Features
Lazy Hazy Days of Summer...Not!
Just to take a stroll round the garden, with a cup of coffee at this time of year, invokes feelings of guilt. There are fruits and vegetables in abundance. The long winter and late spring seem a distant memory. The new potatoes, so eagerly awaited in June, are now everyday fare. The first loganberries are now long since digested. I should be picking and preserving like mad.
This is the second year of our soft fruits, loganberries, currants red and black, and summer and autumn raspberries, and we are hoping for a better crop this year. Last year we eked out our small pickings of red and black currants in individual custard tartlets. The raspberries we just ate with sugar and cream. We picked the last of the autumn raspberries in November. The loganberries were used either in summer pudding or as a filling sponge flan with sugar and whipped cream.
This year I am planning to make a few pots of jam with the loganberries. The thoughts of standing over a preserving pan in a hot kitchen while the sun shines is not at all beguiling. But thanks to modern technology, I will freeze the fruit as it ripens and spend a few wet winter days over a steaming jam pan instead.
We did very well for broad beans last year and only finished the last of the frozen ones as the new crop was ready. Some we froze as soup others I blanched and cooled and tied in bags and froze. The whole frozen beans when skinned make a wonderful bean dip, not unlike bright green hummus.
We are afflicted with carrot fly, so our carrot crop is restricted to very young carrots, mainly eaten by the children as snacks.
We ate all our beetroot and cucumbers as they were ready, so we did not freeze any beetroot soup, or pickle any of either last year. I hope to do so this summer. Courgettes and peas are best eaten young and fresh, unless you have acres of peas and are called Mr Birds Eye.
Courgette Frittata
This was a big hit last summer, particularly when the eggs are good. We flavoured it with whatever herb was around, sorrel parsley, dill or even a mix of chopped fresh herbs. Sorrel gives a lovely acid tang.
3 medium courgettes sliced, 1 onion sliced, 1 clove of garlic chopped, 2 tabsp chopped herbs, 2 tabsp grated hard cheese, 5 eggs lightly beaten, a few courgette flowers chopped, salt, pepper, olive oil.
Cook the onion and garlic in some olive oil till soft, and put in a bowl keeping as much oil as you can in the frying pan. Now cook the courgettes till they just start to colour. Remove to the bowl. Add the chopped herbs, courgette flowers, grated cheese, and the eggs, season with salt and pepper, mix everything together gently.
Heat some oil in a frying pan and pour in the egg mixture. Cook on a medium heat until golden underneath. Either turn out the fritatta on to a plate and slide back on to the pan and finish cooking the other side or put the pan under a hot grill to cook the top.
Eat warm with a salad or cut into bite sized pieces to nibble with drink at the end of the day. It also makes very good picnic food.
Byessar
This is a Moroccan version of hummus. We first made this in the winter with frozen broad beans and were stunned by its bright summery colour.
1 lb/460g podded and skinned broad beans, 2 cloves of garlic crushed, 1teasp ground cumin, 1tabsp fresh oregano leaves chopped, 3 1/2 floz/100ml approx. olive oil, salt, pepper and a good squeeze of lemon juice.
Gently cook the beans with 1/2 a cup of water. When soft puree with the garlic, cumin and oregano in a processor or liquidizer.
When smooth, season with salt and pepper. Then add the oil in a thin stream like making mayonnaise, it will absorb more oil if you want.
Taste and add some lemon juice and more salt and pepper if necessary. This is great with toasted pittas or tortillas while the barbecue heats up.
Summer Pudding
This is the essence of the fruit garden in summer. I am planning to freeze the makings of a summer pudding and have it on a cold February day just to remind us of warmer days.
1lb/ 460g mixed red berries, a splash of water, 5oz/145g sugar approx., slices of white bread crusts removed.
Any of the red or black soft fruits will do, a few mulberries give a really strong colour, and stain every thing they touch.
Put the fruit, sugar and a little water in a pot over a low heat and just heat through till the juice runs. Meanwhile line a1 1/2pt/900ml approx. bowl with good white bread, pour in the fruit and most of their juice (save some for filling in the gaps). Cover the top with more bread and then with a plate or saucer just smaller than the top of the bowl, and weight it with something heavy. Leave in a cool place over night. Turn out the pudding and use the saved juice to colour any white parts that are left. Serve with whipped cream. Don't forget to enjoy the garden as well as its fruits.
Gillian Westbrook has been appointed to the new position of
General Manager with IOFGA. Coming from a background in the regulatory area...
