Purple Sprouting Broccoli - well worth the wait

Purple Sprouting Brocolli

One of the tastiest vegetables I have ever eaten has to be purple sprouting broccoli. This is so different from the usual large green heads that you get in most supermarkets today that is really calabrese. I have never found it in shops in Ireland but recently bought some in London.


I grew it first as it is one of the few green vegetables that comes into season in February and immediately fell in love with it for its taste. I have been growing it for 20 years now and have been using the variety Early Purple, which produces prolifically from about the second week of February through to April.


When it comes to cooking and eating it, the simpler the better. Today we had a light lunch of brocolli spears that had been boiled and then dipped them in freshly made wild garlic aioli. Simple but gorgeous. They work very well with pasta too - the classic Orecchiette with Anchovies and Broccoli being a favourite.


One of the drawbacks of purple broccoli is that it takes a long time to grow. The broccoli we ate today was sown in the middle of April last year. A long time to wait but I assure you it is well worth it. It is sown outdoors in a seedbed like you would any other brassica and transplanted when about 15-20 cm tall spacing plants about 50-60 cm apart.


This year I was browsing in our local garden centre and came across two packets of broccoli seed I hadn't noticed before. Both come from Thompson & Morgan. The first, Summer Purple promises purple sprouting broccoli between July and November if it is sown in intervals between March and June. The second packet contains three varieties, Red Admiral F1, Rudolph and Cardinal, which if sown in May - early June promises to crop from November right through to May. So if the promise is fulfilled I should have purple broccoli from July this year all the way through to May next year 

De-boned Chicken with Leek & Mushroom Stuffing

Chicken stuffed with leeks and mushrooms

It poured rain here all day yesterday - today is pretty much the same - so I decided to put a bit extra into making the dinner. I had a chicken and some mushrooms that were half price this week. In the garden there were leeks, carrots and potatoes among other things. I had been watching the contestants on Masterchef stuffing boned breasts of chicken and saddles of rabbit so I thought I'd give a go at something like that.....

I'm not sure how I hit on de-boning a whole chicken; I think I started with thinking about stuffing breasts but that is where I ended up. It is a lot easier than I thought but you do need a very sharp knife and a steady hand. Essentially you start by slitting the length of the back bone and then working with the blade sliding over the carcass gradually peel the flesh away. When you get to the thigh joint cut the tendons and continue to work along the rib cage. At the wings, again sever the tendons. Be careful not to cut through the skin at the breast bone but turn your bird around and repeat the process as above. Then carefully separate the carcass from the breast.

I then decided to remove the leg bones and wing bones. The legs were easy enough to peel the flesh from the bone, cutting out the thigh bone first and then removing the shin bone. The wings were a little more tricky and I only managed to remove the first bone without cutting the skin so, I guess what you would call the fore-wing and wing tip were cut off completely.

Salt and pepper the chicken inside and out and set aside. Make a stock of the carcass, wing tips, a carrot, garlic and leek greens.

For the stuffing I soaked a handful of dried porcini mushrooms in a little boiling water for about 30 minutes. I chopped the whites of three leeks, a clove of garlic, a small punnet of mushrooms and the drained and squeezed porcini, retaining the soaking liquid. I melted about 2 tablespoons of butter and sautéed the leeks and garlic, adding the mushrooms, salt and pepper, a tablespoon of thyme and a tablespoon of rosemary when the leeks were nearly done. When the mushrooms were cooked I added the mushroom liquor and about a cup of white wine and cooked until the liquid was evaporated. I let this mixture cool and mixed in the breadcrumbs from three slices of wholemeal bread and a beaten egg.

The stuffing operation was simple enough. First stuff the legs and wings and place the remainder in the cavity. Wrap the flesh around and tie with string giving you a long rolled stuffed and trussed chicken. Rub all over with olive oil and pop into a hot oven (200 C) for 15 minutes and reduce to 190 C for the remainder - about 1 hour and 10 minutes in total. I used a thermometer to check that the meat and stuffing had cooked through.

Leave the chicken to rest for about 20 minutes before slicing it.

To accompany it I made creamed potato with mustard and a carrot purée. I sautéed mushrooms and some sprigs of broccoli. Oh, and a gravy made with some of the stock and the pan juices.

Moroccan Spice

Stuffed Cabbage, Moroccan Potatoes, Moroccan Beans

It was a beautiful summers day here yesterday and I was reminded of a holiday (mid-winter!) to Morocco a few years ago. I also had a cabbage I was wondering what to do with. We also have a good crop of broad beans and new potatoes. Broad beans are widely used in the middle east and are also called fava or ful beans. This recipe uses fresh green beans but they are often used dried in falafel and other dishes.

Middle East food excites me with its blend of spices, oil  and use of vegetables. They are also relatively simple to make with few overall ingredients.


Stuffed Cabbage Leaves
1 Cabbage
500g minced meat
100g rice
1 onion
Juice of 2 lemons
Mint (fresh or dried)
All spice
Paprika

Separate the cabbage leaves, wash and blanch for 4 minutes in lightly salted water. Drain and remove any tough central rib - not too much. Mix the meat, rinsed rice, finely diced onion, salt, pepper, good pinch of all spice and paprika. Place the filling on a cabbage leaf, roll and seal until all the mix is used. Line a deep pan with the remaining leaves. Lay the stuffed cabbage rolls on top. Add water, cover and simmer for about 35 minutes. Add a teaspoon of mint and the lemon juice. Simmer for a further 10 minutes.

Moroccan Potatoes

12 new potatoes, halved

3 Anaheim chillies, halved and seeded
1-1/2 tablespoons cumin seed
6 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 lemon, sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
2. Coarsely grind together cumin seed, garlic, salt and pepper in a mortar and pestle. Stir in lemon juice.
3. Lay chillies in the bottom of an ovenproof dish and add water.
4. Coat potatoes with olive oil and place on top of chillies. Drizzle with prepared sauce.
5. Bake, covered, until potatoes are fork tender, about 40 minutes.

Moroccan Broad Beans

500g shelled broad beans

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon cumin

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup water

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1.2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons chopped parsley or coriander

Place the beans, garlic, spices, oil in a small pot. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add teh salt and lemon juice, cover and continue simmering for another 5 - 10 minutes or until reduced to oil and spices. Stir in the parsley or coriander, taste for salt and serve warm or at room temperature

Planting Tomatoes

I planted my tomatoes in the glass house today. I grow lots of tomatoes as they are the only ones that I will eat. I'm sure that anyone who has tasted home grown tomatoes, especially organic ones, will agree that it is impossible to beat the taste.

Newly planted tomatoes

I'm only growing three types this year. Beafsteak tomatoes as they are simply unbeatable in salads or sliced in sandwiches. I'm growing some yellow ones as they add a splash of colour and what I call ordinary tomatoes - the ones that you get in the shop. I mostly freeze the latter ones to use throughout the year in sauces and soups. 

Freezing them is simple. Drop them in boiling water and bring back to the boil. By this time the skin will have started to split and peel away. Remove the tomatoes and drain in a colander. Skin them; remove the core; roughly chop and put them in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer for five minutes. I give them a blitz with a hand held blender at this stage. Then put them in convenient sized containers - I use 200 ml/ 200g containers. Cool and freeze.

In the greenhouse I plant them 45 cm apart in two staggered rows down either side of the central path. I have support wires running the length of the house and strings tied to these are placed under the root ball as I plant them. This gives a firm support and it is easy to wind the vines up them as they grow.

I plant just as the first flowers are opening having kept them on the dry side to stress them and encourage flowering. It is vital to remove side shoots that appear where the leaf meets the stem. If you don't you get a mass of stems that quickly become a jungle. As the fruit set and swell I remove the lower leaves up to the lowest truss that is starting to ripen.

Water dripper

I have an automated drip system to water the tomatoes. This has several advantages. Firstly, it means that I don't have to spend hours watering 30 tomato plants by hand. It also means that I use a lot less water as the drips place it just where it is needed. This also means that the spaces between the plants are drier and this cuts down on the number of weeds.

Making Fresh Pasta

Making pasta dough

Pasta as we know it does seem to have been first made in Italy although noodles were being made in China at least 4,000 years ago. Some believe that Marco Polo first brought noodles to Italy and these developed into what we now know as pasta. What really makes pasta is the quality of the flour that is used. It needs to be really hard, high gluten flour to get the al dente texture. In Italy pasta must be made with durum wheat or durum semolina wheat. I buy special pasta flour from Italian catering shops or my local health food store that stocks excellent organic pasta flour.

Dried pasta is made from just flour and water. It is then shaped, usually mechanically although it can be done by hand, and then dried. Fresh pasta is made using egg rather than water to moisten the dough. It can also be dried but it is really at its best when made absolutely fresh and dropped into boiling water just as soon as you have finished rolling and cutting it.

Making fresh pasta can be hard work by hand and I strongly recommend getting a pasta rolling machine if you are going to make your own. I made my first pasta by hand with a rolling pin and it took hours to get it thin enough.

The ingredients are pretty simple and the way I work it out is that for each person for a main course you need

• 1 large free range egg
• 100g (3.5 oz) pasta flour

Pasta machine and drier

Sift your flour onto a work top. Make a well and break the eggs into it. Using a fork break up the eggs and gradually work the flour from the rim into the dough until it is combined. Then you have to knead the dough for 5 minutes. If you don't have a pasta machine you need to do this for 10 minutes. The dough will seem very hard and not very pliable. Cover it with an upturned bowl and leave to rest for 20-30 minutes. The dough will now be soft and elastic.

Now divide the dough by the number of eggs you used. If you are doing this by hand roll it with a rolling pin until you have it about 1 mm thin. If you are using a machine. Set the rollers at the widest setting. Pass the dough through once. Fold it in two and roll again. Repeat this until it has been through 10 times. Now start to narrow the roller gap one stage at a time and pass the dough through in a long strip. When you get to the narrowest setting you will have a piece of dough about a metre long.

Cut this into three lengths and pass it through the cutter blades for whatever shape you want. Hang the pasta up to dry. I have a really handy gadget for this which has 12 sticks to hang the pasta on. If you don't have one of these you can arrange broom handles suspended between chairs and any other handy surface to hang the pasta on.

Now simply drop the pasta into a large pot of salted water that is at a rolling boil. Put the lid back on immediately and bring back to the boil. Stir it and boil with the lid off for 2 to 3 minutes when the pasta should be al dente. If you have let it dry it will take longer to cook so test a piece at a time until it is just right.

Fresh pasta is best served with a wet clinging sauce rather than a lumpy one. It also turns lasagne into a whole other experience.

Wild Garlic - free and tasty

Wild Garlic

I remember wild garlic from my first year at school. There was loads of it growing under some trees on my way to school. All the kids used to run through it until we were reeking of garlic. I can't remember whether this annoyed the teachers or my mother but I do remember it as something I wasn't supposed to do.

I have been using it widely in the kitchen recently as we have loads of it growing all over our land. It is particularly suitable to shady places such as under trees or shrubs where it self seeds and divides itself with no effort on our behalf.

It makes an interesting addition to any salad, adding flavour and goodness. The flowers can also be added to give a bit of colour to the salad. I recently saw the flowers being deep fried and used as a garnish for a dish. I also add it to mashed potatoes giving a nice green tinge and adding bags of taste.

This evening I made a favourite dish this evening that is quick, tasty and different. When we think of pesto it is usually the pesto genovese using basil, garlic, pine nuts and olive oil. This one gets the greenness and the garlic flavour from wild garlic.

100g wild garlic leaves
50g walnut pieces
200ml extra virgin olive oil
50g parmesan or other hard grating cheese
sea salt and black pepper

Roughly chop the leaves and place these with the walnuts in a food processor. Blitz to roughly chop them and then add the olive oil. Keep processing until a smooth texture is gained. Then add the cheese, finely grated. Season with salt and pepper to taste, both the garlic and the cheese will add saltiness so be careful.

This will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for several days.

Make your pasta - either dried or if you have time make your own egg pasta (I'll blog about this another day). Drain it but leave quite a bit of water with it. Place in a bowl and spoon some of the pesto over it. For about 300g of dried pasta I used about a quarter or a third of the amount of pesto. Serve with a fresh green salad

Coping with Carrot Root Fly

Organic carrots are one of the organic movement's big selling points. They simply taste so much better than those grown with chemical fertilisers. Generally speaking they are easy to grow. You do need to keep them weed free but growing them in deep beds in rows that are 10 cm apart so that the foliage makes its own mulch sorts that problem out. The soil needs to be fertile but should not have received any manure or compost for 12 months or the roots will fork; giving interesting results that may look comical but are difficult to prepare for the kitchen. It is best to sow them thinly - and I mean thinly - aim for one seed every 2 cm or so. This cuts down on the need to thin.

The big problem I have with growing carrots is the pest carrot root fly (psila rosae). These little flies lay their eggs on the carrots and the larvae burrow into the roots making them pretty useless and inedible. The flies are difficult, if not impossible, to get rid of as you need to remove not only all carrots but also all members of the carrot (umbelliferae) from your garden and surrounds. That means parsnips, parsley, various herbs such as perennial fennel and angelica; essentially not a realistic solution.

The carrot root fly hunts initially by smell and once it is within range of the carrots it hunts by sight. It flies close to the ground - below 60 cm or so. This gives two defence strategies. The first is to confuse the smell by companion planting. You need to grow a barrier of onions or chives around your carrots. If you have a big plot of carrots it is a good idea to intersperse the carrot crops with breaks of onions. This method has met with some success although not in my garden. From what I hear it works sometimes but if some flies get in then your crop is finished. And once they are in you have got them.

The other, and I think more reliable method is to use a physical barrier. Some people erect a screen around the crop about 60 cm high. They use plastic sheeting or fine mesh. This method is actually more reliable than the companion planting method. However, it is possible for a gust of wind to blow some flies over the top and there you go again - no carrots.

After years, of poor or no crops I have resorted to completely enclosing my carrots. I have used garden fleece and enviro-mesh. These fine coverings keep the flies out but let the air and rain in. Both have been almost 100% successful. I guess there has been a hole or when I was taking a peek one of the little creatures slipped in - I don't know really. The point is it is nearly fool proof. It does have to be a complete seal and you do have to minimise lifting the covering. If you have to weed it is best to do it when it is raining as the flies go to ground and the rain keeps the smell of carrot down too.

So, if you have lost your crops to the root fly give this method a try and you can be enjoying your own buttered baby carrots, carrot salad or vichy carrots once again.