Cucumbers……. September 11, 2007

Well, after a prolonged absence due to stupidly long work hours, I am finally able to devote time to to garden, and the cooking! The garden has been sadly neglected for the last 8 months, getting attention one day a week if it was lucky! As a result, the bounty from our first year has been less than we’d hoped for, primarily because the slugs ate the rest of it! Its been the perfect weather for them, warm and wet, and so they have multiplied a zillion times over and fed off my brassicas, squashes, beans, leeks and even onions! They have eaten everything! I gave up trying to plant salad leaves in the ground as the minute they popped up they were devoured. I’ve tried so many things to get rid of them: nematodes, beer traps, salt, organic slug pellets, the sole of my welly boot….. Grrrrr…..

 So, I have written this year off to experience. Next year I shall be more prepared, and wont be working such stupid hours!

Having said that we have managed to get a good crop of things in the polytunnel – courgettes, early potatoes (slugs and blight killed the main outdoor crop), peppers, herbs, sweetcorn and cucumbers, thousands of them! The tomatoes were doing amazingly, but blight got them alas.

Anyway, back to the cucumbers…..there really are only so many things you can do with a cucumber, and I have tried nearly all of them. The one thing left to try is pickle, which I may turn my hand to later this week. If anyone has any suggestions for cucumber recipes I would be very grateful! I did discover a lovely recipe for cucumber and peanut salad in my Mousewood Classics recipe book, this is a slightly ammended version as I prefered it with more of a kick, but reduce the chilli content if you don’t:

Peel, seed and slice 3 cucumbers and toss with salt. Put in a coander and drain for 15 minutes, then rinse thoroughly and drain again.

Mix together 1tbsp brown sugar, 2tbsp lemon juice, 1 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar and stir until the sugar has dissolved.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a small pan and when it is hot add 2tsp fennel seeds and 2 finely chopped hot chilli’s. Swirl around for about 30 seconds and then put over a low heat for 1 minute.

Put the drained cucumbers in a large bowl and toss with the hot oil mix and vinegar. Leave to settle for 20 minutes and toss with a generous handful of crushed roasted peanuts.

Yummy…..

Knotweed recipe February 12, 2007

Not quite sure this should really be filed under ‘delicious’, and I must confess I haven’t tried it yet, but its a useful one for anyone who has an abundance of the evil japanese knotweed and wants a novel way of disposing of it! I shall be trying it out in the spring…..perhaps. Its in cups as it comes from ”Wildman Steve Brill” and his website providing recipes for food you would normally consider inedible!

4 cups vegetable stock

3.5 cups young knotweed shoots (the shoots should be just sprouting and under 1ft high)

1 cup cream cheese (he uses tofu cream cheese, but I expact any will do)

Simmer the knotweed in the stock until it is tender then add the cream cheese – blitz in a blender or eat chunky, whichever takes your fancy!

Chilli Squash Soup January 26, 2007

This is a recipe that I acquired from my lovely friend Peta, who got it from her Dad, who got it from somewhere else. Its delicious and really easy, and perfect for a cold January day.

1 medium squash (butternut or pumpkin are best)

2 medium sweet potatoes

2 carrots

1 onion

1 clove of garlic

a pinch of chilli flakes

nutmeg

oil or butter

Roughly chop the onion and sweat it gently with the chopped or crushed garlic for about 5 minutes in the oil or butter. Meanwhile peel and chop the squash, sweet potatoes and carrots in to roughly equal sized pieces. Once the onion has softened, stir in a pinch of chilli flakes and cook for about a minute. Add the rest of the vegetables and give it a good stir. Just cover the veg with boiling water (or veg stock) and simmer gently for about 25 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Leave to cool for a minute or two and then blend to a puree. Add more water if it is too thick, bring back to a gentle simmer for a minute and serve with a good grating of nutmeg and lots of black pepper.

 Delicious!