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...

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!

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...

c is for crockery

C is for Collins. C is for Christmas. And C is for Crockery, as spelled out in my much-longed-for present from G: Emily Sutton's latest alphabet print!

And while my present from G was virtual crockery, my present to G was actual crockery, thanks to a well-timed hint from The Coffee Lady:

This winter we've rediscovered our love of porridge, topping it with demerara sugar, maple sugar, maple syrup, or golden syrup, depending on what's to hand. But flipping through Home Cooking, I see Rachel Allen recommends whisky and cream--woo hoo! Though after a bowlful, I probably best keep away from the crockery...

tasty toffee

G used to enthuse over my homemade ice cream. But now he's more excited about what we're putting on top: the Toffee Sauce from Rachel Allen's Home Cooking.

Just five ingredients weighed into a saucepan and five minutes of bubbling and stirring produce over a pint of liquid heaven. Poured on warm, it quickly sets into lovely gooey strings:

It apparently keeps for months in the fridge, but I don't think ours will be around that long!

autumn apples

Moving on to things more autumnal, the old orchard in Langdon Park is once again groaning with apples, which means there's plenty of opportunity for picking,

and even with the schoolboys using them as missiles (!),

there's more than enough for batch after batch of fresh applesauce:

This year, I've been using the recipe from Forgotten Skills of Cooking, which has worked perfectly. The ratio of apples to sugar is just right, unlike in my old American recipe, which wasn't written for cooking apples.

Such a super book in general. Though I haven't forgotten the skills--I just never knew them!

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!

brunch with bill, take two

While I may have been too tired to run the allotments cafe this weekend (see seedling sale) I'm never too tired to visit a cafe! So bright and early Saturday morning, G and I caught the train into London and made our way to La Fromagerie

for Spring Brunch with the fabby Australian (now London-based) chef, Bill Granger.

He made his signature Scrambled Eggs on Sourdough Toast; Ricotta Hotcakes with Strawberries, Honey, and Vardon Yogurt; and Zucchini and Feta Fritters with Spring Salad. Here he is tipping the peas into the salad, with Patricia Michelson (who owns La Fromagerie) in the background:

All the dishes were from Sydney Food and Bill's Food, both of which have super breakfast chapters.

Bill's Scrambled Eggs has been our go-to recipe ever since we first tried it: the eggs are gently folded rather than scrambled, resulting in a wonderfully light and creamy texture. And now I think his Ricotta Hotcakes could become a real weekend favorite, too. Already looking forward to next Saturday morning!

sugar and spice

It may look a bit dull...

but this jar contains the secret to the best winter warmer.

I first read about homemade chai concentrate on Angry Chicken back in January, made a mental note to try it, then promptly forgot. But a week or so later, I saw it again on The Prairie Girl, and having been reminded, determined to make it straight away.

Now I don't know why I waited. The most time-consuming part was crushing the cardamom (mmm!). The rest took less than five minutes.

And unlike commercial chai mixes, which I often find too sweet, two teaspoons of homemade concentrate in a mug of strong tea is perfect: just the right amount of sugar and spice. Very nice.

really rosie, part two

I was so excited about Rachel's Rosehip Syrup last year, she invited me round for a tutorial this year.

We gathered the rosehips, cleaned them, blitzed them in her food processor, then tipped them into boiling water. We boiled and strained them twice, leaving them to drip through scalded muslin, first for one hour then overnight.

The next morning, we added granulated sugar to the strained juice and, after dissolving the sugar, quickly boiled it into a syrup:

The bottled syrup is simply luminous,

and the taste is just as vibrant. Scrummy!

very corny

We've just pulled up two beds of blighty tomatoes. But we're not feeling too downhearted, as we still have bushels of sweetcorn:

This year we have a whole bed-full of tall, sturdy stalks. Standing in their midst, enjoying their papery rustle, I can easily imagine myself in an Iowa field...

While the sweetcorn is delicious as-is, quickly boiled on-the-cob and served with butter and salt, it also makes a super Sweetcorn and Spring Onion Tart with Polenta Crust:

The polenta crust is the most amazing yellow, ever-so-pleasantly gritty, and works wonderfully with the delicate sweetcorn filling. But what a nightmare it was to make. G had to rush in and take charge, as the brittle dough crumbled and I collapsed in tears...

We'll most definitely be making this tart (from Tamasin Day-Lewis' The Art of the Tart) again. So light and tasty, it's the perfect late summer/early autumn dish. But we might need to gather a few polenta pointers first!

apples in august

It may still be August, but there're definitely signs of autumn about. Yesterday morning, having donned both a sweater and coat, I shuffled my way through nascent piles of leaves and chestnuts on my way to the shops:

We even have apples ready for harvesting:

While we used to gather loads from the old (Victorian) orchard tucked away in our development,

we now have some serious competition. This year, a keen bean beat us to it, picking the lower branches clean and hoovering up the windfalls in one fell swoop. We did manage to gather a few,

but only enough for two small batches of applesauce.

So good thing we know Rachel, who has an apple tree so big she actually owns professional picking equipment! After a visit to Rachel today, we have enough apples to make a whole freezer-full of applesauce. Now we're ready for autumn and winter!

a comely cauliflower

This weekend, we harvested our first-ever cauliflower:

Our allotment neighbor congratulated us on our success, but I think it was mostly luck. Especially as I don't see any more heads forming...

But whatever happens with the rest, this one made a delicious cauliflower cheese!

the berry best

June means strawberries, which makes it the perfect month for assembling Springbok's The Berry Best puzzle:

But while it is pretty super, it has nothing on the strawberries from Jo's plot...

which are amazing on their own or in Frozen Strawberry Milkshakes:

This recipe is from The River Cottage Family Cookbook. So easy (whizz frozen strawberries, a bit of sugar, and whole milk in the blender) yet so luscious and creamy and downright summer-y!

getting our greens, part two

Our new favorite allotment dish is Asparagus White Pizza:

While I make the dough, G harvests the new spears, which we wash and trim and toss in olive oil. When the dough is ready, we roll it out and top it with nothing more than sliced fresh mozzarella and the prepared asparagus.

Baked at 260 C on a preheated baking stone, the asparagus roasts perfectly and the crust crisps nicely. Then we just add a twist of black pepper to finish.

So simple and so delicious!

brunch with bill

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. So how could I not love Bill Granger, who founded bills, the Sydney restaurant famous for its breakfasts?

When I heard he was hosting a brunch at La Fromagerie, I called and booked straight away:

We started with the lightest and moistest pumpkin muffins. The muffins were followed by a rhubarb and strawberry breakfast crisp, a recipe I can use straight away with our very over-the-top crop of rhubarb! And we finished at noon with a brunchy Alsatian bacon and egg tart, simply dressed greens, and a glass of chilled Prosecco.

Being La Fromagerie, there were lovely cheeses, too. My favorite was Ticklemore, a hard goat cheese, served with the greens. 

Bill also demonstrated dishes throughout the brunch, including banana bread and biscotti, which were packaged up for us to take home:

He was just as lovely as I remembered him (from a brunch at Petersham a few years ago). So funny and friendly and down-to-earth:

He'd signed two of my three books--Sydney Food and Bills Food--at Petersham, and this was my chance to get the third signed as well:

All definitely worth an early morning trip into London. In fact, I wouldn't mind a trip to Sydney...

spargelfest

Our first asparagus of the season: nine tender spears...

which just a few minutes later were made into this!

springtime in scandinavia

G and I celebrated the start of spring at Trina Hahnemann's 'Springtime in Scandinavia' demonstration at Divertimenti.

As it was lunchtime, we had smørrebrød (open sandwiches). My favorite was Chicken and Lovage Salad on Rye Bread:

One of our neighbors on the allotments grows lovage, so I'm now working up the courage to ask for a cutting. The smørrebrød were served with Baked Asparagus Salad, which was very easy (just a few minutes in the oven) and nicely lemony. Luckily we do have our own asparagus crop, so we just need to keep our fingers crossed for a good season...

But my favorite part of the demonstration was, of course, dessert!

Our first dessert was Rhubarb Trifle, which was so delicious one lady actually interrupted the demonstration to ask for seconds! The Barbie-pink rhubarb stalks were baked with sugar, then layered with crumbled homemade almond macaroons and vanilla cream:

And we finished with Cold Buttermilk Lemon Soup with crumbled biscotti:

While I'm not a big fan of hot soups, I adore cold soups, and this one was amazing! Trina serves it not only for dessert but as a light meal or afternoon snack, and apparently it's a great favorite with Danish children (her own included). I'll most definitely be making a batch--probably several--when warmer weather arrives...hopefully soon!

cooking the books

Inspired by Deborah and her 2008 Taste and Tell Cookbook Project, I've resolved to make at least one recipe from each of my cookbooks by the end of 2009. I thought this would be relatively easy, until I realized I'd need to make at least two new recipes a week--yikes!

There'll be sweet recipes...

and savory recipes...

with nods to my English home...

and my Scandinavian heritage:

The recipe list can be accessed via a new link on the sidebar. I've decided to include recipes I blogged about in 2008 as a bit of a head start (is this cheating?) and I've starred those recipes I'll definitely be making again.

Thankfully G has agreed to be my partner in this project, and as he's an accountant, we're calling it Cooking the Books. But I hasten to point out G has never-ever 'cooked the books' on the job!