The gluts have left the building (shed)
This is where I used to write about the gluts I get from my veg patch and the ensuing gluttony in the kitchen.
Now I write a weekly mostly-veggie recipe over on Substack, plus share tales from the veg patch and exclusive videos. You can subscribe for free by clicking on the link below and every recipe will be sent straight to your inbox. If you’d like more content (such as those videos I mentioned, interviews and printer-friendly PDFs of every recipe to collect) do consider becoming a paid subscriber. More on that here.
In the meantime, here’s an archive of my old Gluts and Gluttony blog:
Radicchio, Grapefruit & Trout Spoons
Every shade of pink and packed with flavours in a single bite - bitter radicchio, sour grapefruit and smoky sweet trout. A great recipe for pre-dinner nibbles or deconstruct for a hearty spring salad.
Buttered Leek Bruschetta
It is, as I write, snowing. And that’s just typical isn’t it? The moment COVID restrictions allowed us to meet up to 6 people outside the temperature plummets. Still, if you too are sitting around a fire pit in ski kit, I have COVID-friendly snack suggestions. They can also be eaten with wooly gloves on. Which is an unforeseen benefit…
Ras-el-Hanout Carrot Soup
I don’t know about you, but my freezer can be a bit, how shall I put it, vague. A sort of a magical mystery tour through random leftovers, batch cooking frenzies, and veg patch gluts that I froze for ‘safe keeping’ having been unable to use the abundant harvest when it first arrived…
Rhubarb, Mackerel & Fennel Salad
I always get a bit silly about forced rhubarb. I think it’s because the season falls when the weather is at its bleakest and the veg patch its muddiest and least productive. In this context, the bubblegum glow of forced rhubarb stems feel like neon lights shining through the gloom, a brief respite from murk…
Mulled Apple & Rum Punch
That we are currently in Tier 2 of COVID restrictions and therefore only allowed to meet (six) friends outside was all the excuse I needed to whip up my mulled apple and rum punch. Because if you’re going to stand outside socialising in December, then you darn well better have a warm drink in your hand. And somehow a cuppa doesn’t cut it, does it?
Quince, Radicchio & Ham Salad
A pickled quince is an enigmatic thing. On the one hand soft, sweet and blushing; on the other sharp, assertive, demanding. It has a delicate floral perfume yet brings a stern, acidic kick up the arse to any plate. You can never really pin it down. I make several batches of Nigel Slater’s pickled quince every Christmas to use in salads, with roasts or with cold meats and cheese during that picky leftover eating time between Christmas and New Year.
Miso Kale & Mushrooms
Kale doesn’t so much ‘glut’ as ‘persist’. In a good way. I rarely look out on the kale bed and fret about their being too much to use before it goes over. Because kale doesn’t really go over. It just sits there, through wind, frost, snow and gales, waiting until you are eat it. It’s a very obliging crop, really. Its reward is make an appearance in almost every meal over the winter…
Roast Cauliflower Soup & Kale Pesto
It’s soup weather. And I’m quite fussy about soups. There is no room, in my mind, for a bland bowl of sameness just warmed and slopped into a dish. A good soup must have layers: a splash of sour, a crunch of salt, a swirl of cold against the hot foundation, so that every mouthful is alive with interest…
Summer Sharing Platter
A glass of rosé, dewy with condensation. The low sun keeping the evening chill at bay. Perfume from the jasmine wafting over the terrace. Ah, June. On this sort of an evening it seems a shame to come inside to eat. Far nicer, don’t you think, to continue nursing that glass of rosé and nibble at a few bits and bobs whilst watching the sun set over the veg patch? And if those nibbles can be a celebration of that oh so picturesque kitchen garden, then so much the better.
Asparagus, Quails’ Egg & Prosciutto Tart
The hero harvest this week is asparagus. But don’t imagine that’s because I like it. I mean, I love to eat it, sure. But asparagus is, in my view, petulant. I wouldn’t grow it if you paid me. In fact, I was paid to look after a bed of it once when I was working in an organic kitchen garden and it was enough to put me off for life.
In Praise of Simplicity
I caught 30 seconds of the TV talent show Great British Menu the other day. A chef from a fancy restaurant was describing the preparation of his dish. He talked of dehydrating this, sous-vide-ing that, ballotining and steaming some long-suffering piece of meat, then braising it overnight before glazing and roasting to serve. (I exaggerate for effect, but not much and the general tenor is accurate.) The plate was a throng of reductions, foams, tuilles, dots of jellies, smears of this and shards of that. Whilst it surely would have tasted terrific, I couldn’t help thinking that there was more ego on the plate than food.
Jewelled Sprout Slaw
Poor sprouts. They really need to sack their PR team. Spooned reluctantly on to our Christmas plate (“I’ll have one but that’s it”), we almost luxuriate in the ritual of loathing them. But that, I think, is our failure, not the sprouts’. The problem is that we don’t cook them properly, or we cook them at all. A sprout will never be delicious when it has been boiled and certainly not when it has been boiling since Christmas morning as was my Grandma’s preference. The only way to successfully serve a sprout is to fry it or eat it raw and shredded.
Celeriac Dip with Za’atar, Almonds & Garlic
I’ve had better harvests, I admit. The celeriac crop this year is, and this is being generous, a collection of golf balls; more straggly root than flesh and with frequent incursions by slugs. They looked promising initially – lots of pert green growth on top. But that was just a cover for the failures below ground. All mouth and no trousers.
Smoky Tomato & Chilli Harissa
If you have a greenhouse you will currently, most likely, find yourself besieged by chillies. Too many cold nights will have forced you to uproot the greenhouse plants and bring in what harvest you can. And so you have a lot of chillies to deal with. Well, there is relief for the chilli-swamped amongst us. And it is harissa.
Roast Tomato Soup
When the rain starts and the temperature falls and the nights draw in, my mind turns to soup. Specifically, tomato soup. Perhaps because tomato soup is, to me, the cure for all ills. As a child, a tin of Heinz tomato soup was like penicillin in our house: it could remedy almost any ailment from a grazed knee to a chill caught after a reckless trip in a rowing boat during a rainstorm. It was what you took on caravan holidays, where succour was always necessary. It was where you turned when you wanted satisfying, flavoursome coziness but couldn’t find anything to eat in the kitchen. It was what you stuck in the microwave to eat on a Sunday afternoon in front of Star Wars videos.
Asparagus Tart
There are two reasons why everyone gets so over-excited about asparagus. First, it’s got a very brief season and, short of growing it in greenhouses in Peru (though this is, bizarrely, an almost plausible option now), there is no way of forcing, advancing or extending that season. So it’s rare. The second reason is that it’s a total sod to grow. Nothing commands respect like the ability to grow asparagus
Celeriac Soup with Pickled Rhubarb
There’s so much rhubarb in the patch that it is becoming a bit of a problem. Rampant and unwieldy, it is technically caged in a spot removed from the main veg beds to protect it from the rabbits, but I think the barbed wire is really to keep it from taking over the EVERYTHING. Anyway, its abundance means I find myself with the first of many main crop rhubarb gluts.
Roast Cauliflower, Raisins, Pine Nuts & Capers
I get a bit evangelical about cauliflowers. Such an undervalued vegetable. They are really difficult to grow and totally unappreciated. It makes me cross that something so delicious and so troublesome to grow can be sold so cheaply in the shops and I tend to get on my soapbox when they are mentioned.
Forced Rhubarb & Seville Orange Ceviche
Cooking with the seasons is rarely a chore. There’s always something new just coming in to season, some additional flavour to get excited about, a new harvest to inspire you. Nature is always waving her arms and mouthing, “This! Over here. It’ll go brilliantly with this. And they harvest at the same time of year – it’s like I planned it!” before wandering off chanting, “what grows together, goes together”.
Kalette, Feta, Orange & Almond Salad
There’s renewed focus in the G&G kitchen this week. I’ve given myself the task of picking one seasonal fruit or vegetable each week and dedicating my whole week to making that plant the hero of my meals. (Basically, I’m starting a one woman veg cult.) And my subject of adoration this week is the kalette (AKA flower sprout). I’ve been busy on my Instagram and Twitter feeds posting recipes, growing tips and gratuitously lustful portraits of these little beauties…