Herb garden completed at last

I had the afternoon off work so today I finished off the herb garden at last. Weeded and edging put in, it looks really neat and tidy now and the plants are all doing well.

The butternut squash are getting bigger. I'm looking forward to them being ready to pick.

Today's harvest consisted of four big courgettes, you could class two as marrows probably, some runner beans and some French beans.

Courgette and Cheddar Soda Bread

To go with the risotto, which was pumpkin, chilli and sage (from the allotment), I have made a rather hansome looking loaf of courgette and cheddar soda bread.

Pumpkin for the risotto

Picked the first of the pumpkins today. I don't think it was quite ready actually, but I wanted to make a bit of space for all the others growing. The variety is Summer Ball, which you can apparently pick early like courgettes or leave to grow bigger to around 1kg. This one weighed in at about 800g, but it hadn't hollowed out and ripened yet.
Also dug up one lot of shallots and hung them up to dry.

Sausage And Herb Stuffed Marrow

Still got marrow to use? Fear not, there are plenty of great meals out there you can cook up with your giant courgettes. Here is another nice stuffed marrow recipe.


Sausage And Herb Stuffed Marrow Recipe

Ingredients:
1 marrow, halved and deseeded
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
100g breadcrumbs
100g mature cheddar, grated
25g fresh parsley, chopped
175g Cumberland sausages, squeezed from their skins (I used lovely herby Toulouse style sausages)
salad, to serve


How to make it:
Preheat oven to 180°C.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and saute the onion for 6-8 minutes until soft.

Stir in the garlic and cook for another minute.

Remove from the heat and tip into a bowl with the breadcrumbs, chees, parsley and the sausage meat. mix together.

Put your marrow in a baking tray and fill with the mixture. Cover over with foil and cook for 30 minutes.

After half an hour remove the foil and cook for a further 15-20 minutes until the filling is golden.

Serve with a salad if you like.

Original recipe can be found here

Wild flower bed

At last the flowers are coming out in the flower bed. David sprinkled so many wild flower seeds in there, it's nice to finally have a bit of colour and somewhere for the bees. The nasturtiums are looking gorgeous too.

Also a small harvest of fruit, French beans and courgettes.

Little bean, big bean

After a slow start because I thrust them out into the cold without warning, the runner beans are covered in pretty red flowers now and sprouting little beans. I was excited when I saw them. Then I got really excited when I found a massive bean lurking in the undergrowth.

Lamb Stuffed Marrow

Not sure what to do with your marrow? We say stuff it. This is a really tasty recipe which I first came across several years ago now and I do it every year when the marrows are ready.

Lamb Stuffed Marrow Recipe

Ingredients:

4 tbsp oil

1 onion, finely chopped

250g lamb mince

1 garlic clove, crushed

4 tbsp tomato puree paste

75g rice, cooked

4 tbsp ground cinnamon

25g pinenuts

25g raisins (or similar - I use what ever I have in the cupboard)

1 marrow, halved and deseeded

2 tbsp butter

300g arrabbiata sauce (basically any tomato and chili sauce, or make your own)

salt and pepper to season

How to make it:

For the stuffing: Cook your rice and set aside.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and saute the onions and the mince until the mince starts to brown. 

Add the garlic, tomato puree and cinnamon and cook for a few minutes. 

Remove from the heat and add the other ingredients.

Preheat the over to 190°C.

Put your marrow in a baking tray and fill with the stuffing mixture.

Dot with knobs of the butter and cover with foil.

Roast for 45-50 minutes.

The sauce: heat your ready bought sauce or create your own tomato and chili sauce.

Plate up your marrow and pour your sauce over, or flood the plate with the sauce and place your marrow on top.

Original recipe can be found here

Monster marrow

We also picked this today. We felt it deserved a post of its own.

It is enormous!

A lot changes in a week

We've been on holiday for a week, everything has grown while we've been away, thankfully. It's been hot and sunny with some rain inbetween, so perfect for our little plot. The salad potatoes were ready to come up, so we dug them up today.

Here is how it is all looking.

Courgette Fritters

What to do with your hundreds of lovely courgettes? A nice little snack or side dish to try is Courgette Fritters. They are really quick (about 15 mins) and easy to make and taste great with a blob of sweet chilli to sauce to dip them in.

Courgette Fritters Recipe

Ingredients:
50g plain flour
2 eggs
50ml milk
1 courgette, grated
1 tbsp oil
Salt and pepper, to season
Sweet chilli sauce, to serve

How to make it:
Put your flour in a bowl and make a little well in the middle.
Crack in your eggs and gradually whisk together, adding the milk, a little bit at a time, to make a smooth batter.
Stir in the grated courgette and season well.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and add tablespoons of mixture to make fritters. A bit like making pancakes really.
Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until lightly golden.
Serve with sweet chilli sauce for dipping.


Original recipe can be found here

A sudden growth spurt

Everything seems to have grown all of a sudden. I swear, a few days ago, it was half that size, but look at it now. It's become a marrow, rather than courgette. We've picked 3 and they're all quite big.

The pumpkins are on their way, all orange and lovely. The corn is getting taller and the little carrot patch it looking good too.