're still soft). I'd love to be able to do that swirly in the pan thing with poached eggs but the one time I tried it I wasted loads of the white so havent done it again!