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Polly’s Simple, Mild Chilli Sauce
My chilli collection is split very definitely into two categories, mine and the garden apprentice’s. I’m afraid it’s rather stereotypical, I like the milder Jalapeño type chillies. Whilst he likes the silly hot chillies, along the lines of Habanero and Naga. As the big bulk of our chillies are harvested in the summer, we needed a way of preserving the fruits for winter. We used to simply chop the chillies up and pickle them, but there’re two problems with this method. Firstly as you eat food with chopped chillies, you can get some rather hot mouthfuls and some rather dull ones, it was too inconsistent. Secondly you don’t always want…
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Chilli Explosion
The greenhouse looks like a colourful chilli explosion, ranging from yellow, through orange to red. For years now I’ve only grown two varieties of chilli, Habareros and Jalapeño. Two years ago, I fancied a change and swapped my ‘Jalapeño’ for ‘Havana Gold’ a similar heat chilli. I can’t say I’ve been thrilled by them; they seem to go squidgy on the plant quite quickly. And they are the same colour as the hot Habanero, meaning they make the same-coloured sauce. Potentially a very dangerous situation! So, I will definitely be going back to Jalapeños next year. The garden apprentice has discovered his new favourite curry uses Naga chillies, so I…
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The Greenhouse – My Happy Place
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Super, Simple, Hot Habanero Chilli Sauce
This is actually the gardening apprentice’s hot chilli sauce; I only grow them for him. This year the habanero plants have done really well, but I guess the heatwave was always going to suit chillies. As usual we took the habanero plants into the house over winter, resulting in an early harvest back in July. The fruits were much smaller then, but just as hot! To preserve the chillies for use in the winter, we used to simply chop them up and pickle them, but there’re two problems with this method. Firstly, eating food with chopped chillies, results in some rather hot mouthfuls and some rather dull ones, it’s too…
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Visiting the Gardens at Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons. Part 3 – Polytunnels, Compost, The Orchard & Tasting
“Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons is the fulfillment of a personal vision, a dream that one day I would create a hotel and restaurant in harmony where my guests would find perfection in food, comfort, service and welcome.” Raymond Blanc. Having been drawn down the famous lavender path upon arrival, walked around the Manor and on into the vegetable garden in part one. Watched the swan in the lily pond, meandered around the Japanese water garden, before checking out the Herb and Heritage garden, in part two. We now sit, poised on the recycled champagne bottle bench wondering, what does Raymond Blanc grow in his polytunnels? Oh, it’s starting to…
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The Geese are back in town! – Autumn is around the corner!
I am now awakened regularly by loud honking first thing in the morning. Not from a car, but because the geese are back in town! I’m not at all annoyed, I love hearing them and lie there smiling. They fly over the house three or four times each morning; I never know if it’s the same flock going round and around or if it’s three or four different flocks. The Canada geese return to us each year in late August, and it starts with just a handful. You’re suddenly aware of that distinctive honking sound, and sure enough there’s a small ‘V’ formation in the sky. By mid-September though, there…
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Pear & Raspberry Cake – Gluten Free
We grow two most delicious desert pears ‘Louise Bonne of Jersey’ and ‘Beth’. Unfortunately, with pears, they all ripen within a short period of time, usually around a fortnight, so a cake beckons. We are lucky enough to have a long south facing boundary in the garden, where we built a wall. The fruit trees grow along the wall. A Plum and Cherry are grown as fans and a Fig as an espalier. The Apples and Pear trees are grown as cordons. This means a single stem planted at a 45-degree angle. We get more than enough fruit off them grown this way, with the big benefit of not having…
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Tomato Sauce – A Very Simple Recipe
Transform your homegrown Tomatoes into delicious Tomato sauce for the freezer! Tomatoes were the first edible crop that I grew and once I tasted that first homegrown tomato I was hooked! I’ve grown tomatoes every year since, which is now more years than I care to remember. I initially only had the tiniest vegetable patch and I only had enough space for four tomato plants. Although they were outside, they were against a south facing wall, but I still struggled to get them all to ripen before the end of the season. I dreamt of having a greenhouse and growing enough tomatoes to make tomato soup. Well dreams sometimes come…
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Simply Delicious Cauliflower Cheese – Recipe
I love cauliflower cheese! I only have to hear someone mention it, and I crave it until I get chance to buy a cauli and make it. This has led me to make a larger portion and freeze it in batches. That way I can satisfy my craving instantly. Well at least when it’s defrosted! Having these portions ready made has recently resulted in making one of our favourite dishes, even better! In the summer when our courgette plant is producing so much fruit we can hardly keep up with it. We make so many different dishes with them, including courgette cake. One of our favourite dishes though, is vegetable…
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Courgette & Cauliflower Cheese Vegetable Lasagne – You’ll never want a meat one again!
Can be gluten free If you grow your own summer squashes, then you too will be desperate for new things to do with them. They certainly are prolific croppers. Over the years we have used courgettes and other summer squashes in more and more inventive ways. One of our favourites is to use it in Courgette cake which we eat for breakfast with yogurt, it’s really good! But we have a new favourite! I speak to you as a meat eater when I tell you that this vegetable lasagne is far, far better than a traditional beef lasagne! If this dish doesn’t convert the most ardent carnivore to eating at…
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Food from Flowers – With help from our little friends
Have you ever stopped to notice the flowers that become our food? A lot are small, some are insignificant, but others are as beautiful and spectacular as any ornamental flowers we grow. Fortunately, however small and plain they are, the insects that pollinate them don’t miss them. They busily fly from one flower to another, getting their reward of nectar and pollen, unwittingly pollinating the plants. The big majority of our food is reliant on our busy, buzzy, little friends doing this service for us. As they pass pollen from one flower to another they fertilise the plant and so allowing it to produce seeds. As with everything in life…
