Time to make some Pesto Pasta

Pesto traditionally uses expensive ingredients like Pine Nuts and Parmazan cheese, which if you're like me, you don't tend to stock everyday. So, here is a nice and easy variation on this, that won't cost the earth and with ingredients you're bound to have at home.

1 Courgette, sliced into long strips
300g Dried Pasta Shapes (any variety)

Pesto Sauce:
1 small handfull of Basil
1 small handfull of Mint
1 small handfull of Baby Spinage Leaves
1 small handfull of Rocket Leaves
2 Garlic Cloves, grated
120g Nuts - peanuts, brazil nuts, etc...
100g Feta Cheese
150ml Olive Oil
1/2 Lemon

For this recipe, start by cooking the pasta of your choice in sligthly salted water in a pan and cook as instructed on the packet.

While the pasta is cooking, in a small blender add the herbs, salad leaves, grated garlic, selection of nuts and lemon juice and blitz until roughly chopped. Add half of the oil gradually to the mixture and blitz to a paste, then add the rest of the oil. This can then be put into the fridge till needed.

Heat a griddle and cook the courgette strips, which have been cut into slices with a potato peeler, for a couple of minutes on each side until they browned off. Once cooked place on some kitchen towel cool down.

Once cooked drain the pasta and place in a bowl. Pour the pesto sauce over the pasta and crumble over the feta cheese. Mix together, move to a serving bowl, place the courgette over and add more cheese, oil and lemon as needed

The pesto sauce can be kept in a container and stored in the fridge for up to a couple of weeks if needed.

Spring Plans for 2018

So there has been some time since we have last posted on the Blog.

It has been a busy family time last year with a new member of the family "Marley Bloom" and Oscar is growing up so fast!

But with a new season comes a new plan!

So with the help from a lovely gardening app we have planned out this years veg garden.

So far we have 4 different Basil plants on the go...Thai, Genovese, Dark Opal, Lemon

2 Weeks old:

In time will look like the following:

Dark Opal

Lemon

Thai

Genovese

We also planted outside our Garlic Bulbs "Provence Wight" (just before the winter frost) and there are looking very happy!

Also just started Propagating some Pumpkin plants and looking good only 1 week old.

Also Catnip...

Preserves: Garlic Pickle

Having harvested my Garlic a few weeks ago, these have been drying out outside for a few weeks now with the Garlic. I've never had so much Garlic so I was a little unprepared to what I could do to store this. I know Garlic can last a long time, but as I left mine in the ground too long and I've managed to destroy the outer layer and exposed the cloves, I wanted to see if I could preserve these some how.

So the trusty Preserves book came out again and I found a Pickled Garlic recipe which is perfect for my small batch of Garlic. I have kept four of my best undamaged bulbs complete, as I'd like to use these for planting next year and also use some for cooking, plus they small delicious and look great.

                                          Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: July 2012

500g Garlic
200ml Cider Vinegar
50g Granulated Sugar
A good pinch of Saffron
12 Black Peppercorns
2-6 Bay Leaves
Half a teaspoon of Fennel Seeds
x2 Small Jars & Lids

Firstly I sterilised the jars, by washing them in the dishwasher. To prepare the Garlic, this was washed and then placed as bulbs, in a pot of boiling water for one minute to loosen the skins, they were then dried off and each clove was peeled and placed in one of the warm jars. The recipe says to use 3 jars, but as I didn't have the 500g Garlic, I was just slightly under; I only managed to fill two.

                                                        Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: July 2012

Once all the Garlic is in the jars, the fennel, black peppercorns and bay leaves were added to the jars as well, I still used the same amount of these as the recipe stated, but I only added 2 bay leaves to each jar. The cider vinegar, sugar and saffron were then added to a pan and brought to a boil over two minutes and then left to boil for two minutes and then added to the jars, were the lids where put on and the jars were left to cool down.

Once sealed they need to be used within a year.

Weird Garlic

I've been harvesting the Early Purple Wright Garlic this weekend and I may have left them a little too long in the ground or maybe done something wrong along the way. On realising a lot of other people have been harvesting these, I decided to pull them up and found that most of them were slightly deformed.

                                         Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: July 2012

When I say deformed, I mean even though they have grown to a reasonable size, they don't seem to have fully formed into bulbs, as a lot of the cloves are sticking off the outside of the main bulb, but the cloves have fully formed so I'm sure they will be fine to use.

                                                   Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: July 2012

I've left the bulbs to dry out over the mini-greenhouse, these will be plaited and hung in the kitchen for when I need to use them, I may even try and see if I can save a couple of bulbs to keep for planting for next years harvest.

Harvested: Garlic & Onions

Over the last few weeks I've been harvesting the Radar Onions I've been growing since October last year. I started with pulling up around six for my first batch, then nine in my second batch and the rest I picked today.

                                                   Photo: Laura  Lunt  Date: July 2012

At the same time as planting the Radar Onions, I also planted some Early Purple Wright Garlic and as with the onions, I've been busy harvesting the rest of these today, and hanging them for drying out.

                                         Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: July 2012

The mini-greenhouse has been very handy to use as a dryer, but this wasn't big enough for all of them, so I had to use a metal hanger to hold a few of the smaller onions. Hopefully I can leave all of  these for a week or two and then plait up to keep and save for when I need to use them.

From what I've read Garlic is fine to leave in the house after plaited at room temperature, but Onions are meant to be left in a shed or garage at a cooler temperature which I don't have, so I may have to find an alternative way to keep them.

Linguine & Chargrilled Veg in a Passata Sauce

1 Pepper (sweet)
1 Courgette - sliced with a potato peeler
1 tbsp of Chili Oil
1 Jar of Roasted Passata Sauce (see Recipe)
1 Large handful of Linguine Pasta
Salt & Pepper to season

Heat a griddle and add the Chili Oil, cut the pepper into large slices and grate the Courgette lengthways, to create large slices. Add these to the oil once smoking and cook till they are tender and brown. Remove and place to kitchen towel to drain excess oil and leave to cool.

I've used Linguine pasta, but any pasta will do. Place the pasta into a pot of salty water and cook as directed, for the Linguine I tend to snap this in half, as I don't like the pasta too long. Once cooked drain and run through cold water.

Add the Roasted Passata Sauce to a large pan and heat slowly over a medium heat, after a few minutes and when the sauce beings to bubble, add the Courgettes and Peppers (sweet) which can cut into smaller pieces, to the sauce, warm for a few minutes and then add the pasta, season with salt and pepper as required. Once everything is boiling away and heated through, pour into a large bowl and enjoy.

As a side dish, why not try my Homemade Chili and Garlic Bread:

Slices of French bread
Butter
Chopped Garlic
Chopped Chili
Dried or Fresh chopped Mixed Herbs
Salt & Pepper to season

This is very simple to make and you can make as much or as little as you like, mix the butter, garlic, chili and mixed herbs together to make a paste, then season as required and then spread onto the French bread, which has been cut into circular slices. Place on a baking tray and cook in the oven until brown.

Another great recipe for the Cook Book.

First Attempt at Garlic

Last year my boyfriend Zac bought some Garlic plants that had already been started off, at the local garden centre. I planted them in one of the large pots, but they never seemed to do anything. Eventually they all died off except one, which just wouldn't give up.

This ended up in a pot on its own and left over winter and a couple of weeks ago it started to look a little bit straggly, so I took the bulb out to dry out and this is what I was left with.

                                                                       Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: March 2012

More Garlic has been planted for late last year, so hopefully attempt number two will be a lot better.

My Sisters Spicy Tomato Soup

When I told my family about the Cook Book I wanted to create, they started to come up with a few recipes I could use, with ingredients we all grow in our gardens. My twin sister Lisa came up with this Spicy Tomato Soup recipe, which she loves to make and as we all always have a ton of Tomatoes, this is idea for the book.

I did have to tweak the recipe a little, swopping chicken stock for vegetable and chorizo sausage for kosher sausage, as my boyfriend is Jewish and we keep a kosher home, but these were just small changes and I'm sure it'll taste just as good.

                                                       Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Oct 2011

For the soup I firstly added the olive oil, Onion, Garlic, Ginger & Chili and heated till they became soft, stirring occasionally. The cumin and sausage were then added and cooked for a minute or so, the Tomatoes, stock and salt & pepper were then added and all brought to a boil. The mixture was then simmered for 20 minutes, taken off the heat and left to cool over night. I then blitzed the ingredients to a texture I wanted, poured into sealable bags and put into the freezer for a later date. Alternatively this can be eaten and enjoyed straight away, with a little bit of cream if need be.

                                                       Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Oct 2011

Spicy Tomato Soup
x12-15 Tomatoes
x1 Large Onion
x2 Garlic Cloves
x2 tsp Ginger
x1 tsp Chili Peppers
half tsp Cumin
2 & half Cups Vegetable Stock or about 450 ml
x3 tbsp Olive Oil
Chorizo Sausage or Kosher Sausage
Salt & Pepper
(could add bell peppers too if want)
Cream if needed

Pour & Store Bags

Garlic & Onion Sets Planted

Last weekend I took the opportunity to get out onto the balcony and started planting the over wintering Garlic and Onion Sets. First I did a little tidying up, mainly getting rid of all the Aubergine plants, which I've given up on, I ended up with a lot of flowers, but no Aubergines themselves. I also potted up the Serrano Chili plant and the Pepper (Sweet) plant that I had in the large tub hanging over the balcony, so once it gets a bit colder I can take these indoors.

                                                                    Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Oct 2011

This left me with five tubs I could plant into, two tubs hanging over the balcony and three large pots on the balcony floor. I gave the soil in each of the pots a good mix around to loosen it up. I then flattened the soil down to make sure it was tight and compressed and then I used my new Dibber to create shallow drills to place the Early Purple Wright Garlic and Radar Onion Sets in the soil, covering each of them so that their necks are just popping out from the soil, and with a 10cm gap between each bulb.

                                                                    Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Oct 2011

In total I have planted two tubs of Garlic and three tubs of Onion Sets, all the Garlic was used up, but I still have a few Onion Sets left over. As a little added protection for the bulbs which are in the tubs hanging over the balcony, I've placed several canes into the soil and stretched some of the netting I used to protect the Strawberries over the top of the tubs, just as a deterrent to stop the birds from picking at them. I then gave them all a good watering and now I just have to wait.

Preserves: Easy Tomato Chutney

As I still have a lot of Tomatoes left to eat, I wanted to make some sort of a Chutney and as I've never made this before, I started to do some research into the many different types that can be made, when I came across the below recipe on the 'Good to Know Recipes' website:

Easy Tomato Chutney

1kg (2¼lb) Ripe Tomatoes of any variety or size
3 Red or White Onions, peeled and chopped
2-3 Cloves Garlic, peeled and crushed
200ml (7fl oz) Red Wine Vinegar
175g (6oz) Soft Light Muscovado Sugar
1 level teaspoon Ground Ginger

Sterilised Jars and Waxed Discs

I used both Moneymaker and Gardeners Delight Tomatoes for this, but any ripe tomato will do. The recipe is simple you just add all the ingredients into a large heavy-based pan, bring to a boil slowing, stirring occasionally to help the suger dissolve. Once this is at a boil, the mixture can then be left to simmer for one and a half hours, or more, stirring occasionally until the mixture becomes thick and jam like.

                                                       Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Oct 2011

I then sterilised several jars, in boiling water for around an hour and then left these to dry out on the drainer. Once the mixtures was ready, this was spooned into the jars, sealed and left to cool down. Labels with the date of when I made these were stuck to the jars, as these then needed to be stored away for a month before eating. Once open they should be consummed within 3-4 months.

Preserves: Infused Oils

Creating Oil Preserves has always been something I love to do, but this can be a very sensitive area, as I've read that flavored Oils should only be kept for a certain amount of time, so normally I only create small amounts that I use within a few days. Having recently purchased the book 'Preserves: River Cottage Handbook No.2', by Pam Corbin, I found some great tips and ways to keep Oils for longer, so I thought I'd try some.

One of the best ways to keep Oils longer is to make sure the bottles are sterilised, for this I added the bottles to a pan with lukewarm water in and slowly brought this to boiling point, once the water is boiling I removed this from the hob and left the bottles in the water till needed. This does take sometime, but another way to achieve this is to simple put the bottles in a dishwasher and wash as normal, once done leave to dry on a drainer for when you're ready add the Oil and flavor.

The Chili Oil with Black Peppercorns was my boyfriend Zac's idea and for this he decided to use his Thai Dragon Chilies, which he has been growing over the summer, but any Chilies are fine. We heated Extra Virgin Olive Oil up (as this was all we had Oliver Oil should really be used) to a simmering boil, added the Thai Dragon Chilies, with a cut through each chili and the Black Peppercorns into a bottle and then carefully poured the Oil into the jar using a funnel, locked the lid and left to cool down and infuse.

The Basil and Garlic Oil didn't require the Oil to be heated, so we placed three peeled whole Garlic Cloves and a small sprig of Basil into a bottle before funneling the Extra Virgin Olive Oil into the bottle; again this was closed and left to infuse.

I also had a small bottle which I normally use for creating small batches of flavored Oil, for this I added the leftover heated Oil to dried Chilies I had in the cupboard from last years Chili plants.

                                                                                   Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Sept 2011

Thai Dragon Chili Oil with Black Peppercorns
x1 500ml Swing-Top Preserving Bottle
x3 Thai Dragon Chilies (fresh)
x10-12 Black Peppercorns
Olive Oil

Basil & Garlic Oil
x1 500ml Swing-Top Preserving Bottle
x3 Cloves of Garlic
x1 Small Sprig of Basil
Olive Oil

Chili Oil
x1 Small Bottle
x6 Small Chilies (dried)
Olive Oil

These should then be left to infuse for 14 days, sieved of there content, re-bottled and enjoyed, storing in a cool place and used within 6 months.

Winter Veg - Arrived and Ready to Plant

All the Winter Vegetables I'm going to attempt to grow this year, have now arrived from Mr Fothergil's and as a little added bonus, they also sent me two free packets of seeds, which they do with every seed order, this is what I have:

                                                                       Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Sept 2011

Early Purple Wright Garlic x2 buds
Radar Onion Sets x250g
Cabbage Advantage F1 Seeds x100

Free Seeds: Pepper (hot) Hotscotch & Mimulus (extra choice mixed)

I'm looking forward to planting these all out in the next couple of months, which will hopefully mean I'll have some great early Vegetables at the beginning of next Spring.

What to Grow over Winter?

Autumn / Winter growing has always been a mystery to me. I normally just leave the balcony bare and wait for February to come before planting seeds for the summer. But this year I have a few ideas about what to grow, normally I'm not a great Winter grower, but I've been researching some vegetables that can be grown over the Winter months, for early harvesting in May / June.

I decided on the selection of vegetables in the table above. For me Onions and Garlic were a must have, I've gone for Onion Radar Sets and Early Purple Wright Garlic Bulbs (soft neck), both easy to grow and won't bolt in the winter months, so I should get a good growth. It was pointed out to me that Onions can be planted in early March and still arrive June / July time, but I'd like to try these over winter and I will save some for planting in March just in case disaster strikes.

During my research I also found that Winter greens were good to plant, such as Spring Cabbage, Pak Choi and Leeks, now I'm a little late with the planting of my Elefant Leeks (this should have been done last month, as the packet states) but as I'm growing from seed in a propagator indoors, I'm hoping this will help give them a good start. The Pak Choi seeds, free from Garden Kitchen, have been planted straight outside and have replaced the earlier pulled carrots from their pot. These were just sprinkled into the pot, covered with a layer of compost and watered well. The Spring Cabbage I've gone for is Cabbage Advantage F1 seeds, these are good for planting all year around, from March to September, so I should be able to keep a very good supply going.

I also had some leftover Onion (Spring) White Lisbon Winter Hardy seeds, which can be planted up till September and will stand over winter so they can be used in Spring. The only thing left to sow in the propagator is of course the Carrots, I've opted for the Carrot Early Nantes 2 another variety that should have been sown in July, but fingers crossed, they should be fine in the propagator and hopefully I'll have some ready for Christmas time.

As I only have a small Balcony, I'm hoping this will be enough to see me through and keep me busy during the Autumn / Winter months and hopefully I'll have plenty to harvest, leading up to the Summer seed planting I'll begin in February.