in a pickle

This year, Debbie has been growing veggies in three of our raised beds. Her City & Guilds gardening course seems to have paid off, as her cucumbers are amazing. This is one of her smaller specimens:

But one can only eat so many cukes, and the fridge was rapidly filling up. That is, until Smitten Kitchen published her recipe for Easiest Fridge Dill Pickles. They are indeed easy: just add sliced cucumbers, salt, dill, and vinegar to a 1-liter Kilner jar and shake, and a few hours later you have dill pickle chips:

And they're delicious--indeed, positively addictive--not just on sandwiches and in salads but as a side dish or even as a sneaky snack straight from the jar!

As Deb (of Smitten Kitchen) says, 'Everyone needs more recipes like this in their back pocket, ridiculously easy ways to use mountains of summer produce with a delightfully low effort-to-result factor.' Amen! Now pass the pickles please...

more gorgeous gooseberries

Last summer, I finally tackled my fear of preserving by enrolling in the Preserving in a Day course with Sky Cracknell, founder of England Preserves. Sky sells her jams and chutneys at the fantabulous Spa Terminus food market in Bermondsey while also supplying some of the top restaurants and department stores in London. 

After a very busy day weighing, boiling, and filling, I left with jars and jars of jam, as well as the knowledge and confidence to try it all at home. But sadly our fruit on the allotment had pretty much gone by then, so I had to wait...

...until now! Our gooseberry standards were so laden with fruit this year, even after thinning, that G had to hammer in extra supports.

Admittedly, gooseberry is one of the easiest jams to make, but I'm so pleased with the result:

I'm also so glad I made it before this heatwave set in--far too hot to be boiling fruit now! Perfect weather for gooseberry ice cream though...

bodacious blackcurrants

In the past, I've steered clear of anything and everything blackcurrant-flavored, associating the taste with cough syrup (which I also avoid).

But when my ice cream guru Kitty Travers published her recipe for Blackcurrant Ice Cream in The Observer, I began to have second thoughts. And when the temperature in Teddington hit 30°C, I decided it was time to give it a go...

and ended up making one of my favorite ice creams yet!

As G has always like blackcurrants, we have two bushes on our plot. Which was convenient, as Kitty's recipe calls for 5-6 blackcurrant leaves to make an infused custard. The leaves impart the most amazing, yet completely indescribable flavor. So much so, I actually considered making an ice cream from just the leaves, only to discover later that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has published a recipe for Blackcurrant Leaf Sorbet.

So now I've been converted to both the fruit and the leaf. Who knows what's next...!

broad-minded

This year, we had our first really successful crop of broad beans. The extra-long raised bed G specially built and planted up was a forest of head-high plants. Which then begged the question, what to do with sooo many broad beans? Eeek!

Luckily, once double-podded, the beans came to not-too-much, so the glut wasn't as unmanageable as I'd feared. And in the end, we found a fabulous use for them all--Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Broad Bean Hummus:

Simply whizz the double-podded beans with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a food processor. Hugh suggests adding garlic (G's preference) but I prefer it without. Absolutely delicious as a snacky dip with plain Kallo breadsticks. We made several batches, and devoured them all. The only problem is that now the crop is finished, we'll have to wait another year for our next batch!

in the red

We didn't have long to wait. While the Alice berries are still just blushing, the Honeoyes have ripened to a bright and cheery red:

The skies have finally brightened too, so I could make the ice pops. But Ali's scones and Jane's cake look mighty tempting...

in the pink

It suddenly seems we're in the pink, both on the walk to the allotments...

and in the allotments themselves, where the poppies on Sarah's plot are literally humming with bees.

And all those bees have been good for the fruit. Our strawberries are blushing pink too,

which means its nearly time to pull out the special ice pop tray--woo hoo!

Though we may want to wait for some warmer weather...

east end paradise

Sheltering under umbrellas (for the first time in months!) we headed into London early Saturday morning for a brunch demonstration at La Fromagerie

with Jojo Tulloh, food editor of The Week and author of East End Paradise:

Having loved Jojo's book (published last year as Freshly Picked) I was looking forward to hearing more about her allotment and gathering new ideas for using our own plot produce.

After a brief introduction, Jojo showed us how to make Rice Paper Rolls with Fresh Herbs and Salad. And we were soon set loose with stacks of rice papers, twists of rice noodles, and plates piled high with lettuces, herbs, and julienned veggies. We arranged and wrapped while Jojo made the dip.

We then moved on to preparing artichokes, a skill I'm not sure I'll ever master--a bit worrying considering the size of our plants! But Jojo had hers de-choked in no time,

and they were whisked away to the kitchen for a Pea and Globe Artichoke Heart Frittata, served later with Jojo's signature Allotment Salad of greens and herbs.

To finish, Jojo demonstrated my favorite dish of the morning: Stuffed Courgette Flowers with fresh goat curd and lemon.

They were so amazingly light and crispy:

A wonderful morning all round, but I knew it would be, considering we share a love of allotment white pizzas! Though looking at this picture, I can see how much thinner and crispier our crusts are now, more like the ones in Jojo's book.

And her lovely daughter, who's already a deft hand with an artichoke, proved to be a girl after my own heart too, finishing her brunch with a big scoop of gelato:

The most perfect allotment neighbors! If only Leyton weren't so far from Teddington...

fab flora

While the house fronts, walls, and fences of Teddington are dripping in wisteria,

nearly every other blossom has come to an end, carpeting the streets and sidewalks in pink and white:

So I was rather worried Tracy and I had already missed Kew at its blossomy best. But on Monday we still managed to track down a bit of blossom holding tight,

as well as more magnolias

and other flowery finds:

And to finish a flora-filled day, I swung past the plot, where I gathered our own, which is admittedly less pretty...

but certainly more tasty!

blossom dearie

Our orchard is suddenly bursting with blossom, blushing pink apple

and bright white pear:

We have bounteous blossom in the fruit cage, too, on the sweet and sour cherry trees:

While our branches may not be as chic as Jane Packer's stems, they do have fabulous dessert potential. My thoughts are already racing ahead to compotes, ice creams, cobblers, and cakes--oh my! But must remember patience is a virtue, because even with this super sunshine, we still have many months to go...

more marylebone

While we were in Marylebone, we also popped into Jane Packer, very conveniently located between the new branch of the Nordic Bakery...

and The Wallace Collection, our final destination. Though I do think I could have happily stayed in Jane Packer all afternoon, arranging posies with the lucky students in the back of the shop.

The pretty flora-filled benches outside...

gave way to even more marvelous displays inside, where I was able to indulge my perpetual passion for green blooms:

So now I'm thinking perhaps our allotment plan should feature fewer veggies and more flowers. After all, we'd still be getting our greens!

christmas café

G had to dig the Seed Store Café out of a snowdrift, but we still managed to open on Sunday for our annual holiday party.

The café was sparkly with both tinsel and ice. Even with two kettles on the boil, it was a frosty affair.

The polar conditions didn't deter the customers, though, who came in for coffee and cake, then headed back out to stand round the brazier, where the chestnuts were a-popping and wine was a-mulling.

Anticipating the cold, I'd bundled up with three pairs of socks (over-the-knee, cashmere, and ski) inside my snow boots, five layers beneath my coat (I could barely do the buttons up!), and my toasty new cowl.

But after four hours, I was feeling an awful lot like this guy:

Do you think it's too late to add thermals to my Christmas list?!

a is for...

We're still mourning the end of asparagus season and my very favorite dinner, asparagus white pizza. But we seem to have lots of artichokes coming along in the next bed,

which makes me wonder if artichoke white pizza would be worth a go.

It'd be far more fiddly to prepare, but it just might tide us over till courgette white pizza time!

pottering in petersham, take two

A wet start to the Bank Holiday weekend, but what else is new? Luckily, Petersham is equally divine rain or shine.

The tables outside were flooded,

but the greenhouse seating was warm and dry. And with no crowds, there were plenty of cakes to choose from

and time to linger, discussing what we would be doing in the garden, if only it weren't raining...

while really feeling just-that-bit relieved by the reprieve!

But after a quick look round outside

and inside the shop, it was time to fly home for some nesting

(i.e. washing and tidying) because I'm on allotment cafe duty tomorrow, no matter what the weather!

rhubarb refreshment

I must admit I'm not as keen on rhubarb crumble as I should be, considering we have four very prolific plants. But all is not lost, as I've finally found a rhubarb recipe I love, Rhubarb Ice Cream:

Based on a Delia recipe, this ice cream is nothing short of amazing: the perfect balance of sweet and tart and so easy to make. And unlike most ice creams made without eggs, which set terribly hard in a home freezer, this one stays super smooth and creamy.

The ideal way to serve up a seemingly limitless supply of rhubarb, particularly on such an unseasonably hot and steamy weekend.

seedling sale

More time on the plot has meant no time for blogging. With loads of help from Jo (and her heated propagator and greenhouse) we've been raising and planting out rows and rows of seedlings.

Sunday was also our annual Seedling Sale:

And despite an iffy weather forecast, it turned out to be our most successful sale ever. We sold a terrific number of tiny plants,

as well as seemingly endless mugs of coffee and tea and over 120 slices of cake. But I'm so glad I'm not on the cafe rota this weekend, because as brilliant as it was, I don't think I've quite recovered!