Oh wow this is what it's all about. Today we harvested all sorts from the veg plot. I haven't ordered a veg box for this week as we don't need one!!! How fabulous is that. Hopefully we can get to do this for most of the year eventually.
Today we picked broccoli, cauliflower, mountains of broad beans, peas, redcurrants, blackcurrants, raspberries, strawberries and gooseberries, onions, leeks, cabbage. There's loads more out there to harvest too so I will blanch and freeze what we don't use immediately. We do need more milk though as the delivery scheme sent the wrong amount this week! Thankfully we had long life milk in the pantry which I make sure we always have in so meals continued ticking over as expected.
We made cordial from a few of the blackcurrants. If it's nice we will keep the recipe for next year and make more and bottle it for long term use.
Any tried and tested recipes for currants, cabbage and cauliflower would be appreciated. Happy Sunday everyone.
That's a lovely little haul. Very impressed. Now you have your longed for garden it is all systems go. You are living your dream. You can make home made blackcurrant jam (or if you do not have time at present pop them in the freezer and prepare when you have more time). Home made cassis is nice and especially good when you have a stinking cold during the winter months. I have made it in the past with Vodka but you can use brandy or brandy and red wine mixture. Blackcurrant and yogurt swirl ice cream for the freezer, I usually have home made plain yogurt in (make this myself)and then use this in home made dips, or for making a sweet treat using minimal amount of fruit pouring it into a loaf tin and then freezing it. You could then come Christmas tart it up with say a blackcurrant coulis (which you could also make and freeze) and serve for a very simple or posh dessert or cut off slices and serve with some fresh fruit. You can do this with lots of different fruits I tend to cook them down a bit first. Cauliflower blanch it but make sure you have lemon juice in the water so that it remains white; or cauliflower cheese. Cabbage we serve shredded and steamed and then just run a knob of butter through it or serve it with small pieces of bacon/pancetta. Home made Ribena cordial can be heat processed to take the air out of the jar which makes for longer keeping on the pantry shelf. It is not complicated to do it is hot water bottle processing/bathing, The redcurrants and blackcurrants can also be left whole and used to decorate home made cheesecakes and meringues/pavlovas. It is always the simple things that make the most impact.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to hearing about your further hauls, do not forget about the wild produce either.
Pattypan
x
Oh wow what a wonderfully helpful reply thank you. I love all the comments I get but I will need to get my notepad out for this one. Much appreciated
DeleteIf you are looking for specific recipes - I have a lot of books which have been specifically bought with preserving in mind. Just drop a note on my blog, Tarragon n thyme blogspot with an idea of what you are looking for and I will sort some out for you. Tricia aka Pattypanx
DeleteFabulous thank you. I will look for your site x
DeleteWell done what a wonderful harvest, the start of many, when I find recipes I like I write them in a book, just do a search on the web there is tons of ideas out there.
ReplyDeleteThere are sometimes too many lol. I've found a redcurrant relish that goes with anything that I am going to try. Plus many others!
DeleteI'm so jealous of your haul. I wish I had more space for a bigger range of fruit and veg.
ReplyDeleteI think when you have less space you make it work even better 😊
DeleteWow. That is amazing. How wonderful! Well done! Just starting to get some of our things into the house. Isn't it just so satisfying?!x
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed. I get such a happy feeling from it. Xx
Delete