The gluts have left the building (shed)
This is where I used to write about the gluts I get from my veg patch and the ensuing gluttony in the kitchen.
Now I write a weekly mostly-veggie recipe over on Substack, plus share tales from the veg patch and exclusive videos. You can subscribe for free by clicking on the link below and every recipe will be sent straight to your inbox. If you’d like more content (such as those videos I mentioned, interviews and printer-friendly PDFs of every recipe to collect) do consider becoming a paid subscriber. More on that here.
In the meantime, here’s an archive of my old Gluts and Gluttony blog:
Every Flavour Vegetable Fritters
Right. We’re all busy so I’ll crack on with it. There’s a time and a place for flouncing about in the kitchen letting your imagination run riot over making supper. (Ditto for rambling on about veg on a blog.) But this time of year is certainly not it. Not for me anyway. Too much going on and too many To Do lists. Suppers need to be a hassle-free haven amidst all this fuss and bother. Enter my Every Flavour Vegetable Fritters…
Asparagus, Quails’ Egg & Prosciutto Tart
The hero harvest this week is asparagus. But don’t imagine that’s because I like it. I mean, I love to eat it, sure. But asparagus is, in my view, petulant. I wouldn’t grow it if you paid me. In fact, I was paid to look after a bed of it once when I was working in an organic kitchen garden and it was enough to put me off for life.
In Praise of Simplicity
I caught 30 seconds of the TV talent show Great British Menu the other day. A chef from a fancy restaurant was describing the preparation of his dish. He talked of dehydrating this, sous-vide-ing that, ballotining and steaming some long-suffering piece of meat, then braising it overnight before glazing and roasting to serve. (I exaggerate for effect, but not much and the general tenor is accurate.) The plate was a throng of reductions, foams, tuilles, dots of jellies, smears of this and shards of that. Whilst it surely would have tasted terrific, I couldn’t help thinking that there was more ego on the plate than food.
Wild Garlic Frittata
The veg patch is very needy at the moment. Planting seeds, replanting seeds because the mice break into the cold frame and eat them, spreading compost on the beds, cutting back fruit canes, feeding fruit trees, potting on seedlings, watering seedlings… and all accompanied by the damp, chill of drizzle that seeps through your garden gloves and into your bones. So this week, I’ll be brief so we can all get back to shovelling compost.
Broad Bean & Feta Frittata
A busy week calls for a simple supper. And though it has been Broad Bean Week here at G&G HQ, I have, more’s the pity, not been frittering away the hours taking idolatrous portraits of broad beans or sitting in the garden meditatively podding them. Oh no. I have been busy with supper clubs and wedding cakes. So I am grateful to this quick and simple frittata recipe which I made for supper between canapé prep and cake icing. Not only because it is a doddle to make, but also because it offers the welcome opportunity to revel in the full glory of early broad beans – sweet, young and tender.