September's bounty, plums, beetroot and more courgettes...
September has arrived with her annual bounteous harvest, courgettes appear overnight at the end of the garden, Dad delivers even more plus bags of monster beetroot and my neighbour pops by with over 2kg of oozingly ripe plums. Processing this natural excess has started to take up most of my weekends.
With our busy 21st century lives it's too easy to pop to the supermarket and forget the origin of what we eat but dealing with seasonal excess is part of the whole experience if you grow or pick your own. I've spent many a summer afternoon blanching runner beans for the freezer as a child and stirring vats of homemade chutneys and jams. I had intended to turn my vast gift of plums into a fruit cheese, a 'plumbrillo' but a misjudge of the setting point has provided several large jars of plum jam instead. Never mind, cooking is all about experimenting and the jam is still delicious. Along with jam, I also have a plum and cinnamon compote stashed in the freezer (perfect on porridge) and a Kilner jar of spiced plum liqueur scented with cardamom and star anise developing in the larder for nights in front of the fire later in the year.
Courgettes are luckily one of my favourite vegetables, they are amazingly versatile. At the beginning of summer I mostly eat them raw, whilst it's still possible to keep up with the smaller ones but during August the plants go into overdrive and it's too easy to end up with a marrow sized monster. This year I have also grown Trombocino, an Italian summer squash with an unusual curled shape but have been 'sharing' this particular crop with the slugs and snails much to my annoyance. The recipe below was an attempt to use up leftovers and excess courgettes to provide a weekday lunch, so the suggested amounts are easy to vary, its a very forgiving recipe but rather tasty.
Courgette & goat curd torte - serves 3-4 (gluten free, vegetarian)
2-3 large courgettes (I also used a trombocino squash), thinly sliced
150g goat curd
125g feta, crumbled
½ red onion (finely sliced on a mandolin)
150-250g cooked brown rice (I used some leftovers but a ready cooked pouch will do)
100g chickpea flour
5 free range eggs, lightly beaten
large pinch of chilli flakes
1 tsp nigella seeds
Pre-heat your oven to 200℃ and line the bottom of a 22-23cm cake tin (use one with a loose bottom if possible) with baking parchment. In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients roughly (keep some chunks of feta if you can) and pour into the cake tin. Bake for 30-35 minutes until set. This is lovely served warm with a simple tomato salad but also keeps perfectly well in the fridge for an easy mid week lunch for work.
The monster beetroot were grated raw, mixed with chickpeas and walnuts to become 24 neon pink falafels using this recipe from Waitrose. They are quick and easy and make another great lunch box filler with a drizzle of tahini. Less successful were the beet burgers from James Wong's new book 'How to Eat Better'. I'm not sure if the recipe for these has been tested properly due to the quantities given, 100g of dried shiitake mushrooms is a lot (I only used 25g which was more than enough) and I don't think the rice or egg is needed. You will get 4 substantial sized burgers from the amounts given in the book but they cook better in the oven than in a pan as suggested.
I now have my eye on the huge crop of blackberries spotted whilst exploring some new footpaths but I'm sure I've spotted another monster courgette!
With our busy 21st century lives it's too easy to pop to the supermarket and forget the origin of what we eat but dealing with seasonal excess is part of the whole experience if you grow or pick your own. I've spent many a summer afternoon blanching runner beans for the freezer as a child and stirring vats of homemade chutneys and jams. I had intended to turn my vast gift of plums into a fruit cheese, a 'plumbrillo' but a misjudge of the setting point has provided several large jars of plum jam instead. Never mind, cooking is all about experimenting and the jam is still delicious. Along with jam, I also have a plum and cinnamon compote stashed in the freezer (perfect on porridge) and a Kilner jar of spiced plum liqueur scented with cardamom and star anise developing in the larder for nights in front of the fire later in the year.
Courgettes are luckily one of my favourite vegetables, they are amazingly versatile. At the beginning of summer I mostly eat them raw, whilst it's still possible to keep up with the smaller ones but during August the plants go into overdrive and it's too easy to end up with a marrow sized monster. This year I have also grown Trombocino, an Italian summer squash with an unusual curled shape but have been 'sharing' this particular crop with the slugs and snails much to my annoyance. The recipe below was an attempt to use up leftovers and excess courgettes to provide a weekday lunch, so the suggested amounts are easy to vary, its a very forgiving recipe but rather tasty.
Courgette & goat curd torte - serves 3-4 (gluten free, vegetarian)
2-3 large courgettes (I also used a trombocino squash), thinly sliced
150g goat curd
125g feta, crumbled
½ red onion (finely sliced on a mandolin)
150-250g cooked brown rice (I used some leftovers but a ready cooked pouch will do)
100g chickpea flour
5 free range eggs, lightly beaten
large pinch of chilli flakes
1 tsp nigella seeds
Pre-heat your oven to 200℃ and line the bottom of a 22-23cm cake tin (use one with a loose bottom if possible) with baking parchment. In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients roughly (keep some chunks of feta if you can) and pour into the cake tin. Bake for 30-35 minutes until set. This is lovely served warm with a simple tomato salad but also keeps perfectly well in the fridge for an easy mid week lunch for work.
The monster beetroot were grated raw, mixed with chickpeas and walnuts to become 24 neon pink falafels using this recipe from Waitrose. They are quick and easy and make another great lunch box filler with a drizzle of tahini. Less successful were the beet burgers from James Wong's new book 'How to Eat Better'. I'm not sure if the recipe for these has been tested properly due to the quantities given, 100g of dried shiitake mushrooms is a lot (I only used 25g which was more than enough) and I don't think the rice or egg is needed. You will get 4 substantial sized burgers from the amounts given in the book but they cook better in the oven than in a pan as suggested.
I now have my eye on the huge crop of blackberries spotted whilst exploring some new footpaths but I'm sure I've spotted another monster courgette!
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