We said goodbye to the tomatoes, courgettes and runner beans yesterday. With temperatures dropping quite a bit over the last few days we thought the time has now come to prepare the garden for the long winter months ahead. We planted the hungarian grazing rye in the patch where the broccoli was (that part of the vegetable patch also known as Caterpillar Heaven) a couple of weeks ago and it is doing well and growing steadily.
It's best to plant cover crops before the end of October so we decided it was now time to take out the courgettes as well as the tomatoes and make some more space for the cover crops. We hadn't been getting many large courgettes over the last few weeks anyway and the tomatoes were still being chewed by some stray caterpillars bent on re-creating another patch of heaven in our garden.
So we uprooted and chopped up the plants, which was quite sad seeing as we'd planted them all from seed and watched them grow and now we were banishing them to a big black garbage bag. However, they did well and we made some great meals and next year we'll be planting new seeds and watching them grow all over again.
We have a large bowl in the kitchen filled with tomatoes, peppers, courgettes and runner beans. We also picked some apples and there are many more to be picked.
The greenhouse and the vegetable patch is looking very bare at the moment. It's a beautiful bright crisp morning in London and the plan for today is to plant the hungarian grazing rye mixed with some tares.
Sunday 17 October 2010
Thursday 14 October 2010
Summer flowers
With winter fast approaching I thought I'd warm up by thinking back on those sunnier days and looking at photos of the beautiful and colourful flowers we had in the garden over the summer.
Tuesday 12 October 2010
Heavenly homemade custard
This custard is indeed heavenly. No other way to describe it. Ready-made custard bought from the supermarket tastes nothing like custard freshly prepared at home.
We attempted to make some custard last night to go with our freshly-made apple crumble and though the apple crumble was delicious, the custard was runny and lumpy. Not quite the divine dessert we were anticipating.
So we decided to try another recipe tonight and Delia came to the rescue. This recipe appears in her book How to Cook Book One. In the recipe she says you can use creamy whole milk instead of cream, however, having tried a recipe with milk last night, I'd say definitely go for the cream and if you don't want to be too indulgent use single cream instead of double cream but make sure you get the cream.
Ingredients
1 vanilla pod
275 ml double cream (or single cream)
3 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 tbsp caster sugar
Method
1. Split the vanilla pod by cutting it lengthways with a sharp knife and scoop out the seeds using a teaspoon. Breathe in that beautiful sweet warming vanilla smell.
2. Place the cream in a small pot and add the vanilla pod and the seeds.
3. Gently heat the pot to just below simmering point.
4, While the cream is slowly heating, whisk the egg yolks, cornflour and caster sugar in a mixing bowl with a balloon whisk.
5. Once the cream has heated, remove the vanilla pod ( and put it aside - I'll come back to the pod a little later)
6. While still whisking the egg mixture in the mixing bowl, slowly add the hot cream mixture, whisking the whole time.
7. Once the egg and cream mixture have been well mixed together, return to the pot on a gentle heat and continue whisking.
8. Your arm may get a bit tired at this point so if you have help in the kitchen a good idea to take turns whisking. You need to keep whisking over the low heat until the custard is thick and smooth. I was loosing heart at one point thinking this mixture is never going to thicken but just below simmering point it suddenly gets all thick and gloopy. Mmm!
9. If you overheat the mixture you can return it to the mixing bowl, whisk until it becomes smooth again and then transfer back to the pot.
10. Once it's lovely and thick it's ready to serve with apple crumble...or trifle..or any other dessert.
If you want to enjoy the custard a bit later, place the mixture in a jug or bowl and cover with cling film. When you're ready to serve, remove the cling film and place the bowl in a pan with a small amount of simmering water.
As for the vanilla pod, rinse the creamy mixture off, place on a sunny window sill to dry and once dry pop it in your sugar bowl for deliciously sensual vanilla-flavoured sugar!
We attempted to make some custard last night to go with our freshly-made apple crumble and though the apple crumble was delicious, the custard was runny and lumpy. Not quite the divine dessert we were anticipating.
So we decided to try another recipe tonight and Delia came to the rescue. This recipe appears in her book How to Cook Book One. In the recipe she says you can use creamy whole milk instead of cream, however, having tried a recipe with milk last night, I'd say definitely go for the cream and if you don't want to be too indulgent use single cream instead of double cream but make sure you get the cream.
Ingredients
1 vanilla pod
275 ml double cream (or single cream)
3 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 tbsp caster sugar
Method
1. Split the vanilla pod by cutting it lengthways with a sharp knife and scoop out the seeds using a teaspoon. Breathe in that beautiful sweet warming vanilla smell.
2. Place the cream in a small pot and add the vanilla pod and the seeds.
3. Gently heat the pot to just below simmering point.
4, While the cream is slowly heating, whisk the egg yolks, cornflour and caster sugar in a mixing bowl with a balloon whisk.
5. Once the cream has heated, remove the vanilla pod ( and put it aside - I'll come back to the pod a little later)
6. While still whisking the egg mixture in the mixing bowl, slowly add the hot cream mixture, whisking the whole time.
7. Once the egg and cream mixture have been well mixed together, return to the pot on a gentle heat and continue whisking.
8. Your arm may get a bit tired at this point so if you have help in the kitchen a good idea to take turns whisking. You need to keep whisking over the low heat until the custard is thick and smooth. I was loosing heart at one point thinking this mixture is never going to thicken but just below simmering point it suddenly gets all thick and gloopy. Mmm!
9. If you overheat the mixture you can return it to the mixing bowl, whisk until it becomes smooth again and then transfer back to the pot.
10. Once it's lovely and thick it's ready to serve with apple crumble...or trifle..or any other dessert.
If you want to enjoy the custard a bit later, place the mixture in a jug or bowl and cover with cling film. When you're ready to serve, remove the cling film and place the bowl in a pan with a small amount of simmering water.
As for the vanilla pod, rinse the creamy mixture off, place on a sunny window sill to dry and once dry pop it in your sugar bowl for deliciously sensual vanilla-flavoured sugar!
Friday 8 October 2010
Indian summer in London
So according to the weather forecast it's supposed to be 23 degrees and partly cloudy tomorrow. Considering we're almost into the middle of October and close to that dreaded time when there's no denying that winter is upon us, ie when the clocks go back, 23 degrees and partly cloudy is tropical!
We planted the Hungarian grazing rye in one of the vegetable plots last weekend and we can already make out some brown shoots peering through the soil. Are they our cover crops or simply weeds? It has been a very rainy week so it's no wonder something is shooting up out of the soil.
Courgettes, tomatoes and peppers are still fruiting and for some reason, we are STILL waiting for the apples to ripen. So much for that homemade custard recipe I promised a dear friend! Becoming a gardener is teaching me the art of patience...not easy.
So...heavenly homemade custard coming soon...
We planted the Hungarian grazing rye in one of the vegetable plots last weekend and we can already make out some brown shoots peering through the soil. Are they our cover crops or simply weeds? It has been a very rainy week so it's no wonder something is shooting up out of the soil.
Courgettes, tomatoes and peppers are still fruiting and for some reason, we are STILL waiting for the apples to ripen. So much for that homemade custard recipe I promised a dear friend! Becoming a gardener is teaching me the art of patience...not easy.
So...heavenly homemade custard coming soon...
Friday 1 October 2010
It's raining, it's pouring!
As a new gardener I'm learning to love the rain. Nothing like a good soaking especially for the banana plants; they love a good long soak. But it hasn't stopped for the last few days and looks like it's going to rain most of the weekend. Give us a chance to go out there and do a little gardening, rain!
We want to plant our cover crops in the vegetable patch this weekend. The plot where we had the broccoli is now bare and all the good nutrients in the soil get washed away in the rain so cover crops, or green manure, as they're sometimes called, help retain those nutrients and improve the content of the soil over winter. They also prevent weeds growing on your bare patches of land.
We've decided to go for Hungarian grazing rye and Tares, though there are many other varieties to choose from. Grazing rye is especially good for heavy clay soil, which is what we have, as it has fibrous roots which break up the earth. Among all these benefits the cover crops will also provide a bit of greenery at the back of the garden during the dreary winter months.
The best time to plant the cover crops is late September to October so best we get out there this weekend. Wellington boots and sexy anoraks here we come!
We want to plant our cover crops in the vegetable patch this weekend. The plot where we had the broccoli is now bare and all the good nutrients in the soil get washed away in the rain so cover crops, or green manure, as they're sometimes called, help retain those nutrients and improve the content of the soil over winter. They also prevent weeds growing on your bare patches of land.
We've decided to go for Hungarian grazing rye and Tares, though there are many other varieties to choose from. Grazing rye is especially good for heavy clay soil, which is what we have, as it has fibrous roots which break up the earth. Among all these benefits the cover crops will also provide a bit of greenery at the back of the garden during the dreary winter months.
The best time to plant the cover crops is late September to October so best we get out there this weekend. Wellington boots and sexy anoraks here we come!
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