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 :)

Pretty, crafty York

The latest news is that Daniel and I (and our two cats) are moving to York before Christmas. Very exciting! The other day we both went to York to see what it's like and I instantly fell in love with it. It reminds me of Winchester but larger and, dare I say it, nicer. Although I did love the St Catherine's hill walk in Winchester and the walk to our favourite pub in Shawford called The Bridge. I do occasionally have pangs for Winchester.  But anyway, here are some photos I took.









Yorkshire wheel, right by the train station. It was the first observation wheel of its kind in North Yorkshire, and was inspired by the London Eye which opened a few years earlier. At 54 metres (177 ft), it was somewhat smaller than the 135 metres (443 ft) of the London Eye, but could be no higher than York Minster, York's skyline height limit.






Rowing on the River Ouse which runs through York. The Ouse is partly formed from the River Ure and the combined Ure/Ouse river is about 208 km (129 mi) making it the sixth longest river in the UK.



There were lots of very friendly squirrels in the Yorkshire Museum Gardens.









York Minster. I just couldn't get far out enough to get all of it. It's pretty impressive and one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. It clearly charts the development of English Gothic architecture from Early English through to the Perpendicular Period. The present building was begun in about 1230 and completed in 1472. It has a cruciform plan with an octagonal chapter house attached to the north transept, a central tower and two towers at the west front. The stone used for the building is magnesian limestone, a creamy-white coloured rock that was quarried in nearby Tadcaster. The Minster is 158 metres (518 ft) long and each of its three towers are 60 metres (200 ft) high. The choir has an interior height of 31 metres (102 ft). I think that's about enough info you'll need.

All in all, York seems lovely and I am especially pleased because it has about five decent craft shops which suits me just fine. I didn't see many charity shops which is a shame as I acquire much of my craft material from charity shops and freecycle. Maybe I just needed to look harder for them instead of spending hours in cute little gift shops. I particularly liked the Shambles, an old street in York lined with shops selling all sorts of lovely stuff. I had to restrain myself in the Peter Rabbit shop. I could have so easily walked out with tons of stuff having spent tons of money.

On the whole, I think we'll really enjoy living in York and it will certainly make a big change from living in Stoke-on-Trent which is decidedly lacklustre. Although I will miss my allotment and leaving Flossy's patch will be hard. 

Signpost marking the Shambles.

 The ruins of York's medieval Norman castle is sometimes referred to as Clifford's Tower. Built originally on the orders of William I to dominate the former Viking city of York, the castle suffered a tumultuous early history before developing into a major fortification with extensive water defences. After a major explosion in 1684 rendered the remaining military defences uninhabitable, York Castle continued to be used as a jail and prison until 1929.



 It will be good living in a place that has 2 veggie/vegan restaurants (Stoke has none!). I really loved El Piano. It is completely vegan and the owners are absolutely amazing. They also do weddings there. Worth keeping that in mind as I would actually like to get married in an unconventional place. I'd love to get married in the woods but in England it's not possible to get a license to do that.

Anyway, back to crafts. Here are some ideas:

        Owl mobile. Enough said.

Painted stones. I have tons of stones at home. I have often thought about painting them with chalkboard paint and using them as place cards for a rustic wedding. You could write the guest's name with chalk.

 I think these earrings are made from bicycle inner tubes. I have been meaning to make crafts using bicycle parts since I collected a bike advertised on freecycle. It's still in the shed. My PhD is preventing me from crafting at the moment. Grr...

Wood glorious wood. I have enough wood to build me a house! This reclaimed wooden coat hook is so pretty and rustic. 

Have you guessed yet that I am obsessed with squirrels? I found these squirrely handing decorations in the Cath Kidston store. So pretty. They're made of felt and would be so easy to make.

I was going to make bunting with my second hand copy of Peter Rabbit but greetings cards would work just as well.

Dried rose buds heart wreath. These are so sweet and I know just the shop in Manchester that sells dried rose buds. It's a Chinese supermarket and the rose buds are actually for making tea!

Small houses made from cardboard and covered in fabric. Again, I have been planning these for ages now. I have been saving cardboard from cereal boxes for about a year and have tons of different fabric, just need the time to make these!!

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

Creative juices flowing in Sardinia

Have just been to Sardinia for a week. Italy is weird. It's very Catholic which reminds me of my very odd Polish upbringing. Italians really, really like their dogs which is good but the downside is that there are a lot of stray dogs and cats wondering around the streets. They actually look fairly well kept for strays so I reckon they must be fed by people occasionally.

Annoyingly, Italians do siestas which is a big problem for tourists because after getting up (late!), showering and breakfasting you want to go around all the shops and museums. That's precisely the time when everything closes until 4-5pm. Seriously!

The other thing I found difficult is that they have no concept of vegetarianism/veganism. I ordered a veggie sandwich which had tuna in it! Apparently that's as close as it gets. They are also very wasteful. Bottled water is as common as tap water in Sardinia. Just think of all that plastic! On the plus side many of their carrier bags seem to be biodegradable which is a step ahead of Britain. We just re-use our bags. Which is better I wonder, use fewer bags or continue using just as many but most are biodegradable. Hmmmm.... I have serious doubts whether the biodegradable bags are actually composted by the user. I suspect they're probably thrown away with normal rubbish. I think we should all be using less.

But, enough of the moaning because the weather was perfect, the beaches were amazing and the little sightseeing I did was all good fun, including a speed boat trip on the Mediterranean sea. And, to top it all off, much of my trip was sponsored by my fiancé's grant and his parent's spare euros.

Anyway, every city I go to I am always on the lookout for new craft ideas. I also bring back something natural I can craft with. It's always something I find, rather than buy. This time I brought back some palm tree bark and beach stones. Thankfully customs didn't stop me! I shall put up photos of the final creations later but for now here's what I did with my finds. I used them to decorate our table at a fish restaurant in Alghero. Very tasteful I think.

Here are some of my favourite craft ideas from Sardinia:

Hessian (burlap) figures. I have lots of spare hessian fabric so will give this a little try. They also had animal figures.

Owl bag. These were really cute. I've been meaning to make a fabric owl bag for ages. No excuses now!

Shell mice. I collect shells found on various beaches so I have tons of them in different sizes. Shell animals seems like a fun craft project.

 Another owl, this time made from shells. Cute.

 I have been working with wood for about 10 years and have lots of scraps. I am sure I could construct an owl from bits and bobs.  I also have lots of tin lids, perfect for eyes.

Perfect example of upcycling tins into plant pots. Cute with buttons.

 A gourd shaped bottle made from cork board shavings. Italians like their cork board ornaments. I think I'll have to start working with cork board. Until this trip, I didn't know that cork board comes from cork oak. I thought it was mashed up and re-constituted bits of tree!

 My friend was wearing this lovely necklace made from recycled tin. Brilliant! I have tons of scrap metal mainly from tin lids.

Zip stud earrings, another upcycling idea.