Wild at Springtime

We collected a good crop of wild garlic from Dragon's Hill in North Wootton, Somerset.  Closer to Weston, Cat says there is an abundance around the Brockley Coombe area.  And then, there's always loads up at Leigh Woods!  If put in the fridge, this stuff keeps its flavour for about a week and is great as a simple but fiery salad or as a substitute for onion/garlic in most one pot dishes.  But after 5 days of constantly eating, there was some left, so ...

On Sunday, I picked a few handfuls of wild nettles from near Plot 66 - definitely putting gloves on to grab a hold, otherwise these buggers really sting.  But once submerged momentarily in boiling water back at home, they are easy to handle, though they shrink to a tenth of their original size so pick loads more than you think you'll need.

I took a 2 litre bowl of each wild garlic and nettles (realistically, I could have used three times the amount of nettles.  You know, that blinkage shrinkage thing!), a cup of sunflower seeds because we had no pine nuts and a good swig or several of olive oil.  Oh, and a touch of seasoning.


And blitzed it all with a hand blender.

I got 2 jars worth of bright green pesto. I topped them up with olive oil, to help preserve it.  Tasty tasty with pasta n Parmigiano and salad.

Tea Bread Recipe

By popular demand (one person made a request) here is my recipe for my tea bread.


1cup all bran (or equivalent)
1cup SR flour
1cup fruit/nuts 
1/2 cup honey (or sugar)
1cup milk


Add the milk and soak the fruit and bran for at least an hour or two. Add the flour, nuts and honey and mix. Put into a greased loaf tin and bake for 1hr to 1hr 30mins on gas 3/4.
Simples.


Sometimes I use just fruit sometimes I am a bit of a devil and add chocolate drops. Tonights batch had half fruit and half pecan nuts.
Its nice on its own or with a bit of butter and a cup of tea. :)


Enjoy
Cat

Veggie burgers are go!!

This first month of my avoidance of supermarkets has left me with a store cupboard full of beans and pulses. I have to admit I don't really like whole beans or pulses :( and have mainly used them in soups which I then puree or make into hummus. I then had a brain wave why not make veggie burgers. I have paid good money in the past for dry mix variety and found that they are a bit tasteless and also that you don't really get much for your money. Feeling like I needed to use what I had rather than add to the bulging cupboard I embarked on making my own recipe!!! A scary prospect and not enthusiastically embraced by my meat eating son.

It was however a resounding success!!! So here it is! I did not measure precisely.

Veggie Burger

Equal amounts of (about 200g of each)

Adzuki beans

chick peas

Cannelloni

yellow split peas

Green split peas

Spelt grain

Smoked paprika

2 clovesGarlic

1 Onion

tsp fennel

jerk seasoning (it was there!)

4oz Gram flour (can use plain flour)

Semolina (optional)

bunch Parsley

salt and pepper to season

Method

Soak all the pulses/beans overnight.

Drain and put in a bowl

fry the onion, fennel and garlic

add to the pulses

add the seasoning and parsley and either mash or blend till fairly smooth (I like a bit of texture but no whole beans)

Add flour and mix

Make into patties and roll in the semolina (it just gives a crispy coating)

Fry in a medium pan on both sides for around 6 mins per side (depending on how thick you made the patties)

Enjoy eating with... well anything :)

We made about 13 in total and we are going to freeze the leftovers uncooked to see how they cook from frozen. I will let you know how we got on.

Cat and Mark