by Philippa | Apr 20, 2014 | Allotment
This recipe served two but is easily scaled up or down and can use lots of things you might bring home from the plot. This weekend we came back with the last of our leeks which have been a great crop this year as well as a tray of purple sprouting broccoli which has been the most successful we have ever grown despite an inauspicious start. But there is no reason why you couldn’t use other veg, such as spinach, chard or peas as alternatives, depending on what you have available and what you like to eat.
Knob of butter
Splash of olive oil
2 large leeks, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Leaves from a few sprigs of thyme
150g orzo
1 tin of cannellini beans, drained (or flageolet or butter beans)
Bunch of sprouting broccoli (or other veg as suggested above)
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp cream cheese
Handful of grated Parmesan cheese
Block of halloumi cheese, sliced.
Melt the butter with a splash of oil over a medium heat. Add the leeks, garlic and thyme and cook down for about 10 mins until tender. Meanwhile add the orzo and the beans to a pan of boiling water for about 8mins. Halfway through this cooking time add your broccoli or any other veg you are using to the boiling water. When done, drain and add to the leeks with the lemon zest and juice and a generous amount of seasoning.
Heat a frying pan to medium high and fry the halloumi in a splash of oil until golden on both sides. Stir the cream cheese and Parmesan through the leek, bean and orzo mix and serve with the halloumi on top. Enjoy!
adapted from a recipe appearing in April 2014 issue of Delicious magazine
by Philippa | Jun 20, 2011 | Allotment
We really feel like we are on top of things on both plots at the moment, which is surprising given our three week absence while on honeymoon. Most of the greenhouse plants have been potted on to their final pots and due to having glazed the new greenhouse some have been moved over to plot 118. We have split all the varieties into both greenhouses, just in case they don’t grow consistently although the new greenhouse seems to be doing its job so far. As a result we seem to have plenty of room for other tasks. Neil has decided to do a little experiment with some rosemary cuttings which he is trying to get rooted. I’m not sure he knows exactly what needs to be done so he has just put them into damp compost! Apparently some rooting/cutting gels have high hormone levels, which is a bit off putting, so we will see what happens without.
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We have managed to take a bumper harvest of fruit home already, including about 1.5kg of raspberries, 750g redcurrants, 500g blackcurrants and 500g strawberries, all of which have been delicious. The blackcurrants, our first harvest off the plant we got about a year ago, are incredibly tart when eaten straight from the bush, so need plenty of sugar adding to any recipe they are being used in. I have a plan for the box we have in kitchen, a combination of cordial (move over Ribena!) and some blackcurrant vodka, which will need three months maturing and so will be in good time for Christmas gifts.
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We would have had more strawberries, and gigantic ones at that, had it not been for some local pest problems. The plants we put in during winter have been growing nicely, with large, upright fruit. They started ripening in the last couple of weeks and we had been looking forward to harvesting them once ready. However, eagle eyed Bob noticed that suddenly there looked to be a lot less fruit on the plants. We’ve come to the conclusion that it is either wood pigeons, squirrels or a rat. Whatever is responsible, it is pretty voracious and has left us with few fruit on the plants in the bed. It is a bit disappointing as it has never been an issue in previous years, but I suppose the wildlife now knows after three years on 97 that it provides a consistent supply of treats!
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Another casualty of the wood pigeons has been the kale and the purple sprouting broccoli, again things we have grown for the last two years without any attacks. We only planted them out about a week ago, having reared them to be big and healthy in the greenhouse and they are now almost stripped bare! This necessitated an emergency dash for some canes and netting and Neil spent a good deal of time constructing frames to keep them covered. Hopefully they will be back to normal in a few weeks, although Neil remains pessimistic! I really hope so as kale has certainly been a good crop in the colder months.
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More planting out this weekend, a Crown Prince squash, very precious as it was the only one that germinated out of the four I sowed. The broad beans, three varieties, Streamline, Red Knight and Moonlight, have been strung up the munty frame and look quite healthy but we have decided we must be a couple of weeks behind some other plot holders who already have flowers appearing on their beans! The Sugarsnap peas are now twisted round the base of a cane structure, these are the second attempt at these this year, as the first ones that I sowed directly into the ground pre wedding were very poor at germinating. Courgettes, Jemmer, Zucchini and Tundi, have gone out too.
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With the leek planting, I’m trying an experiment of my own. The Gardener’s World website reckons on planting them out once they are pencil thickness into holes that are 15-20cm deep and then watering them in so a little of the soil falls back in the hole. Some others (Bob included) reckon that all you need to do is dig them in with a trowel and put the soil right back over it. So we have two rows, one of each method, and we’ll report back if it makes any difference! We hope to still be in as much control of things in the next couple of weeks, but we have this weekend off in Glastonbury so who knows!
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