Tempura, tempura!

At this time of year, as the tempo of the garden increases, it can feel a bit overwhelming to deal with the sheer volume of produce that is hurled at us after months of hard work.  A glut of produce can turn to repetition in the kitchen and boredom at the supper table.  I was heading in that direction myself with my courgettes - in pasta, or meat sauces, stir fried, roasted, sliced, chopped, grated. Hoping for culinary inspiration, I nipped over to visit my friend who runs our local deli.  Actually, it was his quest for courgette flowers last summer which had motivated me to plant them in the veg patch in the first place.

He took a dozen flowers from me.  A few were returned the following day, stuffed (with ricotta, parmesan, chives and pancetta), ready to be battered and fried but I had to do this myself.  The recipe given to me was so loose it would have given even Jamie Oliver (with his pinch of this, dash of that) cause for alarm.  I googled and I read, then I got on with it.  The batter was simple, the oil not too deep, the results delicious, although slightly rich for my taste.

I had some extra flowers so, fired up with enthusiasm, I made some more, this time with a simpler filling (ricotta and herbs). For me, that was more like it. The result was sensational: the initial crunch gave way to the softness of the filling, the last bite being the sweet, crisp and juicy courgette sepals or flower base. These would be impressive served for a special lunch but why wait?  I think it's worth making them for a summer supper.

The simple batter I made was an amalgamation of two recipes. Some batters use an egg, some use beer or wine instead of cold water. Others don't use an egg, fearing that this makes the batter too heavy but balance is everything and you find your own preference.  For the stuffing, it seems there are endless variations on this particular theme; I've found potato and greens, meat, cheeses and herby rice.  If you have Mark Diacono's Veg Patch (River Cottage Handbook No. 4) you'll find that he stuffs the flowers with the chopped and sautéed courgettes themselves!

I'm quite taken with the idea of battered veg, and I've read of applying this way of cooking to the unstuffed flowers but why stop at courgettes?  I haven't tried it (yet) but I think that the same principle could be applied to pea pods, mange tout, baby carrots and baby corn although courgette flowers visually steal the show.

Fried flowers may not be to everyone's taste but don't let that stop you from making the most of your courgette flowers:  I've found plenty of other ways of using courgette flowers on this Australian website.

However, if you'd like to try fried flowers for yourself, here's the batter recipe I used, found in the Telegraph's 'Jamie Oliver At Home' - it's a light eggless batter and I used white wine because I just happened to have an open bottle sitting nicely chilled in the fridge:

200g self-raising flour
350 ml sparkling water - or use a decent white wine
A good pinch of salt

Put the flour in a bowl and gradually whisk in the liquid until it's the consistency of double cream.  If too thin, add more flour; too thick, add liquid.  It should nicely coat a dipped finger.

Prepare your filling (Jamie Oliver suggests adding grated nutmeg, parmesan, chopped mint, lemon zest and chopped chillies to 200g of ricotta).  Gently prise open the flowers and, using a teaspoon or piping bag, fill the courgette and carefully twist the top of the flower to seal it. Repeat with all flowers.  Pour oil into a pan up to a depth of about 8 cm. Heat the oil (sunflower is best) to around 180 C - if you don't have a sugar thermometer, drop a piece of potato or bread into the oil; when it turns golden, your oil is ready.

Holding each stuffed flower by the stem (or bottom for female flowers), dip it into the batter and carefully transfer to the hot oil. (Don’t fry more than two flowers at a time or the oil temperature will drop.)  Fry for about a minute (you’ll be able to see when it’s done as it will turn golden and crisp). You may need to turn it in the oil to cook both sides.  Remove with a slotted spoon onto kitchen paper. (I used a silicon spoon which works just as well.) Serve as soon as possible, with lemon wedges and a lovely salad.

Tales of York Rise

Rose finial

Thistle finial

I've been thinking for some time about putting up a page on the history of York Rise. Not only are the flats in a conservation area but they were very innovative when built in 1938: a lot of thought went into the planning to ensure that the properties were more than just housing: plenty of outside space for gardening, leisure and playspaces for the children despite proximity to Hampstead Heath. Sheds were provided for pram storage as there were no lifts to the top floors. (Very handy now for garden tools!) Every flat had a balcony so the occupant could open the door and enjoy fresh air and each balcony had a window box for flowers or tomatoes. My personal favourite was the wonderful Gilbert Bayes designed ceramic finials, shown here, sitting atop the drying line posts; they were removed 15 years ago for safekeeping but I'm on mission to get them restored, if only in the shape of replicas. (The rose and thistle were the emblems of the London Midland Railway who funded the initial build.)

Families, friends and neighbours were relocated as one from the Somers Town area behind Euston and were bonded by moving to this new life together. Most of the tenants today were either born here or have lived here for many years; elderly tenants have known some of today's mothers since they were babies; this not only adds to the sense of community (people know each other here) but provides a wealth of history if you have the time to chat, which I do. I enjoy knowing that this is such a safe, and largely peaceful, community that people have wanted to grow old here.

So, the history. Well, I've finally been spurred into action by someone who used to live here, in fact was born here, and contacted me through this blog. She left in 1983, I moved here in 2002 but it's astonishing the number of people here that we both know (of). I've been entertained by email with stories from the past and she's been kind enough to provide me with a few photos from her personal archives.

So the history page at the top of this blog is about York Rise beginnings and how that ties in with our veg growing today. I hope that other readers will enjoy it, even if it may be a bit long - and on Friday I'll be back with the veg news!

The Wonderful Wyvern, who used to sit in the centre.

Saturday Snap: Beauty among the Beasts

Two weeks ago I wrote about the Zucchini Chop, an exercise in removing unnecessary leaves from my courgette plants to direct energy to the fruit.  Since then I've enjoyed a daily exhibition of beautiful new flowers and tender leaves emerging to protect the fruit while the remaining leaves have swiftly grown to fill the gap left after the cutback.  The plants now stand proud, healthy and large once more in their space - a dual edged sword as it happens.  On the plus side, children are reluctant to race down the narrow path in the middle of the veg patch for fear of scratching their shins but, not so good, is that smaller children (the under-5s) are less able to easily access the beds for watering, a task they like to help with.  I think it may be time for a few more leaves to come off!

The above photo was actually taken in the evening. I like to just have a little meander round, check on the progress of recent sowings (peas, parsley, carrots all growing well), perhaps pick a few sweet peas or sample a raspberry or two (autumn raspberries just coming into fruit) or munch a freshly picked spinach leaf. I intend to make some more stuffed fried courgette flowers (absolutely delicious, more on this with recipe in the next post) so was counting the flowers that were ready for this. Peering through the larger leaves, this beauty caught my eye, it's yellow petals singing out, the dusk light lending an almost purple tinge to the soil below. I think this may be one of my favourite snaps! (I do love my veg.)

Some tips with today's Saturday Snap:

1) Identifying courgette flowers:  male flowers are long and slender on a slim stalk, almost like a rose.  Female flowers are the ones that make the courgettes and have plumper flowers on a chubbier stem. The female stem looks like it will become a courgette; in some cases the slender courgette can be picked with the flower still attached and the whole thing battered and quickly fried. Delicious.

2) Encouraging more fruit: It's essential to leave some male flowers; without them, bees have no pollen to carry across to the female flowers. It's this act that pollinates the flower, causing the courgette fruit to form.

3) Photographing veg:  evening light - if you catch it right - is so much more forgiving than harsh middle of the day sunlight. The midday sun creates hard shadows and burnt out texture in photos;  however great the subject may look to the naked eye, I'm always disappointed with the results if I photograph in strong light. The veg patch is shaded by late afternoon and the last of the day's sun is sometimes reflected back onto the veg by being bounced off nearby windows. This is a perfect time (around 6 - 7pm) in the summer to take photos.

Buried Treasure

Clearing the long walled border last Friday meant tackling not only the insidious weeds and ivy roots but also digging up the potatoes which had magically appeared from tubers overlooked at the end of last year.  Frank was the spade man for the day and he was charged with going very carefully around the fruit trees and self-seeded sunflowers - no mean feat as the sunflowers were being propped up by the potato haulms.  He did a smashing job, although I did have a jug of sunflowers to enjoy indoors at the end of the day.

The main treat though was the sheer amount of beautifully coloured potatoes that he found in the soil. Purples (Blue Danube), pinks (possibly red Cara)  and creamy golds were revealed with every forkful.  I took them home and washed them carefully; half way through the operation, I thought I'd better weigh them. So, with the mud removed and dried off, I popped them on the kitchen scales: 6.4 kilos, almost 14 lbs!  Not bad for a free harvest, eh?  Plenty to share amongst friends - and I've still got my Vivaldi, Charlotte and Pink Fir potatoes to uncover! Three cheers for summer!

See you tomorrow for the Saturday Snap!

Caro x

Fleur-tation!

I've always loved the idea of weaving a few flowers through the veg patch, an idea that really took root after watching Alys Fowler in her Edible Garden on the BBC last year. I already had sunflowers, nasturtiums, calendula and flowering herbs but this year have truly succumbed to a more floriferous outlook by sowing a small patch of sweet peas. These (in the photo) are Spencer Mixed. I also have Old Spice which seem mostly to be either a deep wine colour or ballerina pink. Very pretty, a beautiful smell and, by picking often, the stems are encouraged to keep flowering.

I've enjoyed these so much that other flowers have crept in as well: Honeywort (which has yet to flower), Monarda, Honesty, primula, poppies and violas. Seeds of cornflowers, nigella and bergamot have been sown (possibly a bit late as they've been shaded by the courgettes). Just this week I planted a Rudbeckia into one of the walled borders (next to the lilies which no-one had the heart to dig up when the ivy went) and a plant-sale echinacea (cone-flower) went in next to beans.

My first love will always be for veg but I confess to a moment of heart-fluttering excitement on finding a Cowslip (primula veris) of RHS Merit provenance on the shelf at Morrisons for a mere £2! A bit of research reveals that the leaves are traditionally used in Spanish cooking as a salad green and the plant is also the main food of the Duke of Burgundy butterfly. I live in hope.

Meanwhile, my fleur-ting with florals will continue as I'm currently reading Joy Larkcom's Creative Vegetable Garden which is chock full of horticultural happiness on every page.

:: flowers of golden oregano growing near to my sweet peas ::

Blue Skies at Dawn! (The Saturday Snap)

(That title is for Flighty - I couldn't resist after his comment on my recent post, The Zucchini Chop!)

It's been a busy week, almost too much happening in fact so, to make the most of another (frankly, by now unexpected) day of dry weather, I zipped down to the veg patch early, postponing my weekly slog to the supermarket. Blue skies and warm sunshine graced the veg patch by 7.30 a.m. (not exactly the dawn of my post title but good enough), a welcome turnaround after the night-time rain that had still been falling three quarters of an hour earlier.

Saturday mornings here are quiet, there's hardly a soul about, but it was still a treat to see this gruff looking wood pigeon perching on the wall.  What surprised me was that he stayed there, even when Geordie Frank (neighbour, pensioner and my erstwhile garden labourer) spotted me reaching for my camera.  "Alright then, Flower" he bellowed from the other end of the block.  "What're you up too, eh? Aw heck, look at that bloody great pigeon, what a size, heh heh, 'e's far too fat to fly." (Guffawing loudly while ignoring my pleas to shush, stop, be quiet ... pleeeease!)

:: Wood Pigeon, aka Columba Palumbus which I think suits it very well ::

So, I got my shot, then managed a second closer photo and then Columba Palumbus, who'd had enough, simply turned tail and walked off, ploughing it's way through the ivy.

Onwards to the veg patch to plant out some Strawberry Popcorn, recently gifted from Victoriana Nurseries in Kent.  I'd ordered this a tad late so it needed to go straight in to a bed which I'd already prepared for it, having mulched it a few weeks ago and then covered it to keep it warm and weed free.  The first plant went in and, in the blink of an eye, a small grasshopper jumped on to the corn leaf.  My first sighting of the year.  Quietly and quickly, I reached again for my camera but I could have taken my time, he stayed there for half an hour or more, basking in the warm sunshine. Had he travelled from Kent?  I don't know; but I do know his presence added to the enjoyment of my morning.

:: Ah! Grasshopper! (Not cricket, who have longer antennae) ::

I spent a happy few hours in the Veg Patch yesterday, got loads done, got two Saturday Snaps and now keeping my fingers crossed for more dry weather so that I can get the rest of my planting finished.

Posts may come thick and fast this week as I have such a lot to tell.  Exciting times in the veg patch (for me, at least!)  Hope you'll join me,  Caro xx

P.S. In finding the link for Victoriana Nurseries, I have just read of the demise of the Shirley family's beautiful dog, Polar Bear. Stephen Shirley writes of the loss to his family in a very heartfelt way and I feel very saddened by this news. My sincere condolences to all the family. With love, Caro x