Celia Hart's blog about what's going on in and around her studio.
Art, printmaking, inspirations, gardening, vegetables, hens, landscapes, wild flowers, East Anglia, adventure, travel.

Saturday 20 June 2009

Have garden will cook

One of the first blogs I found was The Slow Cook – it's still a favourite for thought provoking articles and down to earth good sense and good recipes. I noticed the other day that PPPs is on The Slow Cook's list of links under the heading 'Have Garden Will Cook' – that sums me up pretty well, so I hope that Ed doesn't mind me nicking it as the title to this post.

I love to collect recipes that can be adapted to use whichever vegetable is in season in my garden, the other day on TV I saw Jamie Oliver cook a scrumptious looking filo pastry tart, he used asparagus but it seemed an ideal basic recipe that can be adapted to use other ingredients. This evening while the potatoes were cooking I picked some of the largest pods from the Crimson Flowered Broad Beans and the biggest mange touts from the Golden Sweet and Reuzensuiker Peas – these went straight into the steamer over the potatoes for a few minutes. I assembled the tart as in Jamie's recipe, arranging on the top the peas and broad beans instead of the asparagus. I used four eggs laid by the under-gardeners and semi-skimmed milk instead of double cream. As I was adding broad beans I added chopped summer savoury instead of the nutmeg.

This is rich and very filling, we ate it with a salad of mixed lettuce leaves freshly picked just before serving. There's more than enough leftover for tomorrow's lunch – ideal for a picnic I think!

9 comments:

  1. Celia, you can nick my stuff any time. We gardeners who cook have to stick together. That's a lovely tart. I have some big, boisterous kale plants that are calling my name....

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  2. Oooh, that looks and sounds yummy!! Happy summer solstice :)
    ~Brenda

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  3. That looks soooo delicious! wisedJanet

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  4. That is a perfect recipe for the stuff which is in season at the moment! Will give it a go!

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  5. That sounds so scrummy! Isn't it great that you can adapt the recipe to use what you've grown?

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  6. I've started to do this with my small harvest and I'm enjoying it so much. Every bit of tonights meal had something from the garden, even if it was only herbs. The pea and broad bean tart looks delicious.

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  7. Oh yum, that looks fantastic. I just picked a bunch of Golden Sweet mange touts (snow peas) this morning and I could probably glean a few more pods from the Crimson Flowered beans (favas) as well...

    Now I have to go check out Ed's blog.

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  8. My Mam - in her cooking days - she's 88 on Wednesday and lives with my sister who does the cooking now - used to make a mean Filo pie in a big square lasagne dish. It was layered and included spinach or chard in one layer, spicy tomato sauce in another, various cheese and herb concoctions, new peas and beans in a creamy sauce etc. You add as many layers as you wish and finish with scrunched up filo brushed with oil. It's a dish I prefer cold (like revenge eh?)

    I always feel gardening and cooking go hand in hand. Who has greater respect for the ingredients than the one who grew them?

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  9. Thanks Ed :-)

    Hi Artslice and Island Gardener - it was delicious!

    Hi Matron & Toffeeapple - a very adaptable recipe for cooking veg-gardeners.

    Hi Gina - I think growing edible things makes cooking more exciting.

    Hi Michelle - my Golden Sweets are romping away this year!

    Thank you Veg Heaven - your Mam's Filo Pie sounds wonderful, you've given me lots of idea for summer cooking.

    Celia
    x

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