Cavolo Nero Potato Cakes with turnips

Cavolo nero aka Black cabbage picked from the garden plot yesterday
Puple top milan turnips picked from the allotment plot this afternoon

taken into the kitchen...

And then served on a plate. I guess you can call these cavolo nero bubble and squeak cakes. I remember a fellow blogger suggesting the idea to me a while ago and I thought why not. I loosely based them on a recipe I made a while ago and they turned out very well. I really liked the flavour of the cavolo nero crisping in the frying pan.

Cavolo Nero Potato Cakes
Makes 8 – 10
Ingredients
250g cavolo nero, stalks removed then cooked, drained and squeezed of all liquid. Then finely chopped.

700g potatoes, cooked and mashed
1 onion, finely sliced
2 tbsp olive oil and extra for shallow frying
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a pan. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes until translucent. Turn off. Then add to this to the mashed potatoes and the shredded cavolo nero and season with salt and pepper and mix well to combine. Shape the mixture into 8 – 10 round cakes. Cover and chill for an hour or more. When ready to eat, heat a few tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan. Add the cakes and fry over medium high heat for about 5 minutes on each side until crisp and golden brown.

Once peeled, I chopped the turnips into quarters, added a couple of unpeeled garlic, poured over some vegetable stock with some seasoning and cooked them in the oven until tender. Garnished with fresh parsley.

Purple Top Milan

Last year I grew Purple top Milan turnips, which D really liked, so I will definitely be growing them again mainly for him.

Winter harvest

I don't want you thinking that a little bit of rain would stop me from venturing to the allotment. So this is the first thing I did this morning while it was still dry. And I am so glad I did.
Look at my winter harvest.
Wow - leeks, kale, cabbage, sprouts, turnips, jerusalem artichokes and parsnips.
Winter roast vegetables for dinner - what do you think?

We dug up some fuseau jerusalem arichokes, pulled out some musselburgh leeks and tender and true parsnips. I also picked some more dwarf curly kale, brussel sprouts and a cabbage. Nestling in the cabbage plot I also found some bonus veg, that I completely forgot I had planted - purple top milan turnips.

We also took a wander over to Ds Plot 11. His plot is not looking so good. Other than being a permanent mud slide. His green house panes have come out, pots were all over the place and part of his fencing has come down. When the winds picks up, chances are the damage will become much worse. He will be lucky if that greenhouse makes it in one piece.

I am so glad we went to the allotment when we did, as by the afternoon it was snowing. But an hour or so later a rainbow came out. Ah Nature.