Clearly the point of growing food is to enjoy eating it and you can be quite rightly virtuous whilst munching on those greens knowing all of the health benefits they bring and how much they outweigh the value of those you could have bought in the supermarket.
The freshness and taste of the booty can’t be beaten; vegetables lightly steamed with fresh herbs, drizzled with butter and served with crusty bread, makes a marvelously easy lunch.
You can pretty much guarantee that there will be at least a couple of vegetables each year that produce like they never have produced before so here are a few flavoursome ideas to help you create a few meals and make the most of those gluts!
Recipes you can try outside are marked COOK OUTDOORS
Preparation tip – Wash all fresh produce in cold water prior to cooking.
Soups
When cooking your goodies soups are simply one of the easiest of dishes to prepare, they make a wonderful lunch or delicious starter and this is an excellent way to deal with any gluts of vegetables you may have and makes them instantly freezable.
Serves: 4-6
Level of difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:
2 large red onions
1 large pumpkin
50g butter
4 large tomatoes or 6 medium ones
1.5 litres of veg stock
salt & pepper
120ml crème fraiche.
To serve – lots of fresh chopped parsley and an extra spoonful of crème fraiche
- Chop the onions into dice, then cut up the pumpkin removing the seeds and skin – you will need 1kg of chopped pumpkin for the soup.
- Melt the butter in a pan and add the onion and pumpkin – cook until the onions are transparent.
- Score a cross on the base of each tomato with a sharp knife – only just going through the skin, about 3cm long for each line.
- Drop them in boiling water for 1min only – taking due care, drain off the water and the skins should slide off easily.
- Chop the tomatoes making sure you remove the core and then add to the pan with the stock.
- Simmer for 30mins or until tender, then puree the mixture either with a hand blender or in small batches in a food processor. Return to the pan and season to taste.
- Stir in the creme fraiche and heat through.
- Serve with chopped parsley and more creme fraiche
Tip – keep the seeds and roast them in the oven for a delicious snack and why not use them to garnish your soup. For the recipe follow this link
Any leftover pumpkin from the recipe can be cut into 3cm chunks and roasted on a tray drizzled with olive oil – oven temp 180c or 350f or gas mark 4.
Here’s a really summery recipe to help you use up the courgettes that burst forth in a seemingly never ending supply along with another prolific grower mint.
Serves: 4
Level of difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:
15g butter
1 brown skinned onion
3 green courgettes (medium)
250g shelled peas (can use frozen if you wish)
1 litre veg stock
20g mint leaves
100ml double cream (or crème fraiche)
1 lemon
Place the butter in a pan over a medium heat.
- Dice the onion and gently cook until transparent.
- Grate the courgettes and add them to the pan with the peas.
- Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 5mins or until peas are just cooked through.
- Chop the mint, reserve 2 tsp for garnish, add the rest to the pan with the cream.
- Blend the ingredients with either a hand blender or food processor until smooth.
- Return to the pan and heat through and season to taste.
- Zest the lemon and stir the rind through the soup.
- Put in bowls and garnish with extra cream, chopped mint leaves and black pepper and a squeeze of lemon.
Main course
Are you ready for your main course? We have chosen to show case a couple of vegetarian recipes however these can easily be cooked as a side dish to accompany some pan-fried chicken breasts or turkey steaks. The choice is yours! The leek and chard recipe has been selected as they are quite un-demanding to grow and can be grown just as easy in a small corner of garden space, as it is to grow them in a raised bed.
Serves: 4
Level of difficulty: Medium
Ingredients:
30g soft butter
50g soft cheese
1 egg
4 tblsp greek yoghurt
80g grated cheese
2 leeks (medium)
8 long stems rainbow chard (use more stems if they are short)
2 tablespoons of bread crumbs
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
Preheat the oven to 170C, 325F or Gas Mark 3
- Trim the leeks then cut in half and then into bite size chunks – place in a steamer for about 3 mins or until tender.
- Trim the chard and remove the leaves, cut stems into 4cm long pieces – steam for 2 mins, or until tender.
- Grease an oven proof dish with butter.
- Lay the steam vegetables in the dish.
- In a bowl mix the soft butter, soft cheese, egg and yoghurt.
- Add half the cheese and half the thyme.
- Cover the vegetables with the mixture.
- In another bowl combine the breadcrumbs with the rest of the cheese and the thyme.
- Top off the dish with the breadcrumb mixture.
- Place in the oven until golden brown (20 -25mins).
You can steam the remaining chard leaves and serve with the Rainbow Bake and/or serve it with salad.
Serves: 2-3
Level of difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:
Juice of 2 lemons and grated zest of one
75g bulger wheat
50g flat leaf parsley
50g fresh mint
6 spring onions
80ml extra virgin olive oil
2 large diced tomatoes
salt and pepper
2 little gem lettuces
- Pour the lemon juice and zest over the cracked wheat and leave to stand to soften for one hour. If the juice doesn’t fully cover the grains top up with boiling water.
- Wash the parsley and mint and very finely chop.
- Trim the onions and very finely chop.
- Stir herbs and onions, with the olive oil to the softened lemony bulger wheat and mix well.
- Stir in the chopped tomatoes.
- Separate out the little gem leaves and fill and eat as required.
- For a meat option, top each lettuce bomb with pan-fried mini chicken fillets or crispy bacon
This dish is so simple to prepare, it could easily be made outdoors.
All things Rhubarb
Where would we be without that robust, pride of the plot, the humble rhubarb patch! Give it a shovel full of manure and almost without exception it unconditionally rises to the occasion every year for our enjoyment. There aren’t many of us who can say no to a dish of rhubarb crumble with custard or cream because it just doesn’t get any better that that. But it’s not a one trick pony, as of course there is a multitude of amazing puddings you can make with a few rhubarb sticks. Here is a basic recipe for cooked rhubarb to use as a base for the other puddings.
Ingredients:
4 sticks of rhubarb
1 orange (remove the zest and keep)
2cm nugget of fresh ginger
Honey or sugar to taste
The ginger just adds an underlying warmth to the dish.
- Chop up the rhubarb into 2cm pieces, place into a pan.
- Add the juice of the orange and grated fresh ginger or 1tsp ginger puree.
- Gently simmer until soft.
- Add honey or sugar to taste.
As it is, it’s wonderful topped with Greek yoghurt, or try putting a dollop on your morning porridge or make a fabulous smoothie by blitzing it with banana and your preferred milk.
Serves: 4
Level of difficulty: Medium
Ingredients:
50g butter
50g caster sugar
2 med eggs
50g self-raising flour
1tsp cinnamon
Orange zest (from the orange you used to cook the rhubarb in)
- Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, beat in the egg and then stir in the flour, cinnamon and orange zest.
- Put the rhubarb (from the basic recipe) in an oven proof dish, cover with the mix and cook for 30-35mins on 170C, 325F or Gas Mark 3
Serve with custard or cream.
Serves: 4
Level of difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:
200g self-raising flour
100g soft brown sugar
100g softened butter
50g finely chopped walnuts*
Zest of the orange*
* optional but do add another flavour dimension
- Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, walnuts and orange zest.
- Put the rhubarb (from the basic recipe) in an oven proof dish, cover with the mix and cook for 30-35mins on 170C, 325F or Gas Mark 3
Serve with custard, ice cream or cream
Serves: 2-3 depending on portion size
Level of difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:
1/2 quantity of the cooked rhubarb (from the basic recipe)
250ml of whipping cream
3 meringue nests (shop bought)
- Drain the cooked rhubarb but save the juice into a jug
- Whip the cream in a large bowl
- roughly crush the meringues and add in the bowl with the cream
- Add the drained rhubarb and gently fold in
- Place in bowls, garnish with mint and drizzle with the remaining rhubarb juice
