My Tiny Plot

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 (7oz) Green Tomatoes

2 Shallots

75g (2.5oz) 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 (300g)

1 cup Red Wine Vinegar (250ml)

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.

I’ve always struggled with growing Basil. I sow my seeds at the alloted time, nurture them through the damp, sometime sunless Spring and then plant them out in the garden. But usually some evil befalls them; being eaten by slugs, keeling over and dying through lack of light or damp, or just failing to thrive because the English summer just isn’t warm enough. This year (I’m guessing because our new garden is sheltered and a couple of degrees warmer than an exposed one) my Basil has done tolerably well – not enough of it to make Pesto, but tolerably well nevertheless. 

I love it when it gets to the just-about-to-flower stage and so I thought I would whip up a a nice summer lunchtime Tomato and Basil soup. Ideal for someone with a summer cold, like me :(

Sadly, none of my Tomatoes are ripe yet so I had to use store-bought for now. I chopped up two of my Shallots, crushed one of my garlic cloves. Chucked in a punnet full of tomatoes (I didn’t de-skin them, is that lazy?) and threw in two good handfuls of my Basil. I like to use the flowers too – just for the hell of it and because you don’t really find Basil that has flowers on it in the supermarket do you? 

One minute on blitz then simmer for 15 mins. Yum!

This week we’ve been holidaying at a place called Bell Vue Farm which is part of the Featherdown Farms network. I call it ‘posh camping’ because while you do stay in a field under canvas in the usual way you also have your own running water, flushing toilet and wood-burning stove in the tent too – not exactly roughing it, is it?

As we were running out of the door, with the car fit to bursting and enough baby burp cloths to sink a small boat, I rushed into the garden to harvest some fresh produce for our camping trip. In the bag went a fresh Lettuce, some new Potatoes, a handful of fresh Herbs, some Mint, a few sticks of Rhubarb, a clutch of Spring Onions and this little box of the soft fruit that happened to be ripe. As you can see there was a mix of Strawberries, Blackcurrants & Whitecurrants (sadly no Redcurrants this year). Not a bad harvest.

When we arrived at our new home – and after we had petted the geese, chickens, donkeys, goats and lambs – we lit the stove and I started to make use of the berries. As I didn’t have very many ingredients to hand (usually I would use Balsamic Vinegar), I just cooked them up with some sugar on the wood fire.

Once cooked through but still whole I poured them over some fresh vanilla Greek yoghurt and tried to find some poor soul who would eat my creation. I didn’t have to look far!

One week you have nothing to harvest and the next you have a row of potatoes and a basketful of peas! The question is, what should one do with such ingredients? Make New Potato and Pea Frittata of course. I can’t pretend this is my own recipe – I found it in this month’s Delicious magazine – but it is perfect for making use of your harvest right now. Right down to the sprig of mint!

New Potato & Pea Frittata

Ingredients

• 10 new potatoes
• half an onion or a few shallots
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 courgettes
• 6 eggs
• 12 pods of peas
• Stilton or other blue cheese
• 1 sprig of fresh mint

You’ll also need a sturdy frying pan

Method

1. Chop the onions and garlic and fry for a few minutes
2. Add the chopped courgette to the pan and fry for a few minutes until golden
3. Boil the potatoes and slice when cool
4. Pop the peas into a bowl and add the 6 eggs. Beat.
5. Add the courgette and onion mixture, and the sliced potatoes to the egg mixture. Season.
6. Crumble some of the blue cheese in and mix
7. Put some olive oil into the frying pan and pour in the mixture. Let it cook for a few minutes. Once the mixture is set add some more cheese to the top and place the pan under a hot grill
8. Cook until golden. Serve with a crisp, homegrown salad.

One thing that I can’t stand is when jam has bits in it. Pah, pah, phew (that’s me spitting the bits out). I haven’t eaten jam since I was young for this very reason. But things are about to change – because now – I’m in charge. I had a Tupperware box full of blackcurrants in the freezer left over from my adventures with Cassis and cordial-making. And now that, let’s face it, there’s little to do in the garden right now I have time to devote to stocking up my store-cupboard. So here’s my recipe for the most divine, sweet-but-not-too-sweet, tart-but-not-too-tart Blackcurrant Jelly which is very definitely devoid of bits.

No Bits Blackcurrant Jelly

Ingredients

• 700g of blackcurrants
• 1.25 cups water
• jam sugar
• juice of half a lemon

You’ll also need a sturdy pan, jelly bag and jam jars

Method

1. Place the blackcurrants, water and lemon juice in a pan. Bring to the boil and let simmer for around 10 minutes. While simmering, mash the currants with a potato masher to get all the juice out.
2. Pour the blackcurrants into a jellybag and suspend over a pan. Let the juice drip out for at least two hours
3. Measure the juice and pour into a pan. For every 2.5 cups extracted add 2 cups of sugar
4. Bring to the boil.
5. Now comes the tricky part – the testing. Put a small plate in the fridge for a couple of minutes. Take it out and put a teaspoon of the mixture on it. Place back in the fridge. After 2 mins test it by moving it with your finger. If the mixture has started to set and has a visible skin on it that wrinkles when you push it, then it’s ready. If not repeat the test with a new teaspoon of the still boiling mixture.
6. Once the mixture has attained the setting point take it off the boil and pour into jars that have been sterilized in boiling water.
7. Process the jars (which means placing the sealed jars in a pan of boiling water) for 20 mins.