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:
Squash, Roots & Wild Mushrooms with Spelt, Feta and Kale Crisps
This week’s recipe is a last hurrah for the winter squash. They’ve had a pretty good innings. Harvested in October, they have been patiently sat in rows in the shed waiting for their moment of glory on the dinner table. The mice have only recently discovered them, burrowing tunnels through the yellow hide and leaving little trails of squash sawdust in their wake. I’m surprised I didn’t find one, Disney style, in the central seed cavity of a squash up-turned, post-gorge and rubbing his full belly.
Celeriac Dip with Za’atar, Almonds & Garlic
I’ve had better harvests, I admit. The celeriac crop this year is, and this is being generous, a collection of golf balls; more straggly root than flesh and with frequent incursions by slugs. They looked promising initially – lots of pert green growth on top. But that was just a cover for the failures below ground. All mouth and no trousers.
Roast Tomato Soup
When the rain starts and the temperature falls and the nights draw in, my mind turns to soup. Specifically, tomato soup. Perhaps because tomato soup is, to me, the cure for all ills. As a child, a tin of Heinz tomato soup was like penicillin in our house: it could remedy almost any ailment from a grazed knee to a chill caught after a reckless trip in a rowing boat during a rainstorm. It was what you took on caravan holidays, where succour was always necessary. It was where you turned when you wanted satisfying, flavoursome coziness but couldn’t find anything to eat in the kitchen. It was what you stuck in the microwave to eat on a Sunday afternoon in front of Star Wars videos.
Roast Cauliflower, Raisins, Pine Nuts & Capers
I get a bit evangelical about cauliflowers. Such an undervalued vegetable. They are really difficult to grow and totally unappreciated. It makes me cross that something so delicious and so troublesome to grow can be sold so cheaply in the shops and I tend to get on my soapbox when they are mentioned.
Roast Grape & Goat’s Cheese Bruschetta
A grape glut! Not mine. More’s the pity. My neighbour’s, who has a vine in her back garden, pays it almost no attention (in fact, I think it’s considered a bit of a pest) yet is swamped, literally swamped, with grapes. Now, when someone invites you to come and help yourself to their glut there’s an awkward moment of glut-pilfering etiquette that ensues.
Roast Radishes, Lentils & Anchovies
Every year I thank goodness for radishes. Most of the year I can take or leave them, but in April they are glowing jewels in an otherwise beige month. The kale is all gone but the peas have yet to arrive. So we’d be lost, not to mention hungry, without these vegetable gemstones.