Using up tomato and runner bean gluts

This morning I picked about 3kg of tomatoes and 3kg of runner beans on my allotment, and there's a whole lot more!! Vegetables like these can be problematic because unlike gourds, for instance, they don't keep for long and there's so much you can eat before you start looking like a weird bean/tomato hybrid (I already smell herby I am told).

Anyway, I always find that the best way of using up fruit and veg gluts is to make chutneys and jams as they keep for years. In fact, I've found with chutneys the longer you store them before eating, the more flavoursome they become. Last year I made a green tomato and chili chutney and thought it was OK. Now a year on, the same chutney tastes absolutely superb.

So, today I made Runner bean and tomato chutney. Here's the recipe:

1.5kg runner beans (topped, tailed, de-strung and finely sliced)
4 medium onions (finely chopped)
500g tomatoes (peeled and chopped)
300ml malt vinegar
300ml cider vinegar
400g granulated sugar
55g cornflour
2tsp ground mixed spice
2tsp ground coriander
4tsp mustard powder
4tsp grain mustard
4tsp turmeric
2tsp salt

Pop the onions in a large pan with the malt vinegar and all the spices and seasoning. Bring to a boil then simmer for about 10 minutes. Mix the sugar with cider vinegar and add to the onions along with the beans and tomatoes. Bring to a boil then simmer for about 45 minutes until the beans are tender. Take out a little of the liquid from the pan and mix with cornflour into a smooth paste then pour back into the pan and stir until the chutney mixture thickens (a minutes or so). Ladle into hot, sterilized jars and pop the lids on. Done.

Slice the beans diagonally into thin, long shreds.












I like my chutney hot so I put 2tsp of chili flakes in with the beans. Only do this is you like a spicy chutney, otherwise follow the recipe without the chili.











Just couldn't resist arranging the bean slices into flower shapes. The beans are such a lovely vibrant, pink colour. Hmm, it's given me a few craft ideas.







You could also try making a soup with the beans. This recipe couldn't be easier. You simply fry an onion and garlic in some oil in a large saucepan. Wash and de-string the beans thoroughly. This step is important! Stringy soup isn't good. Just peel both sides using an ordinary veg peeler. Slice the beans and add to the saucepan. Add a litre of hot stock (or enough to just cover the beans) along with a good pinch of ground cumin, ground coriander, salt, pepper and a few chilli flakes. Boil until the beans are tender. Blitz with a stick blender and serve with a fresh, crusty bread roll :)

And how about slow roasted tomatoes? These are absolutely delicious. We had them for the first time a few years ago at a friend's house. We have made them a few times since but never with our own tomatoes. After picking about 5kg of tomatoes from my greenhouses there was only one way to use them up. This recipe is, again, very easy and requires almost zero effort which fits in perfectly with my motto for life: minimum input, maximum output.

Wash the tomatoes and quarter them. Pop them on large baking trays, sprinkle liberally with mixed herbs, salt, pepper and chilli flakes and douse with lots of olive oil. Toss a little and pop in the oven on 140C for about 4 hours (yes, 4 hours!). You could, of course, speed things up by halving the time and turning up the temperature to about 180C. I like to let them roast slowly for the flavours to develop to their maximum. Put your feet up and enjoy the aromas. Do check on them occasionally.

Once roasted you could eat them as they are. Store them in an air-tight container in the fridge and use in sandwiches. Alternatively, you could make soup or pasta sauce from them by adding a bit of hot stock and blitzing with a stick blender. Enjoy :)

Allotment gifts

Whilst I was fannying around in Sardinia, my allotment has been busy growing food. All this in just 1 week. There's plenty more to pick and the winter squashes are doing well. We have a runner bean glut, so again I have to be creative in using up all the beans before they go bad, and I am not keen on freezing. Here's a photo of freshly picked fruit and veg about 3 hours after I got off a plane at East Midlands Airport.







Earlier today for lunch I whipped up a spicy runner bean soup. It's pretty simple, you just de-string the beans on both sides, chop them and boil them in some water. When the beans are tender, add some stock powder, salt, cumin, coriander and cayenne pepper and blitz with a stick blender. Use a vegetable peeler to de-string the beans instead of a knife, much quicker. To decorate, I've peeled thin bean curls and put on top.



Later on I am planning to make runner bean and chilli chutney. I'll update this post with pics :) x

Glorious food, the self-sufficient way

I'm a huge foodie. Having been veggie for about 15 years, last year I dabbled with veganism. I sort of dipped in and out of it, mainly because of cheese. I found it hard to give up cheese completely, especially when faced with stilton after a glass of port! 

Anyway, on my journey to being vegan I've picked up a few good recipes, hint and tips, and I am now able to use ingredients that I've never even heard of before like nutritional yeast flakes, tapioca flour and vital wheat gluten. I am able to make Setain (no, not like the devil!) which is basically the vegan version of quorn (yup, quorn's not vegan because it uses egg white).

I've also found out some surprising facts like some granulated sugars may not be vegan because in the manufacturing process bone char is used to decolourize the sugar (always ask or read the label). Also some wines may not be vegan. Blood powder or egg white is occasionally used to clear the wine, so always read the label.   

In my quest to give up cheese for good I've done some research. It turns out that dairy cheese and milk contains quite a lot of udder pus. Because cows get pumped with hormones and all sorts of crap to over-produce milk, they end up all inflamed and much of the pus ends up in the milk and cheese we eat. I wonder if that's enough to put me off cheese... I hope so! Also, quite contrary to popular belief, milk may be damaging to bone health as well as increasing your risk of breast, colon and prostate cancer, Epstein, S. S. Potential public health hazards of biosynthetic milk hormones. International Journal of Health Services, 20:73-84, 1990.

So enough of this. Now for the food. Here's my typical, lovely breakfast! Chopped fruit sprinkled with organic flaxseed, topped with a dollop of fresh homemade live soy yogurt and homemade jam (made with homegrown berries). Delicious and nutritious! 

Since we have grown lots of fruit and veg on our allotment, we've been trying to eat as much of it as possible. I've become incredibly good at making stuff from potatoes, sweet and savoury. Later on I'll put up a pic of my lunchtime potato and cucumber soup. For this evening I'm planning Gnocchi with tomato sauce (all homemade and home grown!). Can't wait. Must get on with crafts now!

4 hours later...

Right, break from crafting means lunchtime. Daniel and I have grown enough potatoes and cucumbers to last us for a year or so! So for the past few weeks, since we've dug them up and picked the cucumbers, we (mainly me) have been inventing recipes that will allow us to eat everything we've grown before it goes bad. 

I've always loved making and eating thick vegetable soups because they're so easy to make and so delicious. So far this one is my favourite one: Spiced potato and cucumber soup with natural soy yogurt and mint. 

It's pretty simple. You just boil some potatoes and cucumber until tender. Add a tablespoon of vegetable broth powder (I use the vegan version of Marigold Swiss bouillon powder) and a good pinch of salt, cayenne pepper, ground cumin and ground coriander. Blitz it with a stick blender and top with a dollop of yogurt, and a mint leaf (optional). Eat!

This soup reminds me of when I was a Polish kid, living in Poland. Two of my favourite soups were zupa ogórkowa and zupa ziemniakowa. In this recipe I just combined the two and it's heavenly :) From what I remember, zupa ogórkowa recipe used gherkins and dill, and just the thought of it makes me salivate madly. Being a Pole, I love all pickled and sour things like gherkins, sauerkraut, curdled milk, pickled beetroot, and before my vegan days pickled eggs. My recipe used fresh garden cucumber, like the ones you buy from a supermarket for salads, and it still imparts a lovely cucumber taste so use whatever you have :) 

Ooh, I should also point out that if you have a cucumber in your fridge that's gone a bit soggy and you don't fancy it in our salad or sandwich anymore, this soup is the perfect place for it! You should always aim to waste as little as possible :)

Later on I'll post pics of my Gnocchi with tomato sauce.

Winning awards at the annual Allotment show

This is me winning a few trophies at the annual Allotment show! I entered my own fruit, veg and craft and won 16 awards!