April 22, 2008

Sprouts ahoy!

Although there has been lots of salad planted in the garden on recent weekends, including mustard greens, rocket and mizuna (at least I'll be able to distinguish between the plants after cramming in Ballymaloe for the salad leaves and herbs exams!), it's going to be a while before any of the leaves are big enough to eat. Then, of course, because our planting in succession routine is not entirely developed - despite best intentions - we'll have another glut to work through. But that's all ahead of us and, until then, I've been growing my own salad on the windowsill.

I bought a small, three-level seed sprouter last summer but it was much too warm in our Dublin flat so my first attempts weren't very successful. Now, on a bright windowsill in my unheated cottage, it's really coming into its own. It's on the window behind the sink which makes it easier to remember to rinse the sprouts twice a day - it's not so good when you forget although the smell will help you remember.

I started off using the seeds that I bought at the same time as the sprouter - broccoli (a bit weedy), fenugreek (spicy addition to salads), mustard (peppery, really good in sandwiches) and red clover, which is all a bit anonymous. Getting more adventurous, I recently moved on to the contents of the store cupboard. Mung beans - the bean sprouts we all know - have been a success, especially in their crunchy and juicy early stages but the quinoa never really grew properly and the wheatberries were much too much like grass to be palatable. I suppose that's why wheatgrass is normally used for producing juice. My absolute favourite - so far - are the sprouted lentils. I've been switching between the simple brown and crunchier Puy lentils, both which are great mixed with the stronger-flavoured mustard and fenugreek sprouts in salads and stuffed into sandwiches, pitta breads and wraps. With this tiny garden, I'm much better with successive planting - hopefully we can make it work better outdoors this year!

If you're interested in reading more, there's some very useful information about sprouting in the recent Guardian Grow-Your-Own Guide and the ever-useful Nigel Slater gives a few ideas about how to use them here.

Posted by Caroline at 5:30 PM | Comments (0)

March 12, 2008

Days of kale and wonder

Spring may not be properly sprung, judging by this week's storms, but there's still a lightness in the air, a brightness in the mornings and evenings which translates itself onto the dinner table. Not being entirely well organised gardeners, it took us a while to figure out which of the selection of plants still standing (or half battered down) in the garden is kale - the other that we still have growing is purple sprouting broccoli or PSB, although not yet P or S, although we still have our fingers crossed. We're growing a variety called Ragged Jack, with large frilly leaves, and I had only ever encountered curly kale before this so initially refused to believe that it was edible. After confirming that it is indeed edible - more than that, it's actually delicious, with tender and juicy leaves - we have been eating it with abandon.

During the dog days of winter, it made frequent appearances as a last minute addition to stews and soups - that was if someone felt like braving the nasty weather and Very Dark Garden outside. Happily, the Husband's head torch (normally used for camping) proved very useful in a winter countryside setting. Washed, de-stemmed and shredded, it just takes a few minutes to cook in a pan of bubbling winter-time food, softening into a delicious bright greenness in minutes. But there's more to kale than using it just as a last-minute addition other meals. Here's a recipe for those times when you feel like you need a spring tonic - just kale, garlic, chilli, olive oil and lemon juice. After a plateful of this, perhaps on a slice of your own homemade bread rubbed with more garlic and drizzled with some of the olive oil you used to cook the kale, you'll feel ready to face whatever the weather may throw at you.

Kale with Garlic, Chilli and Lemon
For each person
Kale - a couple of handfuls
Olive oil
Garlic - 1 clove, peeled and sliced
Red chilli - ½, deseeded and sliced finely
Freshly ground black pepper, sea salt
Lemon - ½

To serve:
Sourdough bread - 1 long slice
Garlic, olive oil

Wash the kale thoroughly. Remove the stem with a sharp knife, roll up the leaves and cut into shreds about 1cm thick. Start toasting the bread. Heat a glug of olive oil in a frying pan, add the garlic, cook over a medium heat until just golden then add the chilli and shredded kale. Season and stir well. Clamp a lid or plate on top of the pan and allow the kale to cook in its own steam for a couple of minutes. Squeeze some lemon juice to taste then serve on a warm plate, piled on top of the hot toast, rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil.

Posted by Caroline at 8:56 AM | Comments (3)

February 21, 2008

Leeks from the garden

The veggie garden is looking a little sad at this stage in the year. Just a few scraggly kale plants, as-yet-unformed purple sprouting broccoli - but we still have some leeks, when we remember to cook them! We've recently been having a cold snap so I've been making lots of soups and, one day when I happened to remember that we still had to use up the leeks in the garden and actually had some potatoes in the house, I made a version of Clothilde's minimalist Leek and Potato Soup, which she in turn had adapted from Sophie Brissaud's recipe. As I was just after a stock-making session, I used chicken stock as well as water in the soup for more depth of flavour, and finished it off with dollops of ever-present yoghurt. This is very much an approximation of the recipe - I just didn't want to get out the weighing scales!

Minimalist Leek and Potato Soup
Leeks - 4, freshly pulled from your garden, preferably!
Potatoes - 4 medium sized floury potatoes. I used Roosters
Chicken Stock - 2 cups (or just substitute water)
Fine sea salt, freshly ground pepper
Natural yoghurt, to serve

Clean, trim and thinly slice the leeks, keeping the green parts separate. Peel and dice the potatoes. Place the white parts of the leeks and the diced potatoes with the chicken stock and two cups of water into a heavy based saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer, season, cover and cook for 30 minutes, until the potatoes are beginning to disintegrate and the leeks are soft.

Using a stick blender - the simplest option! - or liquidiser, blend the soup until smooth. Season to taste and heat until simmering again. Add the thinly sliced green parts of the leek, cover and remove from the heat. After five minutes, ladle it into bowls and serve with a little natural yoghurt swirled through the soup.

Serves 4.

Posted by Caroline at 8:27 AM | Comments (0)