Hill of beans? Mountain of courgettes? A member has submitted a selection of tried-and-trusted recipes for those in search of inspiration. Please feel free to share your own favourites.
BROAD BEANS
I wonder whether the Romans, who introduced broad beans to Britain, had trouble getting their families to eat the first fresh vegetable of the year. Try this Moroccan dip on yours.
RECIPE BROAD BEAN 1 - Byesar (broad bean pâté)
Put whole broad beans, garlic and cumin seeds in a pan with barely enough water to cover. Bring to the boil, then simmer until the beans are tender. Drain, reserving the liquid.
Cool the beans and slip off the outer skins.
Purée the beans in a blender or food processor, adding sufficient olive oil and saved cooking liquid to give a smooth soft dip. Season with salt.
Garnish with mint and serve with flat bread, extra cumin seeds and cayenne pepper.
Source: Best of Morocco, ed. V Ferguson, Anness Publishing, 2001
COURGETTES
Courgettes fruit prolifically throughout a long season, so here are some recipes to alleviate the repetition of stock uses. In Italian and American recipes courgettes are called zucchinis.
RECIPE COURGETTE 1 – Courgette and cheese melt.
Grease a baking dish. Put in successive layers of onion, courgette, cheese, onion, courgette, cheese.
Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top. Bake at 350, gas 4, for at least an hour.
Source: heirloom recipe from my wife's American family.
RECIPE COUGETTE 2 – Creamy courgette and blue cheese soup. Serves 4-6
2 tablespoons olive oil
Soften but do not brown the onion in hot oil and butter for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add courgettes, oregano, salt and pepper and stir over medium heat for 10 minutes.
Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, half cover the pan and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes. Stir in the diced cheese until it is melted.
Puree the soup in a blender or food processor until smooth, then press through a sieve into a clean pan. Add two thirds of the cream and stir over a low heat until hot but not boiling. Add more stock if the soup is too thick and adjust seasoning if necessary.
Pour into heated bowls. Coarsely swirl in the remaining cream, garnish with fresh oregano and crumbled cheese and serve immediately.
The soup freezes well at the penultimate stage.
Source: Warm and Welcoming Big Soups, Debra Mayhew, Hermes House, 2008.
RECIPE COURGETTE 3 – Courgette country grain bread. Medium loaf
For bread machines. Add yeast, flour, salt, courgette, sugar, butter, seeds, yoghurt, water to pan in that order. Bake at normal setting, medium crust. Just before the baking cycle starts brush the top with water and sprinkle with maizemeal.
Hand baking. You know what to do!
This is our stock bread from mid-August to mid October.
Source: Bread Machine, J Shapter, Select Editions, 2001
CUCUMBER
What to do with a glut of hand-pollinated cucumbers from your greenhouse?
RECIPE CUCUMBER 1 – Tzatziki
This Greek dip is the perfect accompaniment to a long cold shandy on a very hot summer's day.
Indians have a similar dish called raita for teetotallers.
Mix a teaspoon of salt with the cucumber and leave to stand for 30 minutes or more in a colander and then on a cloth or kitchen towelling to extract as much water as possible. This is essential to prevent the final dip from getting runny and dilute.
Mash the garlic with a pinch of salt. Combine in a serving dish with the cucumber and yoghurt.
Mix in the vinegar, mint, dill and pepper to taste.
Chill in a refrigerator for 24 hours.
Drizzle olive oil over the top, garnish with mint leaves and serve.
Source: Joy of Cooking, Rombauer & Becker, Scribner, 1931 onwards. This is the US equivalent of Mrs Beeton. Early editions tell you how to skin a squirrel and warn that bear meat goes rancid after 3 days. Recent editions have gone soft.
DAMSONS
My childhood coincided with post-war rationing and I was brought up never to waste food. It still irks me to see unused fruit rotting on trees. When I was offered a trial taste of damson gin at Stokesay Castle, I realised I could make it myself from the damsons going begging all round the Stoney Rd site.
RECIPE DAMSONS 1 – Damson gin. 1 bottle
Reject any damsons with insect damage that are starting to spoil. Prick the skins. Divide them between two large glass jars with tight lids. Pour over the gin, saving the bottle. Add sugar. The amount is a matter of taste, but start with a small amount and gradually add more. You cannot reduce the sugar later! I think I used about 1 ½ lbs. It does not matter if there is some undissolved sugar to start with – it will go in a few weeks as the damsons marinate. Seal the jars. Shake thoroughly at weekly intervals.
Close to Christmas decant off the liquid into the empty gin bottle, and drink as a liqueur.
Remove the stones from the fruit and serve with custard as a dessert.
KALE
Kale, formerly called borecole, should be an allotment regular because it crops from late autumn to early spring when other vegetables are scarce. It enables the gardener to get two crops a year from the same bed following on from, say, japanese onions in June and from many other things in the autumn. Without space constraints you can grow a lot of it. So a range of recipes for kale is welcome. Many people have unpleasant childhood memories of a bitter unpleasant taste, so do not bother to grow kale. The secret is to pick it young and eat it fresh.
RECIPE KALE 1 - Kale and potato soup with red chili. Serves 4-6.
This is a very warming tarted-up peasant dish for a cold winter's day.
Make the stock by cutting off the kale stems and boiling them with a vegetable stock cube. Discard the stems.
Heat the olive oil in a soup pot; add the onion , garlic, chili, bay leaf and salt. Cook over a medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the potatoes and yeast extract plus a cup of stock. Stir together, cover and cook slowly for 5 minutes.
Add the kale, torn into 2 inch squares, and steam until it is wilted, stirring occasionally. Pour in the rest of the stock, bring to the boil, then cover and simmer until the potatoes are quite soft, 30 to 40 minutes.
Break up the potatoes using the back of a wooden spoon. Puree a cup or two of the soup in a blender and return to the pot to provide a liquid background for the solid ingredients.
Taste for salt and add a generous grinding of pepper. The flavours will develop further if the soup is kept for up to a day before serving.
Source: The Greens Cookbook, Madison & Brown, Bantam, 1987.
RECIPE KALE 2 – Hearty Ribollita stew (ribollita = re-boiled in Italian). Serves 4
Prepare stock as in recipe kale 1.
Sear the cubed meat in a hot pan.
Sweat onion, leek and garlic in oil for 5 minutes without scorching the oil. Add the carrot and potato and cook gently for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and beans and heat through. Tear kale into small pieces, add with hot stock and herbs to the pan. Boil briefly. Reduce to low heat and simmer for two hours or more with the meat and wine until the meat is done.
For best results reheat the following day.
Serve by ladling the ribollita over a slice of bread in the base of a soup bowl. The bread absorbs the liquid to leave a thick stew. Add the garnish.
Source: Heritage Seed Library catalogue 2009/10, Ryton.
RECIPE KALE 3 – Kale paneer
This is a variant on the Indian side dish Saag Paneer, usually made with spinach. Serves 3-4?
Fry the paneer in a little vegetable oil until golden brown. Place on kitchen towel to drain.
Add the chilis and spices and fry off for a couple of minutes. Add the kale and stir until wilted.
Return the paneer to the pan, stir and heat thoroughly.
Source: Heritage Seed Library catalogue 2009/10, Ryton.
PUMPKIN
We grow more pumpkins as Halloween displaces Guy Fawkes Night. But they are big vegetables with a rather bland taste. How to use them up? The seeds can be dry roasted and served as nibbles.
They can be mashed like swede but drenched in orange juice as a vegetable. There are plenty of recipes for American pumpkin pie, made interesting with lashings of cream. But the best use is probably is in thick soups that exploit the colour.
RECIPE PUMPKIN 1 – Moroccan vegetable soup. Serves 4
Fry the onion in oil and butter for about 3 minutes until soft. Add the carrot and parsnips, stir, cover and cook gently for 5 minutes.
Stir in pumpkin, cover and cook for another 5 minutes. Add stock and seasoning and slowly bring to the boil.. Simmer covered very gently for 35-40 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
Allow to cool slightly, then purée in a food processor or blender. Add more stock if the soup is too thick.
Make the garnish by gently frying the garlic and herbs in the oil for 1-2 minutes. Add paprika and stir well and reserve.
Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to the soup to taste. Pour into soup bowls; spoon a little garnish on top and swirl it into the soup.
This recipe can be made in bulk and frozen, so you can use up a lot of pumpkin.
Source: Best of Morocco, ed. V. Ferguson, Anness Publishing Ltd, 2001.
RECIPE PUMPKIN 2 – Chunky pumpkin, bacon and cheese soup. Serves 4
Fry the onions and garlic in oil for 3 minutes until beginning to soften. Add the bacon and cook for another 3 minutes. Reduce heat, stir in the spices and cook for a minute.
Add the pumpkin, potatoes and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the pumpkin and potatoes are tender.
Blend the cornflour with 2 tablespoons of water and add to the mixture with the crème fraiche. Bring to the boil and simmer, uncovered, for 3 minutes. Add seasoning and Tabasco sauce to taste.
Ladle into warm bowls and sprinkle the cheese on top. Serve with crusty bread to scoop up the melted cheese.
Source: Warming and Welcoming Big Soups, Debra Mayhew, Hermes House, 2008.
RECIPE PUMPKIN 3 – Pumpkin & Pepper soup
This is a full-bodied soup with an attractive colour.
Heat olive oil in a large pan and fry onion for 5 minutes. Add bell peppers and pumpkin and cook for 10 minutes. Add vegetable stock, tomato purée and garlic and cook, covered, for a further 30 minutes. Allow to cool a little. Liquify using a blender or food processor until smooth. Return to pan, warm through and season to taste.
Source: Adapted from Sainsbury's website.
RASPBERRIES
You have made raspberry jam, raspberry sauce (coulis) with vinegar, and summer pudding. Still the fruits pile up in the freezer, frozen individually on baking trays before bagging up. Here is a delicious quick dessert to serve unexpected visitors.
RECIPE RASPBERRY 1 – Raspberry and almond swirl.
Mix the jam with the frozen raspberries. Lightly whip the crème fraiche and swirl with raspberries.
Scatter the biscuits and decorate with mint leaves.
Source: Tesco recipe card.
RUNNER BEANS
To freeze runner beans without blanching, slice them thinly by pushing them through an old-fashioned cutter with parallel blades. The cutter can be had cheap from Coventry market. Place on a baking tray in the freezer somewhat separated from each other. Then you can take as many as you need from an accumulating plastic bag. Nonetheless during the August runner bean epidemic you will be desperate for other recipes.
RECIPE RUNNER BEAN 1 - Runner bean chutney
Cook beans in salted water and drain. Return to pan, add sugar and most of the vinegar. Boil for 15 minutes. Mix spices in the remaining vinegar, add them and the cornflour to the pot and boil for another 15 minutes. Bottle.
Source: My sister, who was a cookery teacher.