A BIG HUG FROM ME :)

The current news is enough to drive anyone in search of sugary comfort food and the recipes suggested in this blog may help to ease that craving. 

 I rustled up one of my retro recipes at the weekend,  one of our favourite oaty crumbles, laced with grated cinnamon for an  autumnal feel.  From an an old Tesco microwave cookbook circa 1984 it calls itself an apple amber but I always throw in a large bag of frozen summer fruits instead and this time I  combined my tayberries with some blueberries. 

I never use the nuts or walnuts and the combination of oats and breadcrumbs is the tastiest.  I  don't cook in the microwave ... I just pop in the oven at 180 degrees for about half an hour.

  Great with good ice cream or hot custard it's one that wraps its arms around you and gives you a great big hug .... something we all need at the moment! 

A quick pannacotta with a sharp tayberry coulis can also do the trick! 

 

ALL VEGGED OUT

 

So many green veg in this fish recipe one can’t help but feel incredibly virtuous when you are consuming it!

Broccoli, spring onions, asparagus,  choi sum and mange tout from my freezer topped up with a hit of omega three from the sea bass -  even feasting your eyes on the nutrient laden combination gives you plenty of healthy vibes.

I used ordinary noodles but would recommend sticking with the rice noodles as the recipe suggests and just turning up the heat a little more by adding a touch more wasabi.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/sticky-soy-sea-bass-greens-traybake

 

NAUGHTY BUT NICE!

 

Naughty but incredibly nice, this Waitrose recipe is a good way to use up some of the berries in the freezer. Ripple the berries through a mascarpone cream sweetened with honey, add crushed digestive biscuits and you have a perfect late summer sweet treat :)

 

 

And as an extra a little  bit of a quiz thrown in for you.  Name  the well known comedienne who starred in the eighties adverts for cream cakes and coined the phrase in my blog title today?  No prizes I'm afraid just a good old bit of reminiscence!

TRULY SCRUMPTIOUS

 

Another nod to the old films ... and this time the heiress in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang who captured the heart of the inventor Caractacus Potts! ( who remembers Toot Sweets?!) Sorry I digress,   back to the job in hand! 

 

 So these muffins were' truly scrumptious' indeed! Sweet muffins are not something I’d normally put on the list of things I enjoy ... savoury with soup, yes I agree they work well but I’ve always found their opposite number a bit underwhelming and tasteless.  However by adding the tart sharpness of tangy blackcurrants it’s a different story.  Adding yoghurt to the mix as well as marg takes away the dryness you might usually associate with a muffin - the rosy pink  batter looked beautiful swirled with the fruit. 

 

Good  just on their own to munch or great warmed as a pud as well! And they got the seal of approval from my little grandson too! 

 

 Grateful thanks to my fellow allotmenteer for giving me an overflowing box of blackcurrants in exchange for a marrow :)

 

The recipe is from the September issue of Kitchen Garden but I can't  find a link so here it is ...

 

 

 

 

MAKE IT NOW!

I have a long spiel of a blog about everything I’ve been growing this season not quite finished but in the meantime I just have to share this! 

If there’s one thing you must do before the summer ends get out there and buy yourself a marrow or see if I’ve got one spare and make this tasty dish!

  Salty feta, crunchy pine nuts, onion and my all-time favourite spicy chorizo, paired with  red peppers adding depth and richness,  turn a humble vegetable into something really special.

 As usual I gave things a few tweaks I used diced chorizo instead of sliced as it needed using up and the whole 200 gram pack instead of 150.  I added about 185 grams of feta and just a sprinkling of breadcrumbs and a few less pine nuts as that was all that was left in the bag.  However I was was heavy handed with the frozen coriander as it’s one of our favourite aromatics. 

We scraped all the filling onto just two of the pieces of marrow and froze the others to fill another time.  Mind you I was stuffed to the brim by the time I’d finished eating so maybe I was a little greedy so might tweak again in different ways another time.  (I’m sure the stuffing would work beautifully in courgettes too:) ) I’ve another marrow recipe to try using minced pork ... will let you know if it’s equally delicious . I seem to be acquiring quite a few now  ..... probably just as well as there are five more currently growing and plenty of flowers heralding the possibility of a record harvest this year! 

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/aug/10/stuffed-marrow

GIVING THANKS

Once upon a time there was a garden and it grew and grew as did we mentally and spiritually.

Initially when going to the allotment was one of the first forms of permitted exercise during lockdown I was imbued with a fear that those who didn't socially distance properly would infect me with something incredibly scary and life changing for those close to me but as time went on I grew in confidence and as we planted, harvested and watered  it helped provide solace for us both in these different and difficult times.

That feeling of well being has also been enhanced by giving plants to friends and family to foster and nurture bringing extra joy as they report on the sweetness of their first tomatoes or crispy icebergs.

So with the inclement weather bearing down on all of us I feel a blog coming on to remind me of all the things I need to be grateful for.

Reaping the rewards of our home sowing, we are so enjoying the health-giving benefits of  home grown produce.

It started with the early swell of gooseberries ... over five pounds in total (no kilos... sorry!) not bad considering this is only the second year for those bushes:)  Gooseberry crumble with the obligatory evaporated milk has been truly savoured by 'him indoors' and sadly that's where he has been when the weather is  like this - sometimes that means it leaves the oven gleaming but when his back is more than stiff the jobs have to be way less strenuous!

My 'obsessive' thing with lettuces paid dividends ... Lollo Rosso, Little Gem and mixed salad leaves ... there was always something to add to sandwiches. 

Decorative sugar snaps and mangetout camouflaged in amongst the plant's leaves but we were ready to whisk them away to drizzle with oil and wrap in foil before enjoying their moreish crunch!  Unless you are like my little grandson who politely declines but loves picking and popping  them and feeding them to Daddy instead!

Rosy sticks of rhubarb heralded the season's first rhubarb fool trifle , not particularly great to photograph, but buttery shortbread biscuits added to the rich creamy mixture made for a delectable dessert, always even better after a day's keeping.

Deep, dark kale worked well in a warming stew with chorizo and potatoes , so needed despite the fact we were in flaming June, but  it

 has since been used in a calzone with oozing mozzarella in the scorching hot weather so like a leopard it is  a vegetable that is  able to change its spots.

Perfectly formed purplish turnips partnered butternut squash and potatoes in a comforting root mash to accompany roast chicken.

The beauty of our first pointy cabbages as I cut them open fair took my breath away!  How one seed transforms into something so incredible never ceases to amaze me!

Luscious tayberries by the score were popped away in the freezer in readiness to make a summer pudding, to be savoured in a sweet shortcake with oozing cream or to adorn shortbread rounds topped with mascarpone.

And the excitement when we  ceremoniously tipped out out our early potato bags to see what treasure we had knew no bounds!

The hot summer has ripened an abundance of chillis and although they were slow to start it didn't take long for overflowing bowls of tomatoes to take over  my kitchen work surfaces!

Our first ever crop of blueberries got eaten by hungry birds last year much to our dismay.  However this year little clusters like dainty beads on a necklace peeked safely from beneath a net ... and believe me they tasted so completely different to the offerings in  the shops  ... many often never got home before they were eaten ... and they were never shared!

Celebrating my sixtieth birthday last year meant that I became the proud owner of a Conference pear and Cox's apple tree and even they have managed to provide fruit in their first year... notwithstanding  a bit of scary rust on the pear.

And we still have  the promise of so much more joy to come!

Nuggets of yellow sweetcorn, sweet carrots popping up - our raised beds are still full to bursting with other temptations.

As we look to Autumn ... buttons of Brussels starting to climb their way skywards, nestling squash, bulging celeriac and shiny aubergines promising seasonal comfort, with a freezer packed full of produce, I know that it will continue to nourish our souls as well as our bellies giving us courage and hope as we march forward into the Winter.  With all this sustenance at my fingertips writing this blog has definitely made me realise how  lucky I am and  I am truly thankful.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/rhubarb-fool-trifle

And we still have so much more joy to come! our raised beds are full to bursting with other temptations!

I’ve not been taking pictures of many dinners lately ... just things we’ve harvested so the pictures of my recommended recipe is pinched I’m afraid.
I really wasn’t sure about adding ground almonds to the healthy tikka masala but it worked a treat ... and the curry wasn’t far off what you’d get from the local Indian in consistency ... a little zingy lime pickle enhanced it even further.

And with all this sustenance at my fingertips writing this blog has definitely made me realise how truly lucky I am!

THE FOOD OF LOVE

Well I’m not sure it feels right blogging in the current circumstances - partly it makes me feel selfish and that I should be doing something more constructive and selfless to help. However it is food and cooking that are helping me to get through this period of isolation. Manically checking to see what I can rustle up from the store cupboard to sustain or increase energy for others, frantically making lists and planting seeds by the bucketful ... have a succession of salad crops to keep us going. We won’t have enough room for all our plants at the allotment  but will be able to gift to friends and neighbours in this time of possible scarcity.

 

 

 

 

Apart from producing things to give a sugar inducing highs like flapjacks and shortbread  

I’ve been trying a few new recipes which will use up ingredients I’m sure to have excess of in the summer months... courgettes and gnarly celeriac. These were already in the store cupboard before lockdown along with the porcini mushrooms so please don’t think I’ve been scouring the shelves of Tesco for these quirky, unseasonal ingredients when I should have been social distancing!

 

But when everything gets back to normal I can highly recommend these two incredibly healthy recipes ... the first,  little beef and mushroom pies, from the BBC Good Food magazine

 and the other from lovepork.co.uk  although sadly for them I didn’t follow their guidelines and used turkey mince instead making their recipe even healthier.

With its colourful noodles made from butternut squash and courgette ribbons and vibrant punchy sauce made with chilli and low fat creme fraiche it was definitely one to make you drool! Without adding too much to the waistline!

 

 

 

Same goes for the pies.  No pastry to add calories just lots of healthy veg to provide essential fibre and vitamins and pretty quick and easy to rustle up too.

 

I hope that while you read this you are taken away just for a brief moment from the worries of the world ... these difficult times can only make us cherish the small things so much more and help us learn not to take our freedom or indeed the time we are given for granted. As the Italians say

'Andra Tutta Bene' - everything is going to be all right

The world will be a different place after all this but hopefully we will have learned some very valuable lessons
Xxx


https://www.lovepork.co.uk/recipes/pork-meatballs-with-vegetable-ribbons/


https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/little-beef-mushroom-pies

 

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE!

 

Well actually these delicious Thai flavoured salmon balls aren't nearly as hot as the title of this blog suggests! Just thought it would be a bit of fun:)

 

From the great Leslie Waters of Ready Steady Cook fame - where is she now?!  - this dish never fails to comfort me,  its coconut-scented broth enhanced  by great handfuls of spinach and eye-catching verdant peas.

 

Don't be afraid of the salmon balls - they will look incredibly gloopy and sticky when you blitz them with the egg and breadcrumbs  and my favourite Thai 7 spice mix, but they will magically come together and transform into little pillows of deliciousness.

We are cheating a little bit as obviously I am picking next to nothing from the allotment at the moment, although the first stick of rhubarb came home yesterday and apparently some of my winter lettuces are ready. So my spinach is shop bought and I am breaking my rule that I would only post recipes using ingredients that I'd picked myself but couldn't resist telling you about this one.

I have no link so here is the recipe for you.

Use a blender to process 1lb of salmon fillet and two ounces of breadcrumbs

Then add a beaten egg and a teaspoon of Thai 7 spice seasoning and blitz again.

You can then shape the mixture into tiny balls with wet hands but I find it works just to scoop out tablespoons of the mixture into a pan of hot oil and brown for two to three minutes on each side. 
 
These can then be transferred to a baking tray and are cooked at 180 degrees in a fan oven for ten minutes while you make the coconut broth.

Fry two tablespoons of tomato paste (they recommend sun dried but I just use ordinary tomato puree) with 2 teaspoons of Thai 7 spice seasoning for a minute.

Blend in a 400mls can of coconut milk (I always use the half fat one) and 200mls of veg stock.
Simmer for four minutes and add four ounces of frozen peas and allow to cook before adding spinach and just allowing to wilt.

Put the salmon balls in shallow bowls and ladle over the coconut gravy.

It suggests serving with rice but I can promise you this dish is so rich and filling it will satisfy you completely on its own:) 
 

 
 

MOREISH MUFFINS

 

 

Looking for something tasty to make your warming lunchtime soup go further? These moreish butternut squash and cheese muffins fit the bill.

Topped with healthy pumpkin seeds and given extra zing by some garlic chives picked from just outside the back door it’s hard to stop at just one helping!

 

 

https://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/pumpkin-cheese-and-chive-muffins


Not long till I start planting seeds for next year:)

PERFECT PEPPERS

 

I wanted to use up the last of the leeks -  they haven't performed that well this year, I think it was probably too wet in the autumn. This recipe where you fill  red peppers with spicy chorizo and healthy  grains was perfect.  I just used a pre-cooked packet of mixed grains which made it a pretty easy option too. That stray bean which hasn't been trimmed in the pic is irking me!!

 

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/grain-stuffed-peppers

 

We also sampled our first cucamelon recently -  well I'm told that's what it's called. Our neighbours on the allotment have grown them this year and gave us one to try.  The slimy seeds, looking a little like frogspawn if I'm honest , added texture to a passion fruit and mango coulis which accompanied a deliciously addictive creamy traybake.  We plan to grow this peculiar, quirky fruit next season.

 

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/maracuja-passion-fruit-mousse-traybake