Pumpkin, Cheese and Garlic Bake [Vegetarian Christmas dish]

Christmas dinner can be a little tricky if you are vegetarian. Sure, you’ve got all the veg, bread sauce, Yorkshire puds and vegetarian stuffing if you like it, but unless you are splashing out on a nut roast, there isn’t a lot to make up a ‘main meal’. As a vegetarian – not just a vegetarian, but a fussy vegetarian who needs a balanced meal with all the groups for health reasons – Christmas dinner can be a pain when it comes to protein. I don’t like bread sauce, Yorkshire puds, stuffing or nut roast, so I’m basically doomed. This year, as I was catering for two vegetarians, I thought it was time to try a new recipe. I still had three pumpkins from the veg patch and I thought it was perfect for xmas dinner – I know they are traditionally linked with Thanksgiving, but in the UK we didn’t have it a month earlier so we could afford to use the pumpkin again!

I needed something quick and simple, with some protein in. I opted for cheese. As pumpkin is, well, bland, I also decided to throw some garlic in there too.

It is really basic and can be made in advance of the big day so it doesn’t take up space in the kitchen. Of course, you could make this any time of the year too 😉

Pumpkin, Cheese and Garlic Bake

(Serves 6)

-1 large pumpkin -Olive oil, for drizzling -260g cheddar cheese -20g Swiss gruye -2 garlic cloves

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Cut the pumpkin and remove the seeds. Cut the pumpkin into large slices and place on baking trays. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven for about 45 minutes, or until golden and cooked. Allow to cool completely.
3. Cut the pumpkin up into small cubes and place in an oven-proof dish.
4. Grate the cheese and dice the garlic up into small pieces. Mix together and then sprinkle it over the top of the pumpkin.
5. Preheat the grill to high and heat the bake until the cheese has melted at the top is golden – it should only take a minute or two so keep an eye on it. Or, preheat the oven to 200C and bake for approximately 10-20 minutes, or until the top is golden and the cheese has melted.
6. Serve. Store in the fridge when cold.

Christmas from the garden

Christmas is one of the busiest times in the kitchen, but it doesn’t mean you can’t pop out to the garden too… especially to harvest things.

Christmas cooking can be like the climax of the harvested year. You can give your jams away as presents, eat redcurrant and cranberry jelly and sauce with your Christmas meal. Harvested chestnuts or other nuts can be used in desserts. Dried cranberries or raisins are great for puds. And of course, anything that is still green at this time of year can be added to your wreath or house for festive cheer.

Dried Cranberry Chocolate Cake anyone?

But you don’t have to stop there… what about the main Christmas meal?

What about growing and cooking your own Christmas dinner?

For future thinking, here are some traditional Christmas dinner things you could plan to grow for next Christmas:

• Potatoes – we always plant so many we still have plenty in the ground come Christmas day. As long as they are well buried and not planted in too damp a place, potato tubers will be fine against the frosts.
• Brussel Sprouts or Brukale (Brussel sprout crossed with kale).
• Kale
• Broccoli
• Carrots – yes, you can still be harvesting carrots from the ground at Christmas, if you cover them with fleece.
• Parsnips
• Cabbages
• Beetroot – why not add some to your roasted roots?
• Celeriac – ditto, or a celeriac mash? Or just boiled?
• Celery – homemade stuffing anyone? And in that case how about freezing some pears or storing some apple too?
• Onions
• Runner- beans or peas – store them in your freezers all year round from the first harvest onwards.
• Pumpkin or squash – usually USA’s Thanksgiving, I know, but how about roasting some and creating a vegetarian/vegan replacement for the usual meat?

Homegrown Brussels and Brukale

Christmas is a holiday, a time of celebration and of having fun with loved ones. To me, it is also a time to be creative and original, to do what I love by going back and cooking from scratch, a way of tying up my year of cooking and growing. This year we will be having our own cabbage, beans, pumpkin, celeriac, beetroot, carrots, potatoes and Brussel Sprouts, not to forget homegrown redcurrant jelly and homemade cranberry sauce… What a way to celebrate an end to 2018!

RIP David Austin Sr. 

What do you grow/dream of growing for Christmas time? Let us know.

For Christmas baking recipes, check out Beagle Baking (https://bellasbakingsite.wordpress.com/home/)

Just type ‘Christmas’ into the search bar and it will show you some festive treats.

And then, after all that food, just follow Rainbow’s advice:

Bed.

Summery of 2018 in the Veg Garden

It is time to do the annual check list of how this year when in the vegetable garden.

It was an unusually cold, uneventful spring this year – we basically skipped it and went straight from winter to summer. But boy, what a summer it was! Major heatwave and no rain for weeks on end. It was glorious, even if it did mean a lot of watering all day long…

But how did this all impact on the plants?

Lettuce – started off really good but struggled with the hot weather in the heatwave and bolted. We bought loose leaf lettuce plants from Sainsbury’s and planted them out and they did pretty well despite the weather. When they bolted, the ducks and chickens loved them.

Spinach – bad year for spinach, not a lot germinating, probably because my seeds were too old. I bought some new ones at the end of the season and got a few to grow, but it was too late by then. Oh well, next year!

Rocket – very good rocket growth this year. Planted some at the beginning of the season and at the end and both batches lasted ages – the last batch has only just gone thanks to Jack Frost.

Radishes – they love sun and were whopping sizes.

Carrots – started off very badly. I sowed them in early March and they did not germinate at all. Sowed some in June/July, thinking it wouldn’t work, and we got a beautiful crop. Some really big ones too!

Celery – I wasn’t going to grow celery this year but a neighbour gave us some spare plug-plants so I used them. They grew pretty well, but were not very tasty. I think they needed more watering a care.

Celeriac – again, wasn’t planning on growing more, but were given plug plants. They seem to be surviving, along with last years crop I never got out of the ground… at least the pigs will be happy…

Cauliflower – didn’t come to anything, as usual!

Peas – had some really good crops but the pea plants themselves died off really quickly. I think it was too dry and they needed more care and watering. Mixed bag with the germination rates.

Beetroot – did fantastically well. I only planted one batch and we still have three buried in the ground to get through. Bolthardy is amazing.

Cabbages – I was too late to sow brassicas so we bought some plug plants from the garden centre. The savoys and spring cabbages did not do very well and ended up going to the poultry, but the red cabbages… I am now converted. Beautiful, huge, delicious and a few more left to get through…

Brussel Sprouts – ran out of time to sow seeds but were given plug plants. They are huge and delicious. Producing really well despite my lack of feeding and weeding this year.

Sweetcorn -OMG. Best sweetcorn harvest ever. So big, yellow and yum. Really big cobs! So exciting.

Pumpkins – amazing crop, some big and small ones, each plant produced lots.

Courgettes – really good. Mixture of types of courgettes grown this year, including Defender, Golden Zucchini, Grisdella etc. All produced lots, really yummy. Cucurbits do love sun.

Cucumbers – didn’t do great, but did fine. Needed more watering and care. Only got a few Passandras and Femspot varieties, I think.

Tomatoes: did pretty well, but again needed more care. Got a few outdoors and indoors this year thanks to the sunshine.

Broccoli – ran out of time to sow so bought plug plants. Did pretty well – lots of small florets rather than big ones. Probably more water needed?

Aubergines – plug plant bought as my seeds did not germinate. I think harvested one? A few grew but did not develop into edible stage.

Sweet Pepper – plug plant as seeds did not germinate. Got quite a few small but delicious ones.

Runner-beans – very good harvest. So many grew after my fears none would germinate due to the hot weather. Roots left in ground from previous years grew again. Got an amazing supply and was still harvesting in November!

Chickpeas – only one plant survived out of the billions of seeds planted. Didn’t develop anything. Will have to try again another year.

Onions – did not do great. Not very big. Needed more water probably.

Garlic – as good as always!

Potatoes – amazing as always! Bought some early Charlottes and Red Duke of York and a main crop Kingsman. Planted some old ones we chitted out from previous batches. Lots of growth and some incredible sizes.

Parsley – good supply from previous year’s sowing.

Chervil – ”

Chicory – ”

Strawberries – great year. Lots of lovely delicious red gems. Made lots of strawberry jam.

Raspberries – very good year. There were some to be picked in late November still. Lots of raspberry jam.

Pears – didn’t get any because fox ate them all.

Grapes – only got one batch because birds ate them all.

Cherries – birds ate them all but the Morello was laden.

Damsons – good supply from one tree. Made one pot of damson jam which was delish.

Apples – very good harvest from all trees. First Bramley harvest, was yummy.

Quince – diseased so didn’t produce anything.

Mulberry – no produce.

Medlar – produced but did not develop and then eaten by birds.

Blueberries – good crop.

Redcurrants – very good crop.

Jostaberries – a lot stolen but birds but good crop.

Blackcurrants – ”

Gooseberries – no crop.

Chives – very good crop as always.

Parsnips – no actual parsnips but great flowers growing.

Plums – lots of Victorias and Green Gages. Made some good plum crumbles.

Sweet Potatoes – disaster. Didn’t cut off vines so no root growth.

I think that is all…. thanks for the year 2018. It was busy, juggling with university, heatwaves, water leak fears, drought fears, and now freezing weather, but what a lovely time we had! Looking forward to another summer of playing in the sun in the garden.

Merry Christmas everyone from the Kitchen Garden in advance. And just to finish it off, what a good year for space2grow – one year ago it was established and it has so far one 3 Bloom awards, has been given sponsorship and its volunteers and supporters are rocketing, including santa…

 

Pumpkin Risotto

We still have a few pumpkins waiting for attention. Roasting them and then adding to a dish is a perfect way of using them – see Pumpkin Coconut Curry, Pumpkin Soup, Pumpkin cake for more ideas…

Pumpkin Risotto

(Serves 4)

-1 small pumpkin -Olive oil, for  roasting -25g butter – 1 onion, sliced – 325g rice – Salt and pepper, for seasoning -750ml vegetable stock –More cooked vegetables, to serve (optional)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Slice and clear the insides of a pumpkin. Cut into segments and place on a roasting tray, drizzled with olive oil. Roast for 45 minutes, or until golden brown.
2. Melt the butter in a large frying pan. Add the onion and fry gently over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Turn the heat down a little.
3. Add the rice and a grinding of salt and pepper. Stir to coat the rice with the butter.
4. Add the stock after frying the rice like a pilau for a couple of minutes, bring to the boil, stirring frequently.
5. Turn the heat down once the stock is bubbling and leave to simmer until almost all of the stock has been absorbed. Add the roasted pumpkin, cut up into squares, cover, and leave to simmer for 5-10 minutes.
6. Serve with cooked vegetables.

Pumpkin Soup

I haven’t made a lot of soups in my time – carrot and coriander once years ago and a vegetable broth at River Cottage – but I have always wanted to make pumpkin soup with a homegrown pumpkin.

We did really well with the pumpkins this year and after my siblings had carved their spooky faces into two of them for Halloween, I turned one of them – forgotten which one, might have been Bob or Reg… – into soup. Cruel, but it was either that or feed him to the pigs.

Here is my super-duper easy pumpkin soup. You could add more seasoning to it of you would like more flavour. I have heard suggestions of chilli and peanut butter before…

Pumpkin Soup

Serves… a lot. At least ten people. 

-1 medium sized pumpkin, 1.5kg, de-seeded -Olive oil, for roasting and frying -1 large onion, sliced -700ml boiling water -1 generous tsp Bouillon vegetable stock powder – A pinch of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Cut the pumpkin up into chunks and place on a non-stick baking tray. Drizzle generously with olive oil and place in the centre of the oven. Roast for about 45 minutes, or until the pumpkin wedges are cooked and perhaps browning a little. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
2. In a deep-based pan, fry the onion in olive oil until golden brown.
3. Place the pumpkin and the onion in a food processor and blitz until mush.
4. Add the tsp veg stock powder to the boiling water and mix well. Slowly pour into the food processor and blitz the pumpkin again.
5. Scare the contents of the food processor into the pan and bring to the boil, stirring. Add the pinch of salt.
6. Serve hot in bowls. Store in the fridge for up to 3 days. Can be frozen too.

Red Cabbage

Just look at that red cabbage… homegrown and harvested from the plot yesterday.

It was the first time I have ever grown red cabbages before and I thought it was so beautiful, I decided to eat some. I went from cabbage hater, to ‘green cabbages are ok’ to ‘wow, red cabbages are good cooked too!’

Why should we eat cabbages?

89g of raw cabbage contains –

• Protein: 1g
• Fibre: 2g
• Vitamin K: 85% of the RDI
• Vitamin C: 54% of the RDI
• Folate: 10% of the RDI
• Manganese: 7% of the RDI
• Vitamin B6: 6% of the RDI
• Calcium: 4% of the RDI
• Potassium: 4% of the RDI
• Magnesium: 3% of the RDI

Vitamin B6 and folate are essential for many important processes in the body, including energy metabolism and the normal functioning of the nervous system. Cabbage is especially high in vitamin C, a potent antioxidant that may protect against heart disease, certain cancers and vision loss. While both green and red cabbage are excellent sources vic C, red cabbage contains about 30% more. One cup (89 grams) of chopped red cabbage packs in 85% of the recommended intake for vitamin C, which is the same amount found in a small orange. So I might avoid Fresher’s flu…

Cruciferous vegetables like cabbage contain many different antioxidants that have been shown to reduce chronic inflammation. Sulforaphane, kaempferol and other antioxidants found in brassicas are likely responsible for their anti-inflammatory effect.

Cabbage is full of gut friendly insoluble fibre, a type of carbohydrate that cannot be broken down in the intestines. Insoluble fiber helps keep the digestive system healthy by adding bulk to stools and promoting regular bowel movements. Cabbage is also rich in soluble fibre which has been shown to increase the number of beneficial bacteria in the gut. These bacteria perform important functions like protecting the immune system and producing critical nutrients like vitamins K2 and B12. Eating cabbage keeps your digestive system happy.

Red cabbage contains powerful compounds called anthocyanins. They give this vegetable its vibrant purple colour. Anthocyanins are plant pigments that belong to the flavonoid family. Many studies have found a link between eating foods rich in this pigment and a reduced risk of heart disease. Cabbage contains more than 36 different kinds of anthocyanins…

How to eat it?

Raw is probably best as most of the nutrients will be withheld that can sometimes leave during the cooking process. But I find raw cabbage icky. Steamed is the next best, followed by boiled, roasted, fried.

We boiled it and ate our red cabbage with lots of other homegrown produce for dinner – potatoes, sweetcorn, green Savoy cabbage, carrots, runner beans and courgette. It was beautiful and yummy and helped to ease my sore gut that had been suffering all day. See – homegrown produce is so good for you!

Update: one more pumpkin left to harvest… the other plants have all turned brown and died from powdery mildew so I cut their fruits off and took them inside to cure (more information here for those who are interested: Curing pumpkins). I’m leaving the last one on to make sure it ripens more and will take it away when the plant finally has to go.

Blight has hit the veg garden and the potatoes are starting to go – thank goodness it came so late this year as the main crop potatoes have managed to grow properly before the disease came. The tomatoes are going to suffer and I am expecting a lot of green ones to fall off soon but we did pretty well with the red tomatoes being grown outside this year in this once in a lifetime heatwave.

The autumn harvest of raspberries is being as wonderful as always. We had them last night for dessert along with homemade chocolate brownie ice cream and cookies and cream ice cream (recipes can be found on my Beagle Baking blog:

Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ice Cream

https://bellasbakingsite.wordpress.com/2018/07/27/cookies-and-cream-ice-cream/  ).

Curing pumpkins

Curing pumpkins involves hardening the skins to protect the flesh inside from deterioration. Do it properly and you can expect fruits to stay in top form for at least 3 months, comfortably taking you to the first harvests of next spring.

The fruit is harvested when it is uniformly orange and the rind is hard. Harvest the fruit by cutting it off the vine with a sharp knife or a pair of looping shears, leaving 3-6 inches of the stem attached to the fruit. This makes the fruit less likely to be attacked by fruit rot pathogens at the point of stem attachment.

Remove the fruits to a greenhouse or as sunny a windowsill as you can find, after  brushing off any dirt or washing in soap and warm water, drying first. Allow your fruits to sunbathe and develop a tan. This should take about two weeks for the top of the fruit then, once carefully flipped over, another two weeks for the bottom.

Pumpkins and winter squash prefer a well-ventilated, dry place. Keep the fruits raised up off hard surfaces on racks or wire mesh with a thick layer of newspaper or straw. Keeping them off the ground will allow air to circulate around the fruits while the extra padding will prevent the skin softening and becoming vulnerable to infection.

Once cured, store the pumpkins in cool, dry storage.

The pumpkins are coming…

The pumpkins are turning orange – it must be autumn.

We had a pretty good growth of pumpkins this year – at least one per plant. We’ve got about six in total off the top of my head.

I planted ‘Racer’ seeds indoors in tall yoghurt pots in April, I think… could have been May…

Anyway, they were planted outdoors into a very sunny patch during the heatwave. With regular feeds of rotted manure and blood fish and bone, they have flourished.

We were really lucky that the heatwave kept back the powdery mildew this year (look at Powdery Mildew for more information and preventative treatment tips). This disease flourishes in warm but moist climates – so thank  you drought. It meant that the mildew that could attack as early as May or June stayed off until the last few days of August. Powdery mildew looks like this:

To begin with, little spots of white mould form on the leaves. These quickly spread, covering the whole leaf and spreading to the stalks. The plant starts to turn brown. It shrivels and dies, sometimes taking the fruit with it. Very quickly you can end up with this:

A dead plant.

I cut off two pumpkins yesterday from their dead plants to prevent the disease from spreading to the fruits themselves. Thank goodness they had already turned orange…

Next step is curing them…

Update continued…

In my last post I got very excited about making my first preserved chopped tomatoes from our homegrown crop. I will end that little story by saying I used them in a homemade paneer curry last night and it was great – along with homegrown onion, garlic, coriander seeds and mustard seeds in it, and homegrown runner beans on the side, of course. Here is a link to my paneer recipe if you need it, part of my old cucumber post —> Cucumbers

Now that the rain has settled in … 😦 I’ve had lots of time to catch up on making preserves. Spent a busy Friday making two batches of strawberry jam and a chutney – recipe coming soon!

 

But I took the chance yesterday to snap some quick pictures of the garden in the sun before the rain came back and would love to share some with you. Below is a picture of our William red rose. It is the most prolific yet at the moment. I counted 7 flowers and another 8 buds getting ready to open the other day. This after mostly just 3 at a time for the last couple of years. It shows how good feeding a rose is… It is a beautiful, delicious smelling rose I highly recommend.

Next up we have the sweetcorn. It has grown so tall this year – taller than me, which isn’t saying much, but that makes it over 5’3… They have been loving the summer and he sprinkler and are looking really good. Next test will be to see if they have produced any kernels…

I grew most of my tomatoes indoors this year, which I always do because the English weather is often rubbish, but we do always get a few rogue plants in the compost we spread outside. These often come to nothing but this year they are laden with fruit and look stunning!

Below is a photo of the one chickpea plant that decided to germinate. The little brown pods are the beginning of what will hopefully turn into an actual chickpea being grown. Fingers crossed.

Runner beans are doing very well, but I’m going to have to start using a ladder.

Pumpkin!

The other huge plant this year was the courgettes. The actual plants were whopping in size. I should have taken a photo earlier when they looked even more striking, but I got one now to remind myself in the future that courgettes need space!

That’s all for now. Hope you all have a glorious twelfth – oh, fun fact, it is international elephant day on 12th August every year.

 

Ratatouille, new fiction book, and a blog post

Picked first green-gage plums yesterday and collected a fallen ‘Victoria’ plum off the ground too. Blackberries are ripening. Broccoli has been picked. Five pumpkins are growing. It is August now – so that basically means autumn in the UK, but there is talk of 30C at the end of the week…

 

Yesterday I harvested our first aubergine – eggplant – of the year and made Ratatouille. I have posted a recipe before, but I think this one was better, so I will re-write it in a moment.

One of the best things about this dinner is that everything (except for the olive oil for frying and the rice I ate with it) is homegrown.

Very exciting!

So here is the updated recipe:

Ratatouille  

 

(Serves 4)

-Olive oil, for frying in – 1 onion, sliced – 1 large aubergine (eggplant), sliced into small chunks – 2 medium sized courgettes (zucchini), sliced into discs – 1 red bell pepper, sliced into small chunks – 1 large garlic clove, diced – 250g fresh tomatoes, sliced in half – Salt and pepper, for seasoning

1. Heat the oil in a large pan. Fry the sliced onion and aubergine, turning it down to simmer.
2. Add the sliced courgette and pepper. Add the diced garlic and the tomatoes, stirring to combine.
3. Leave to simmer for at least 15 minutes – 30 minutes, the longer the better, stirring now and then.
4. Once the vegetables are tender and the tomatoes have broken down, releasing their juices to become a sauce, add salt and pepper for seasoning and remove from the heat and serve hot in dishes.

Option: serve with potato, sweet potato or rice, and any other vegetables for a hearty meal.

Other news: Firstly, my new fiction book, Crazy Killer Sister, is available now. If you fancy a summer read, please consider? I’m not one for advertising so apart from Facebook, this blog is the only way I promote it!

And finally, I was fortunate to be able to write a blog post for Angie Viet’s, an eating disorder recovery blog, on how gardening helped my own recovery.

Here is the link if anyone is interested:

https://www.angieviets.com/articles/6-ways-gardening-strengthened-my-recovery

 

Have a good week y’all!