Allotment plot frittata

This is the time on the plot where there is so much glorious goodness to be eaten and one could almost become overwhelmed. I know, we've been there... Sometimes you can store it, pickle it, freeze it, give it away, let the birds nibble it or make jams and chutneys until you fear you'll go mad!!

Well this year, we planted successionally and only what we needed, for example 2 courgette plants and that's still plenty! But still there has come a time now when we have lots and lots of food and must use it up for fear of feeling ashamed and wasteful.

This is where Andrew's new culinary masterpiece will come in handy. The Allotment Plot Frittata :)

This is all the stuff that goes into a 2 person version and the starred ingredients are those we grew ourselves, just to show you:
* Chard stems and leaves
* Broad beans
* Courgette
* Dwarf french beans
* Garlic
* Potatoes
 3 eggs
chorizo
oil and seasoning

It's one of those recipes where you just have to see what you have and work with it, (there is a recipe in the River Cafe cookbook that's just for a lemon and sorrell one!). All you do is constantly stir, lightly season throughout the process and just have a relaxing time (maybe sipping a glass of wine would help the whole thing move along).
The best way to explain is to show you....

* the first thing is to parboil the potatoes (chopped and sliced here)

* then get the chorizo cooking and add a little olive oil

* add in chopped up greens

* courgette goes in last; stir and flip extra fancy like...

* Add in your leafy chard tops, it shrinks down to nothing. Then the potato goes in too. Looking good!!

* Egg time and you have 3 large ones to break and whisk - no shell please, that all goes in the compost!

* After allowing it to cook enough to fill the gaps and have some solidity it all goes in the grill - at this point it's good to have a guard dog to watch for burning :)

  

It's ready !!  :)

* And tah dah!!! Yummy

Love and hugs 

(munch, munch, yummm)

Carrie

Cactus Killer; Cookbook lover

I did the unthinkable - I killed Eduardo! He's gone, gone to the cactus heaven in the sky and he was so young...I loved him too much, I over watered him, I wanted him to be so stylish I neglected his environmental needs. I, my friends, am a murderer, though my tiny fake flamingo is awesome - right?.

Eduardo was only a couple of years old, I got him for my study as I thought, foolishly, that there was no way I could possibly kill a cactus, they live forever, right? But I put him in a room without good sunlight and certainly no direct sun at any time of the year; I really wanted to use this fabulous glass container Andrew has saved from the lab at work, I wanted to try and have at least one plant in the house. I failed, again. I have only ever owned 2 houseplants Eduardo and an ivy which I placed in direct sunlight, in a bathroom and never watered. Oh the shame of this is too much to bare - I have black thumbs!!

Rest in peace Eduardo, sorry Andrew ripped off your head to see just how stinky it was inside you. I promise never to get another houseplant again. Oh goodness this photo just says it all - look how brown he is and a gaping hole; 'I love you' ? How insulting...

If you're interested in how to care for a cactus in your home, ignore me and go to this page instead *blush*

**********

I received a wonderful gift earlier this week from Mamma G (yes I am quickly changing the subject) in the form of an old Cookbook. I'm sure everyone has something like this in their country - a recipe book of traditional fare with the recipes provided by everyday women (many farmers' wives) that tell you the right way of making those dishes your Granny used to make. It's a Federation of Women's Institutes of Northern Ireland book - they are still going and still making cookbooks but this one is from sometime in the 1960s.

I am planning on trying to recreate some of the dishes with the produce we grow on the plots - if there are any success stories I will share, though maybe it would be funny to share my disasters too :) My hubby is a better cook than me but I want to give it a try.

Hugs (and may you see a little blue sky over the weekend - we can dream, right?)

Make Our Own (then scoff the lot) part 2

Can you darn well blasted believe it!??? After the last number of weeks with the flu I was finally getting back on my feet. First there was the tree surprise (that was truly wonderful) and then yesterday I surprised my hubby again by making gingerbread for the first time in this new house - the first time I had really used the kitchen in a creative flurry : ) Those of you who have been with me a while shall know the terrible shame that I am not the cook in this house - my hubby is. But boy I can bake! :)

Anywho before I show you the joy that was gingerbread making I must inform you that I have been struck down again. Blasted, accursed, bloody, confounded, damnable, despicable, detestable, doggone, execrable,  infernal, loathsome,  lousy reprobate of a this flu (NO 3 little letters is not enough to describe this beast)  Influenza has attacked once more without fair warning.  I am merely an unarmed pacifist!  Have pity on me dear reader - I feel like a beached whale (odd comparison but true)...  

Okay, the gingerbread..... :)

I have a secret ingredient but no amount of tickling will ever get it out of me and don't come looking for my recipe book - like a cheeky monkey I haven't written it down either, hahahahahahahahhahahahaha *cough*

Gooseberry Fools

Our gooseberries were ripe and ready for the picking on Saturday. I got the job, aow! darn thorny plant. It's the first time it has given us a berry and we did really rather well; I'm always surprised that these very cheap plants, bought in a discount shop (Poundstretcher) can do so well. Apart from my arms still looking all scratched and blotchy, the exercise was one of joy and pride. Though our other red gooseberry bush still resolutely refuses to bear fruit (cheeky), it gave us 1 last year which we shared, haha.

So this was our haul of berries, check out that bumper crop of Blackcurrants (I think there were 22 of them)!

Back home and as usual we can't hold our water. The gooseberries had to be used right there and then. Neither of us had ever really tasted green ones before, well Andrew did decide to eat one raw and his face was a picture I think his tongue shrink up whilst stuck to the roof of his mouth and his cheeks.

We decided to make Gooseberry Fool. Well, our own versions of it. There was a lovely recipe on Retro Food Recipes but Andrew's creative chef side came to fore and the magic began to happen.....

So here is our recipe for the gooseberry treatment:

• 440g gooseberries + some blackcurrants (washed, topped and tailed)


• plonk into a small saucepan with 2 tablespoons of castor sugar and 2 tablespoons of water
  
• put the lid on the saucepan and heat until squishy (approx 10 mins)


• sieve fruit, really squishing them hard through the mesh (good for anger management)


• add more castor sugar to taste (we added 100g)

Pretty colour, no? That's the blackcurrants for you

Basically this is a runny warm gooseberry jam. I suppose if you added a little more pectin you could easily store it in a jar but, well, again, we can't hold our waters! We poured some into a bowl each and put some (low fat, may-as-well-be-good-for-you) cream on top and added some much underrated sprinkles. Andrew also had some strawberries. Eh, viola, dish number one. Gorgeous!

I like low fat cream okay!

Then we had that look at each other, you know the one ~ the slightly guilty "I want more, do you; cause I will if you will" look. We did. And so to the kitchen again for dish number two. This time (against my better judgement) I let Andrew mix the cream and the rest of the jammy mixture together to make a proper 'fool' (it wasn't broke, so why fix it?!!). It wasn't as nice, though he added muesli to his and maybe more strawberries and thought it lovely. I had just settled for sprinkles again.

So there you go, what an exciting experience. May your gooseberries be plump and juicy and may you too enjoy them, whatever you decide to do with them! xx