Favourite allotment food recipes - Page 2

When I have a glut of leeks, I cook them gently in olive oil, add chopped black olives and serve either hot or cold (with a little balsamic)

There are always lots of ways to make soup! This is how I would generally go about this one. You may have your own variations.

Leek, pumpkin and potato soup

Chop the leeks, onions and potatoes. Prepare pumpkin and grate the fleshy part for using in the soup. Finely chopped garlic can be used as an optional extra. Lightly fry onion and garlic (optional) or go to next stage.

Carefully heat up a sensible amount of water in a saucepan with vegetable stock added until lightly bubbling.

Add leeks, onions and grated pumpkin followed shortly after by chopped potato. Add appropriate seasoning (salt, pepper, etc)

Cook at a gentle level until ready.

JulieCfromLeics wrote (see)

Add recipes here to create a useful RECIPE BANK of dishes using mainly typical allotment food.

More recipes welcome!

Winter, Spring, Summer or Autumn dishes.

Container growing, gardens or allotments 

As long as some of the ingredients are "grow your own" vegetables or fruit.

What dishes would you usually put together or plan on putting together if all goes well ?

Tomorrow I am cooking slow roast stuffed boned lamb shoulder, using loads of my home grown garlic. I may use my pickled garlic to give it a 'lift', with chopped capers. It is marinating over night in white wine with homemade preserved lemons.

Lightly fry courgette slices with some crushed garlic. Layer the courgette slices with slices of tomato and slices of cheddar or mozarella, seasoning with a little salt and pepper as you go, in a gratin dish. When dish is nearly full, or you have as much as you need, then sprinkle top with chopped basil and grated cheddar or parmesan and put in oven for 30 mins at 190° or gas 5. Serve with pasta or rice or spoon onto halved baked potatoes. Will be a bit wet and sloppy but delish.

"Bombay potato style" parsnip curry

I'm finding that parsnip works well as a potato substitute in a bombay potato style curry. Once prepared (peeled and diced)  just par boil the parsnips for a little while first before adding the pieces to the ongoing curry sauce at the appropriate point (like you usually would with potato).Avoid using the hard core of the parsnip though.

This is also a good dish to include home grown onions from storage (lightly fried), and spinach too. I've got some Winter spinach growing in a container in the garden which can be used this time of year.

I cheat with the curry sauce though as it usually comes from a jar!!! 

Really it's a case of following and adapting an existing bombay potato recipe (or similar) to use different ingredients which are available this time of year.

Vegetable rice stir fry – allotment veg

I really like stir fries. They are a useful quick to cook dish! This one is a late Summer/ early Autumn dish.

Ingredients can easily be adapted. This recipe uses: rice, onions, courgette, carrot, soy sauce, black bean sauce. The vegetables can easily be varied and noodles can be used instead of rice.

First prepare vegetables while cooking rice according to instructions.

Next use a wok or pan to carefully fry off onions in a little sunflower oil (or similar).

Shortly after add carrot followed later by courgette and a dash of soy sauce to the pan. Stir gently on a low heat.

 Extra soy sauce or black bean sauce can then be added.

 Finally add the rice and stir in well.

I'm going to try growing mange-tout peas this year because they are lovely in stir fries.

We're having a go at sugar snap peas for same reason

Why do people say 'fry off'? instead of fry? I am always intrigued by the changes in use of the English language also 'listen up' as an Americanism.

Busy-Lizzie wrote (see)

I'm going to try growing mange-tout peas this year because they are lovely in stir fries.

Rosa carriola wrote (see)

We're having a go at sugar snap peas for same reason

Good idea!

Must try both mange-tout and sugar snap peas in stir fries.

Usually just do peas as a side dish.

Here's a ratatouille recipe!

Chunky Oven-Baked Ratatouille

Preparation time: 15 minutes. Cooking time: 30 minutes.

 Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 large red onion, cut into chunks
• 1 large courgette, cut into chunky pieces
• 1 large aubergine, cut into chunky pieces
• 2 red peppers and 2 golden peppers, seeded and cut into chunks
• 450g (1lb) small tomatoes or large cherry tomatoes
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and black pepper
• several sprigs of fresh basil

Put all the vegetables and the garlic into a roasting tray or large shallow casserole and sprinkle with the oil and some salt and pepper. Mix with your hands so that all the vegetables get coated.

Bake, uncovered, a preheated oven, 180oC, 350oF, Gas Mark 4, for 30–40 minutes, until the vegetables are browned at the edges, tender and smelling gorgeous.

Season with more salt and pepper if necessary, tear the basil over the top and serve.

Taken from Rose Elliot’s Low-GI Vegetarian Cookbook, published by BBC Books

Julie C, That sounds delish; I add pumpkins during the autumn and fresh or dried herbs

made some rosemary bread to go with soup.Third time lucky it rose to the required height and tasted o.k for bread with rosemary in.

I have a favourite recipe for fennel which I found in a book of vegetarian recipes from Prue Leith's cookery school.  It can be a main course with the goat's cheese or  as a side dish without the cheese.

Baked Fennel with Goat's Cheese 4 or more, depending 

This quantity is for 4 as a vegetarian meal. It's also good with simply grilled pork, chicken or fish. 

4              bulbs of fennel
30g          butter
1              lemon, juice only
4 tbs        water
6              sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
30g          pine nuts
150g         goats' cheese log

Heat the oven to 200C.   Trim the fennel and cut through the middle into 2 and then cut each half again 2 or 3 times to make wedges.   Place these in a shallow oven-proof dish.  Sprinkle on the lemon juice and water and cook in the microwave for 10 minutes.   Drain.

Slice the tomatoes and sprinkle over the fennel, followed by the pine nuts and crumbled goats' cheese.   Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and bake for 15 to 20 minutes till the cheese is browned.

Sounds good!

I would eat this as a vegetarian meal. I really like goat's cheese.

JulieCfromLeics wrote (see)

Add recipes here to create a useful RECIPE BANK of dishes using mainly typical allotment food.

JulieCfromLeics wrote (see)

Add recipes here to create a useful RECIPE BANK of dishes using mainly typical allotment food.

More recipes welcome!

Winter, Spring, Summer or Autumn dishes.

Container growing, gardens or allotments 

As long as some of the ingredients are "grow your own" vegetables or fruit.

What dishes would you usually put together or plan on putting together if all goes well ?

 

MORE RECIPES PLEASE !   

JulieC, I don't know about anyone else, but it is hard to feel inspred recipe-wise at this time of the year; all I have in my veg bed at the moment is; rather woody leeks which are about to become soup;

Chop and soak a large handful of leeks

Gently fry one large sliced white onion in a large pan with olive oil,

add drained leeks, lid on heat down low and leave for 15/ 20 mins, shaking or stirring pan frequently so nothing catches.

Make a vegetable stock; boiling water, Marigold bouillon powder, I add my home made preserved lemon at this point.

Add 300ml milk to pan and the stock, simmer gently till veg very soft.

Whizz in blender, I then put it through vegetable mill if it is for guests to make it really smooth.

Also in veg plot; cavalo nero, Italian black kale, I just cut off leaves as I need them, wash, slice finely and steam.

My cavolo nero and purple sprouting all froze to a mush weeks ago.   No edible veggies left in the garden but I still have one or two pumpkins left in the garage and some frozen chillies and blackcurrants along with jars of rhubarb chutney and spiced blackcurrant jelly.

I made James Martin's Butternut squash and Lime soup yesterday and will be using a chilli or two in a fish curry this evening.   Might treat OH to a blackcurrant crumble.

obelixx; am amazed your cavolo nero froze, I thought plants like that had built in anti-freeze. Have just clicked on where you live, is Belgium really that cold?