Every now and then I find myself pulled up short when it comes to taste. For example, last week I was putting together a cous cous salad lunch for the beautiful wife and I boiled off a handful of green beans which came in the weekly veg box from Abel and Cole.
I blanched them for a couple of minutes and very quickly refreshed them under cold water. I could not resist "stealing" one to nibble on as I cooked and this is when I was pulled up short. The flavour was outstanding. I had completely forgotten how utterly amazing a simple green bean can taste. A similar thing happened with broccoli a few weeks ago.
I think the message is clear: I have vowed to taste everything as if we're tasting it for the very first time, who knows where this might lead. I will not take an ingredient for granted.
We have the builders in for a few weeks so I have harvested the last of my tomatoes and potatoes both of which were close to the house. On occasion they were neglected throughout the Summer and on occasion the Summer neglected them too. I shall be making green tomato chutney again during the week!
Showing posts with label Green tomatoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green tomatoes. Show all posts
Sunday, 23 September 2012
Monday, 25 July 2011
Catch up
My tiny garden is keeping me busy with watering at the moment. We have had Strawberries and then Raspberries over our cereal of a morning for a few weeks. (My late raspberries have yet to flower!). Last week we emptied one of the spud bags and had a couple of day's worth of Pink Fir Apple Potatoes.
Most of my bizarre and varied Tomatoes are either in flower or have set fruit and the Courgette plant I was given will provide a meal later this week. In the hot box the assorted Chillies are flowering and seem to be loving the sweaty heat and the garlic (which I planted in October) is ready to be dug and dried.
The Beautiful Wife and I both like to see birds in the garden, and to this end we have various feeders to encourage them. The strange consequence of these feeders is that we have found ourselves grown some seriously agricultural crops. The ability of a family of sparrows to flick seed all over the garden is quite remarkable. So far we have grown (without planting) oats, barley, wheat, sunflowers and oil seed rape. I can't bear to cut down these impostors as the have such statuesque elegance.
On the subject of grains I am now using the Richard Bertinet methods of making bread and they seem to be working. More of this in a later posting.
And... on the subject of later postings, many years ago I promised an old colleague (the Recovering Vegetarian) that I would write at length about sausages this too will happen soon too.
Most of my bizarre and varied Tomatoes are either in flower or have set fruit and the Courgette plant I was given will provide a meal later this week. In the hot box the assorted Chillies are flowering and seem to be loving the sweaty heat and the garlic (which I planted in October) is ready to be dug and dried.
The Beautiful Wife and I both like to see birds in the garden, and to this end we have various feeders to encourage them. The strange consequence of these feeders is that we have found ourselves grown some seriously agricultural crops. The ability of a family of sparrows to flick seed all over the garden is quite remarkable. So far we have grown (without planting) oats, barley, wheat, sunflowers and oil seed rape. I can't bear to cut down these impostors as the have such statuesque elegance.
On the subject of grains I am now using the Richard Bertinet methods of making bread and they seem to be working. More of this in a later posting.
And... on the subject of later postings, many years ago I promised an old colleague (the Recovering Vegetarian) that I would write at length about sausages this too will happen soon too.
Saturday, 2 October 2010
The great tomato crisis of 2010
My tomatoes have been a joy this year. I have a tiny garden but do manage to grow the odd plant and I started the year by planting far to many tomato seeds - I ended up giving away over 50 plants in the spring. I kept 12 Golden Sunrise and 3 Hundreds and Thousands. The Beautiful Wife and I have not needed to buy a tomato since mid July and have often faced a glut. Last weekend I "took down" the garden for autumn. This meant dismantling the 12 plants that had been wrapping themselves around each other on the wall of the house. This left me with about 5lbs (2.5 Kg) of ripe tomatoes and about 6lbs (3 KG) of green toms.
Talking to colleagues at school, it appears that everyone has had a good year with their tomatoes apart from those few unlucky people whose caught some blight. For those who now have a mass of toms and don't really know what to do with them here are a couple of recipes. I will write more about chutneys later.
Green tomato chutney
3lb (1.3kg) green tomatoes
1.5lb (675gms) cooking apples
1.5lb (675gms) onions
2tbsp salt
12oz (350gms) sugar
2tsp ground mixed spice
8oz (225gms) Sultanas
1pint (575gms) malt vinegar
Chop or mince onions, apples and toms finely. Place in a large bowl, cover and leave overnight.
Pour off the liquid that has been drawn from the fruit and veg. Transfer the three ingredients to a large pan. Add the vinegar and bring to the boil. Add the spice, dried fruit and sugar.
Bring back to the boil and simmer until everything is pulpy and soft. This can take up
to 90 minutes. Spoon into sterilised jars and allow to mature for a couple of months.Serve with cold cuts salads, bangers and mash or just in sandwiches.
Fresh Tomato Sauce
Ripe tomatoes (any type)
Olive oil
Salt
Cut the tomatoes in half through the middle so that one end has the whole of the stalk point. Lay the on a baking sheet which has been lightly oiled. Sprinkle over a little salt (quality is important here) and put in an oven at a low heat and leave then for about an hour or until the are still holding shape but very gooey and jelly like.
Place then in a sieve over a bowl and force the pulp through the sieve into the bowl. Don’t forget to scrape the bottom of the sieve when all you have left is a dry pulp of skin and seeds left. Jar up the sauce and use over pasta or to enrich a minestrone.
With my yellow, Golden Sunrise tomatoes this sauce is an amazing colour.
Talking to colleagues at school, it appears that everyone has had a good year with their tomatoes apart from those few unlucky people whose caught some blight. For those who now have a mass of toms and don't really know what to do with them here are a couple of recipes. I will write more about chutneys later.
Green tomato chutney
3lb (1.3kg) green tomatoes
1.5lb (675gms) cooking apples
1.5lb (675gms) onions
2tbsp salt
12oz (350gms) sugar
2tsp ground mixed spice
8oz (225gms) Sultanas
1pint (575gms) malt vinegar
Chop or mince onions, apples and toms finely. Place in a large bowl, cover and leave overnight.
Pour off the liquid that has been drawn from the fruit and veg. Transfer the three ingredients to a large pan. Add the vinegar and bring to the boil. Add the spice, dried fruit and sugar.
Bring back to the boil and simmer until everything is pulpy and soft. This can take up
to 90 minutes. Spoon into sterilised jars and allow to mature for a couple of months.Serve with cold cuts salads, bangers and mash or just in sandwiches.
Fresh Tomato Sauce
Ripe tomatoes (any type)
Olive oil
Salt
Cut the tomatoes in half through the middle so that one end has the whole of the stalk point. Lay the on a baking sheet which has been lightly oiled. Sprinkle over a little salt (quality is important here) and put in an oven at a low heat and leave then for about an hour or until the are still holding shape but very gooey and jelly like.
Place then in a sieve over a bowl and force the pulp through the sieve into the bowl. Don’t forget to scrape the bottom of the sieve when all you have left is a dry pulp of skin and seeds left. Jar up the sauce and use over pasta or to enrich a minestrone.
With my yellow, Golden Sunrise tomatoes this sauce is an amazing colour.
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