My Tiny Plot

It’s Chriiiiiistmas! And in the spirit I made these Super-Easy Mini Yule Logs for a kids Christmas party that Jackson went to. They are so easy but look quite the part. Simply buy some ready made mini chocolate rolls, then cover each one with chocolate icing (bought or made whichever you have time for). Then dust with icing sugar and don’t forget the ornamental snow-covered trees! Et voilà - the easiest yule logs you’ll ever make.

What else can be done on a damp and rainy Saturday but go the Farmer’s Market, buy some nice food, come home and cook it. I don’t grow Mushrooms (maybe I should) so having a guy at the market who grows nothing but Mushrooms is very handy. The Mushrooms he sells are always amazing he cooks some on his stall, so you can eat while you browse. Mmmmm…

So I bought some large Portabello, a handful of Oyster and some Shiitake Mushrooms chopped them and put them in a pan with some butter.

The recipe I used was ameded from the one in Jamie Oliver’s book, At Home. I think he calls it Mushroom Bruschetta. But you basically fry up the Mushrooms with some chopped Garlic, Parsley, Thyme and Chilli Pepper. Then add some Lemon juice and a tablespoon of water to make a sauce. It’s super easy.

But tastes amazing. Saturday lunch done. Now I can get on with some more leaf clearing!

My Gherkins are going crazy - as usual. So it’s time to get out the pickling jars. I did make Dill Pickles last year, following recipe that I found online. While they tasted great (very Dill-like and everything) they weren’t crunchy. Call me old-fashioned but I like my pickles to have a bit of crunch. That’s the whole point isn’t it.

So, I went on the hunt for a new recipe. Blimey! What a can of worms that is? There are literally thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of recipes available. And, I’m sure it’s not just me, but they all seemed to be slightly different. There doesn’t seem to be a definitive ‘right way’ to make Dill Pickles.

So, what’s a girl to do? Make one up of course! The recipe below is a half-way house between what most recipes suggest you do and what actually worked for me last year. Some recipes tell you to boil the cucumbers before bottling but some say use them raw. I’ve opted to use them raw because that seemed the most likely way to conserve the elusive crunch.

I’m using mostly Gherkins but I also threw in some of my Crystal Apple Cucumbers that are ready now (seeds courtesy of Victoriana Nursery. Thanks!)

My Dill Pickle Recipe

This roughly makes one jar. If you want to increase the amounts just remember that you need double the amount of water to vinegar.

• 1 cup of pickling vinega
• 2 cups of water
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
• 1 clove of garlic
• Dill (heads will do)
• Pickling jar
• 2 tablespoons of salt dissolved in 400ml of water

Method:

Soak the Gherkins overnight in a salt-water solution. Make sure the water covers them.

Boil your jar or run through the dishwasher on sterilise.

Put in one teaspoon of mustard seeds, a peeled clove of garlic and the Dill. Pack in your Gherkins.

Put the vinegar and water in a pan and bring to the boil. Pour into the jar until the Gherkins are covered. Seal and process (boil the jar upright in water) for 30 mins.

Okay, so maybe this recipe doesn’t strictly use anything that I actually grew. But I’m including it here for three reasons; firstly, because there aren’t many recipes online specifically for baby biscuits (normal biscuits with tons of sugar in them, yes, but baby biscuits well not really). Secondly, I’m fed up of spending money on Organix biscuits that are just as easy to make at home (nothing against Organix, some of their stuff is really nice). And thirdly, I took some nice photos of them that I wanted to share with you.

I put the recipe together using a normal Gingerbread Man recipe but I’ve reduced the sugar, exchanged most of the Golden Syrup for honey and added orange juice to replace some of the sweetness. You might think that 100g of sugar is still quite a bit for a baby but this recipe makes at least 25 - 30 biscuits and when you taste them you’ll see that they’re not sweet at all. So here goes…

Gingerbread Biscuits for Babies

Makes around 25 biscuits

Preheat oven to 190 degrees (gas mark 5)

Ingredients:

• 350g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 2 teaspoons ground Ginger
• 100g unsalted butter
• 100g light muscovado sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon Golden Syrup
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 egg, beaten

Method:

1. Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger in a bowl.
2. Rub in the butter to make fine breadcrumbs.

Stir in the sugar.

3. Add the honey, golden syrup, beaten egg and orange juice.
4. Bind together and knead on a floured surface until smooth. You can chill it in the fridge at this point if it’s too sticky.
5. Roll out until 1/4 inch thick. Cut out biscuits and place of a buttered baking sheet.
6. Bake in the oven for 8-10 mins. Keep an eye on them as they will burn quickly and become too hard.

*Remember, because the biscuits contain honey they shouldn’t be given to infants under one.

Happy eating!

At this time of year I always have loads of Mint. I have a patch growing in an old stone trough and every year it comes back with lovely fragrant lush green leaves. Nothing says summer’s here like some fresh Mint from the garden in a tall glass of Pimms and lemonade.

But…while I could spend my days drinking Pimms in the garden (and believe me sometimes I really want to!) I fear it may impede my skills as a mother. One has to stay focused and totally not inebriated when one is looking after one’s child - I’m sure I read that somewhere.

So what to do with all the Mint? Mint tea of course. The ladies in the book I’m reading ‘Larkrise to Candleford’ say it’s good for the soul. And so it is. Not in a medicinal way, although I’m sure Mint tea has many claims, but in a ‘aaah that’s nice and gosh aren’t I clever because I actually grew it myself,’ sort of way.

So here’s my Mint Tea recipe - less of a recipe, more a bunch of instructions. Stand by.

Mint Tea

• 2 long sprigs of Mint (the more you add the more minty it will be)
• 2 cups of water
• Honey
• Slice of Lemon
• Your favourite teacup and saucer (optional)

Put the Mint leaves (or the whole sprig) in the water and bring to the boil. The water will turn yellowy green. Then strain into a teacup. Add some honey and a slice of Lemon. Drink it while sitting in your garden, you deserve it!

Anyone else got any Minty recipes?

Okay so I’m the first to admit it, I’m not the biggest fan of Rhubarb. It’s sort of tangy and makes me make a funny face when I taste it. At least that’s what I used to think before under gardener decided that he would make some of Jamie’s recipes and chose the ‘Speedy Rhubarb Fool’. OMG! Can you say Sweetness itself?

So here I am picking some Rhubarb the minute it’s anywhere near ready (making sure to break it off and not cut it). And running indoors with it, begging UG to make the thing, the thing! you know from Jamie’s book.

An hour or so later (okay so we forgot to take the pastry out of the freezer) and ta-dah! It’s made, and we’re in the garden in the bizarre March sunshine enjoying the only Rhubarb recipe that I actually like.

Okay, here’s the recipe. Just promise me you’ll make it.

If there’s one thing that really says Christmas for me it’s Eggnog. I first tasted Eggnog about six years ago. We were visiting a friend of ours who lives in Vail (alright for some eh?). And he invited us back to his mum and dad’s little house tucked up in the hills far away from the glitz and fur coats below. Their house was very Christmassy with a big log fire roaring and the first thing that our friend’s mum said to us once we were inside was, ‘Would you like an Eggnog?’ - I was sold! So now, in our house, Christmas just hasn’t arrived until there’s some Eggnog chilling in the fridge. Here’s my recipe.

Eggnog

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup of sugar
• half a teaspoon of vanilla extract
• quarter of a teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• three quarters of a cup of brandy
• one third of a cup of dark rum
• 2 cups of whipping cream
• 2 cups of milk

Ingredients

• 1 pint vegetable stock
• 1 medium Pumpkin
• Fresh Parsley
• 1 medium Onion
• Sprig of fresh Thyme
• 1 clove Garlic
• 120 ml whipping cream
• Salt and Pepper

I seem to have a small obsession with pickling at the moment. A neighbour gave me a bagful of windfall Apples so I had to find a recipe that required a load of Apples, and fast. A quick flick through my recipe books and I found this Apple & Plum Chutney - with the usual adjustment for Raisin haters. 

Apple & Plum Chutney

Ingredients:

900g Plums

900g Apples

75g Craisins (Dried Cranberries)

450g Brown Caster Sugar

570ml Cider Vinegar

450g Shallots (chopped)

2 teaspoons salt

quarter of a knuckle of fresh Ginger

1 teaspoon Cloves (ground)

1 teaspoon Allspice

1 teaspoon Ground Pepper

Method:

Stone the Plums and peel the Apples. Chop into small cubes. Place in a pan with the cider vinegar, Shallots, Craisins, salt and spices, ginger, salt and pepper.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer until the mixture has reduced to a thick, gloopy consistency. Mine took a few hours on a low heat.

Boil the jars and bottle. Then process (boil the full jar) for 30 mins. This recipe made four large, snap-shut jars.

After my Tomatoes displayed evidence of the dreaded blight I was forced to sacrifice some of them before they were ripe. But what to do with them? Well, there’s only one thing you can do with them in my book - Green Tomato Chutney - here’s my recipe (adapted from my Pumpkin Chutney recipe).

Oh and if you’re wondering why I use dried Cranberries instead of Raisins it’s because a certain someone (who eats most of the chutney in our house) doesn’t like the taste of Raisins. And before you ask, yes, he doesn’t like Christmas pudding, mince pies, Christmas cake or anything else that is yummy.

Green Tomato Chutney

Ingredients:

200g Green Tomatoes

2 Shallots

75g Craisins (Dried Cranberries)

half teaspoon ground Ginger

half teaspoon Allspice

1 teaspoon Salt

1 grind of Pepper

quarter of a knuckle of fresh Ginger

2 small Garlic cloves

1 and a half cups of Sugar

1 cup Red Wine Vinegar

Method:

Cut the tomatoes into cubes and chop the other ingredients. Throw them all in a pan and simmer on a low heat until thick and dark brown. Make sure to open the windows to let the stink out!

Boil the jars and bottle. Then process (boil the full jar) for 30 mins.