What was in Jan's Pan?
October
October Harvest
I have to confess, I really didn't expect to relish the change in our eating habits quite so much since we found ourselves home alone (sorry boys!). It’s been quite a revelation. The garden has been generous with its harvest this month so along with our weekly veg box contents, our 5-a-day diet has reached new heights.
Whilst weekday meals have been fresher and simpler, mainly veggie and low-carb, meat’s not completely off the menu, but I find I cook it mainly at the weekends. I sent pics and instructions of Saturday night spiced crispy skinned chicken thighs to Student Son, so he has now another dish on repeat in his repertoire. A warming Beef Guinness & Pearly barley Stew slipped into the slow cooker to quietly do its stuff made a substantial minimum effort Sunday dinner, served with some green leafy veg. The barley helps thicken the otherwise thin sauce and allows for plenty left over to freeze for lazy cook nights or where there's the need for speed.
In fact it’s a whole different game catering for two, so I’ve had to rethink my cooking habits and reduce the copious quantities that I’m used to churning out, or freeze the extras. But my creative juices have had a reboot and have started to flow again with just we two to please.
It's all rather Tom and Barbara in our house with a clear division of labour that plays to our strengths. Hub plants *Stuff* in a flurry of activity in the Spring and then (despite best intentions) generally forgets about it and leaves it for Nature to work her magic. Greenfingers not being my forte, I will reap the rewards of his initial labours, check if Nature's been kind, and start cooking and preserving like a good'un.
Let me share some of the treasures that have sprouted and the dishes that we’ve enjoyed with our October garden gifts.
I have to confess, I really didn't expect to relish the change in our eating habits quite so much since we found ourselves home alone (sorry boys!). It’s been quite a revelation. The garden has been generous with its harvest this month so along with our weekly veg box contents, our 5-a-day diet has reached new heights.
Whilst weekday meals have been fresher and simpler, mainly veggie and low-carb, meat’s not completely off the menu, but I find I cook it mainly at the weekends. I sent pics and instructions of Saturday night spiced crispy skinned chicken thighs to Student Son, so he has now another dish on repeat in his repertoire. A warming Beef Guinness & Pearly barley Stew slipped into the slow cooker to quietly do its stuff made a substantial minimum effort Sunday dinner, served with some green leafy veg. The barley helps thicken the otherwise thin sauce and allows for plenty left over to freeze for lazy cook nights or where there's the need for speed.
In fact it’s a whole different game catering for two, so I’ve had to rethink my cooking habits and reduce the copious quantities that I’m used to churning out, or freeze the extras. But my creative juices have had a reboot and have started to flow again with just we two to please.
It's all rather Tom and Barbara in our house with a clear division of labour that plays to our strengths. Hub plants *Stuff* in a flurry of activity in the Spring and then (despite best intentions) generally forgets about it and leaves it for Nature to work her magic. Greenfingers not being my forte, I will reap the rewards of his initial labours, check if Nature's been kind, and start cooking and preserving like a good'un.
Let me share some of the treasures that have sprouted and the dishes that we’ve enjoyed with our October garden gifts.
Our homegrown beetroot looked more like magical mandrakes than baby beets (luckily no screaming as I pulled them out of the ground), but they were surprisingly tender and not in the slightest woody. Steaming them made it easier to peel the rather comical misshapen roots. Definitely lots of character this year with their lifelike appendages - see the fella in my rolling pics ;-)
Beetroot Feta and Apple salad
The beets made the perfect salad paired with the apples from the trees (always abundant), the beet leaves plus some crumbled salty feta and toasted walnuts, doused in honey and mustard dressing (3 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp each of honey and whole grain mustard shaken together in a jar).
Preserving the remaining rosy red apples on the trees is an ongoing job. The leaves are starting to fall, and so now has the fruit, so I’ve been peeling and stewing as fast as I can. Apples are a staple in my fruit and veg box this time of year too of course, but as they say, an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and I have faith in that old adage, so I'm not complaining. Plenty for apple crumbles and autumn porridge, juicing and perhaps even drying if I can keep up.
Our lycopene levels hit new heights with the glut of tomatoes this year. They were still going strong at the beginning of the month until the heavy rain and frost finally finished them off. There was the glimmer of hope that they would ripen in the autumn sun but perhaps I should have cut my losses earlier and made green chutney.. The ripe ones went to good use in roast tomato soup and plenty of pasta sauces. Raw or cooked atop toasted sourdough was the perfect late-summer lunch. But my favourite was this easy farinata (a simple chickpea flour pancake) topped with the classic combo of fresh tomato and mozzarella salad for a light low-carb supper.
Tomato & Mozzarella Farinata
For the farinata, makes 2.
100g gram flour
1/2tsp salt.
200ml water.
1tbsp olive oil
Whisk together and leave to stand for 30 mins
Preheat the grill to high. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil over a medium heat in a 23cm ovenproof pan. Pour in half the batter and cook for 2-3 mins until just set.
Transfer to the grill and cook for 3-4mins until crisp and golden brown.
Tip onto a plate, keep warm and repeat with the remaining batter and 1 tbsp oil to fry.
For the topping
Buffalo mozzarella, torn into pieces
Sliced tomatoes
Basil, roughly torn
Toasted pine nuts
Balsamic glaze to drizzle
Divide between the two farinata and serve immediately
We’ve had one bad boy butternut from the garden.We've had a few meals out of this one, and there’s still two or three baby brothers relishing the rain and slowly swelling on the vine.The texture is so much firmer and the flavour more concentrated than any shop bought ones, perfect for roasting or simmering in a curry or a tagine.
It's good to have the perpetual spinach on hand too (more like a chard, so quite hardy and keeps on growing, exactly as it says on the label).
Plucked fresh from the garden it's perfect for this flavoursome saag paneer, made more substantial with the last of that squash.
Butternut Squash Saag Aloo
Melt some oil or ghee, if you have it, with 1/2tsp turmeric in a large frying pan. Fry a pack of diced paneer until golden on all sides, 5-8mins. Remove and set aside.
Fry sliced red onions in more oil, butter or ghee with a generous grating of fresh ginger and garlic and some sliced chilli until sumptuously softened. Add some cooked diced squash (a few minutes in the microwave does the trick) and toss well to soak up the flavours. Stir in the washed spinach and allow to wilt.
Add the paneer back in and heat through, finishing with some garam masala and nigella seeds.
Serve with shop bought naan or flatbreads, zhuzhed up (great word that) with even more butter or ghee melted over.
Let me know if you feel suitably inspired, and please leave a comment and if it leaves you wanting more.
What have you been eating this month, I’d love to know?