Some Green Eats Glamorgan Sausage Rolls and Spanakopita

We have had good weather.

We took advantage of it and between the two of us, did a lot of gardening. 

But let me share these two images with you.  About two weeks ago, D laid down some turf  in front of the greenhouse.  It looks lush, fresh and of course very green. 

If you want to compare and contrast, follow this link to see the slabs.  No ball games or walking on the fresh lawn.  But I am looking forward to walking on it bare feet and sitting down on the grass come warmer days.

So back to the garden right now. 

The purple sprouting broccoli  is coming to an end.  We have mostly been eating the PSB added to Aglio, Olio e Peperonicino.  I think we have enough in the garden, perhaps for one or two more meals, then it will be all gone.  We will definitely be growing them again later in the year. 

Also harvested the last of the leeks. I was pondering what to do with them, but made my mind up after chatting to my nephew who is at University. He was telling me that my blog has become his on-line recipe book and that he's made a load of recipes from it, including Glamorgan Sausages.  

I actually cannot remember the last time i made Glamorgan Sausages at home.  The last time, or thereafter was perhaps when i was running the vegetarian cafe.  

Here are the ingredients for the Glamorgan Sausages: fresh breadcrumbs, cheddar cheese, leeks, mustard, salt and pepper - ready for an egg yolk for the mixing and then shaping.  

To make these Glamorgan Sausages a bit more substantial and more like a sandwich for lunch or a picnic (Yes, i am already imagining eating out on that garden lawn) I encased them in puff pastry.  I liked the way Johanna makes her vegetarian sausage rolls.  And took inspiration from her the last time I made vegetarian Haggis Sausage rolls, they just look far more appealing.  Plus glossed over with egg wash for the golden glean.  The fresh leek flavour was so prominent. 

We also have still have perpetual spinach.   

But it is dwindling now.

I made another Spanakopita. This time the recipe came from Rose Elliot's Vegetarian Cookery (1988) .  I adapted her recipe a little with the inclusion of a sauteed leek, a teaspoon dried dill and a teaspoon raw rice to absorb the liquids.  Everything else was to the book.  I think, should i make spanakopita again, I will make it in a spiral, it's a bit more effort but its far more prettier.

I haven't yet transplanted any of the plants into the ground yet.  I am still a bit nervous about frost, so am holding back for another week. But come next week, they are going out into the earth soil.  Some of the peas are getting straggly and broad beans are ready to be transplanted. 

I am sharing my green harvest and and green eats with Harvest Monday tomorrow hosted by Dave from Happy Acres.  

Things to Do in the Garden

I think every weekend should be long, not just Bank Holiday weekends... 

I started writing this post on Bank holiday Monday to share with Harvest Monday, I never got round to it.  but here is it a cobbled together with some pictures from the garden plot. 

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

I am ashamed to say that I have not been in the garden gardening for over a month.  But over the weekend, with our Cornish holidays behind us.  It was time to really focus and get down and dirty.  

The weather was much cooler, so I've been weeding and clearing the ground most of the weekend.  It still feels like we have hardly made any progress in the garden, hence the reason I am not sharing any progress pictures of it today - maybe next week when I am a little more proud of my work. I am hoping to return to it next Sunday, or maybe in the evenings if we have the energy after coming in from work.  

So here is my very small harvest which I am sharing with Harvest Monday.   Its been a month since I participated in Harvest Monday which is hosted these days by Dave over Our Happy Acres.   The white sprouting broccoli has been replaced by the Purple Sprouting Broccoli.  

I harvested some earlier in the week too, whilst my mother in law was here as she accompanied us on holiday in Cornwall.  It was the first time my mother in law had PSB and she enjoyed it, saying she preferred it to the traditional green bushy head variety.  

I also came across some surprise spring onions.

Whilst gardening, one of our older neighbours called out to us and said did we want some beetroot seedlings ?!  Yes please. and Thank you very much.   

Harvest Monday: Rainbow Chard Gratin and White Sprouting Broccoli

Its been a long while since I participated in Harvest Monday which is hosted these days by Dave over Our Happy Acres.

So here is my very small harvest.

A good bunch of Rainbow Chard  and Perpetual Spinach.

From A2K blog archives

I have  also harvested some white sprouting broccoli that have been simply steamed as an accompaniment for meals.

Yesterday gone

Yesterday, D and myself spent about 5 hours at the allotment. D dug up the two blackcurrant bushes from Fitzy’s new plot and has reallocated them to ours in the border. I also pruned the gooseberry bush and did a bit of hoeing and harvesting.
This is our harvest from yesterday: strawberries, tomatoes, radishes, courgettes, fennel, some baby carrots and herbs. There are no longer any green peas to pod, in its place we have climbing beans. I have harvested the last of our blackcurrants, enough to make some muffins I think. We dug up the second early potato bed in Plot 11, it was disappointing, for about 18 plants we yeilded just under 5lb.

As you know there was supposed to be a committee meeting, we got told that because the Treasurer and Secretary were not around that it was going to be cancelled. I shrieked well that is unacceptable, there has been thieving on the plots, and I know a number of people said they were going to attend, so who is going to listen to them, so one of the lay committee members persuaded the President to go ahead with it. What was disappointing was not one of the new or old plot holders who had something stolen recently attended. I was actually very annoyed. I understand that people have commitments and the day and time may not have suit them, but not one of them attended. One of them could have written a note or something about their disgust at the thieving, but no, instead they give others including my ear a chew of their annoyance. Well I refuse to listen anymore. If they cannot attend or write about things stolen from their plot, I refuse to 'spout up' on their behalf afterall these are adults who can stand up for themselves.
One thing that was agreed by those who attended, that it was definitely a plotholder, someone who has access to the allotment. So the thieving will just continue because we all allow it too.

We're berry rich

Yesterdays harvest, which includes my first ever harvest of gooseberries and blackcurrants rescued and protected from the birds, unlike the red currants that D didn’t get around covering with netting. Those have been got. Only a left few hanging where the birds couldn’t perch, and therefore, couldn’t reach with their greedy beaks.
One of my colleagues at work, doesn’t usually ask much of me, but last week while I was talking to her about the abundance of my berries at the allotment plot, she tentatively asked ‘can I get some gooseberries of you for my Dad. I’ll pay you for them’. Silly woman, does she not know me. Her Dad loves the sourness of gooseberries. Her Dad has been quite poorly recently, so she wants to cheer him up and make him either a gooseberry cake or a gooseberry crumble. I was more than delighted to share my berry crop. Food is also about sharing, not just about consuming.

As a Thank you for helping me pick the elderflowers for the elderflower champagne, I also gave her a bottle of elderflower champagne to enjoy, let wait to hear her verdict.

Basket of broccoli, turnips, peas

courgette, potatoes and turnip greens.
Its so nice to start enjoying the fruits and vegetables of our hard labour. D and me spent most of the afternoon at the plot today. D tended to his tomatoes as usual. Tomatoes are in fact quite labour intensive, pricking out all those side shoots. Also its no fun sitting inside the greenhouse when the sun is blazing on the outside. I did loads of odd jobs, weeding, pulling out veg that was ready or gone to seed (some of the turnips), picking berry fruits, planting out rainbow swiss chard and the remaining cabbages. Here are a selection of pictures from today.

Purple top milan turnips all varying in size.

The broccoli looks as if it's about to flower, good job I looked under the netting. The cauliflowers are still very small, nothing to talk of in fact.

My first courgette of the year. This one is mottled yellow.

Ambassador peas starting to fill up.

Raspberries growing very well.

I am so fortunate this year with strawberries. I had harvested about two containers and not a slug bite on one. When I got home, I knocked on my neighbour Nessies door to give her a tub, but she did not answer the door, so they have gone into the fridge for now.

The neckar tomato trusses are getting heavy, they are such tall plants. I would describe them the giraffe of the tomato family. Let's see how they taste when they ripen.

Brassicas and me

Yesterday, I spent two hours at Plot 11 while D tended to the tomatoes. I planted some more cabbages: hispi; greyhound and red marner and natalino cauliflowers. All the ones I had planted early last month, had either been munched by the slugs or the pigeons, hence needed replacing.

I have not been very successful at growing Brassicas, namely cabbages and cauliflowers. I feel like I am the only one having this problem as other fellow plot holders, have them growing well, albeit amongst the weeds and uncovered. Perhaps, I have trouble because I go for the lesser known varieties and they stick to tried, tested old fashioned brassicas. Perhaps…..Anyway, after looking at some of my fellow plots, I decided not to cover them with netting, just sprinkled some organic slug deterrent.
This coming weekend, D will have to build me a climbing frame at plot 11, for the runner beans that are literally dying to get out of their pots.

We also harvested some more potatoes, Toscana di nero, three rainbow carrots, 500g of raspberries, some strawberries and a handful of pea pods, that were consumed straight from the pod at the plot.