Kitchen Scents: Using lavender in cooking

I love relaxing in the garden listening to the buzzing sound of bees bobbing about on the lavender while the sun releases the wonderful soothing scent in to the air. Although the lavender has finally finished flowering I can still enjoy it between now and next summer, as I have dried some bunches and crumbled the aroma packed blooms into jars to be used around the home and in the kitchen.

The mediterranean plant has long been utilised for its health and wellbeing qualities and is the essential oil is used by aromatherapists to promote relaxation. It is an antiseptic and also has anti-inflammatory properties and was even used to disinfect hospital floors during the First World War. A little of the oil applied to your temples will soothe a headache and I can certainly vouch for its ability to aid sleep and relieve anxiety.

Historically lavender can be traced as far back as ancient Egypt where it was used for embalming and cosmetics. The ancient Greeks fully appreciated its scent and the Romans fully made use of its healing attributes. In fact it has been used throughout history to the present day from medicine through to insect repellent to perfume.

When I’m out in my garden tending to the fruit bushes, vegetable plants, and herbs I often ponder how I could use flowers in my cooking, lavender being no exception. It is a strong flavour and should be used sparingly but lends itself to both sweet and savoury dishes.

A couple of sprigs of the flowers tucked into a jar full of caster sugar gently infuses to give you a wonderful ingredient for baking, the subtle fragrance is good in cakes and biscuits. It is also an unusual but interesting addition to rubs and marinades, perfectly complementing lamb or even chicken. A few of the dried flower buds can be dropped into milk or cream, gently warmed and left to allow their flavours to permeate to make a base for custard or ice cream.

I know there a few people who don’t like the smell of lavender as they associated it with elderly aunts’ handbags, but I would urge them to try it in cooking as it really is a different story. Just take care not to use too much and it can transform a dish in a subtle yet surprising way.

Lavender, Chilli & Rosemary Focaccia
Focaccia originates from Italy and is enriched with olive oil, which gives the bread a soft texture. It can be topped with a variety of things, but rosemary and sea salt is the most common. I chose to take that a step further and used chilli flakes and some dried lavender flowers taking the flavour into another dimension.

Ingredients
118ml pint hand hot water
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp dry active yeast
500g strong white flour
2 tsp salt
6 tbsp olive oil plus extra
225 ml tepid water (more may be needed)
sea salt flakes for sprinkling
a couple good pinches dried chilli flakes
a couple of pinches of dried lavender flowers
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary
some semolina or polenta for dusting

Method
In large jug mix yeast and sugar into 118ml pint hand hot water, stir to dissolve. Set aside for about 10 minutes until the liquid turns frothy.

In a large bowl mix together the flour and salt. Stir in the olive oil.
Add the yeast liquid and the water and use you hand to mix into a soft dough. The dough should be quite moist and sticky at first.

Turn out on to a well floured surface and knead the dough for about 10 to 15 minutes until the it no longer sticks to your hands and becomes elastic and springy to the touch.
It is important to work the dough really well, making sure you stretch it and fold it back in on itself. This works the gluten from the flour so the dough rises.

Pour a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into a bowl and smear around, drop the dough ball in and cover with a damp tea towel and place in a warm place to rise, for around 11⁄2 hours. After this time the dough should have doubled in size.

Slip the dough out the bowl on to a floured surface, knock back (knead vigorously) to remove air bubbles – you should be able to hear and feel the air puffing out – and knead again for 5 minutes. Then roll it out in to a flat oval shape. Not thin but slightly less thick than you want it to be when it’s baked.

Place on an oiled baking sheet dusted with polenta or semolina, cover with a damp tea towel and place somewhere warm for about 30 minutes until it has risen and doubled again.
While it is rising, preheat the oven to 200C, Gas 6.

When the dough has risen, make indentations in it using your fingertips. Drizzle with olive oil and a little water. Sprinkle with sea salt to give an even and light coverage. Do the same again with the chilli flakes. Sprinkle over the pinch of lavender flowers, but be quite sparing as they have a strong flavour. Then pull of a few leaves at a time off the rosemary and push into the dough.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes until golden brown and the loaf moves freely on the baking sheet. Slip on to a wire rack to cool.
Photos: ©childsdesign 2011

A Taste of the Unexpected

Growing things to eat is fast becoming a popular past time, not necessarily out of necessity, but purely for personal satisfaction, so why bother cultivating fruit and vegetables that are cheap or readily available in the shops? Mark Diacono, head gardener at Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage, prompts us to rethink our gardening habits in his book, A Taste Of The Unexpected.

I grew up believing that most plants in the garden were inedible or even poisonous, except for the very obvious things of course. Like every child, I was curious as to what that shiny berry was and my parents’ solution to protect me from dangerous ingestion, was to declare most things toxic and therefore untouchable. A sensible approach, but in hindsight, it had the effect of narrowing my view on what could be eaten.

Mark’s book has opened up a whole new world to savour. Who would have thought you could eat fuchsia berries? They were definitely on my deadly list.
The main point, is that we are encouraged to grow what we’d love to eat and to compile a wish list to get started. If we can’t buy it in the shops, it goes on the list. Does it taste better the moment it is picked? Then that goes on the list too. From the familiar to the downright strange, Mark gives us a practical and comprehensive guide to growing, harvesting and cooking.

Every page is enlightening as well as inspiring and I can see my kitchen garden quickly turning into an experimental horticultural playground. Who knows I could soon be growing mulberries, blue honeysuckle, Chilean guavas or the amusingly named Egyptian walking onion. I just can’t wait for the spring.

A Taste of the Unexpected by Mark Diacono is published by Quadrille.
Hardback RRP £20.00
Order yours now

Book kindly supplied by Quadrille Publishing

Kitchen Garden Companion

As a keen amateur kitchen gardener, this is the sort of book that I couldn't pass by, so when I was offered the chance of a review copy, the excitement got the better of me and I fired off my response and eagerly awaited its arrival.
I think the postman's arm was aching while he was waiting for me to answer the door – it's a BIG book. Well over 700 pages bound into a spine measuring about two inches thick, with a rather attractive tactile cloth dust jacket, the book is packed with a wealth of gardening information aimed at people just like me. The advice and tips show us how it is possible to grow a multitude of edibles in a small space, an inspiration to all plot-to-plate enthusiasts.

The author, Stephanie Alexander, ran the acclaimed Stephanie's Restaurant in Melbourne, Australia and was a partner in the popular Richmond Hill Café & Larder and together with this experience is one of Australia's most highly regarded food writers. Her expertise runs throughout the book in an informative style with easy to follow gardening advice and related recipes.

Vegetable gardening is an ongoing learning process for me, I've had successes and of course failures. Some of those reluctant or pest besieged crops have even put me off growing them again, but after reading through the pages,
I suddenly felt inspired with renewed confidence, to have another go.
The front section, Getting Started, guides you through the stages of setting up the best environment to get the most from your produce patch. All the basics are there, from creating perfect compost to when to sow and plant out, bug control and there's even a list of useful gardening equipment.


There's nothing nicer than picking your own home grown fruit and veg then eating it right away and each of Stephanie's chosen crops is given a selection of recipes to enjoy your own efforts in the best possible way.
This section is compiled in A-Z format from Amaranth to Zucchini, although I think I would have preferred it to have been listed by seasonality, it just makes more sense to me.

From the simplest Smashed Broad Beans (p.160) to the sumptuous Tony Tan's Beef and Spinach Curry (p.592) all the recipes are uncomplicated in their approach, but most of all they kindle a passion to grow and cook.

I particularly like the fact that families are encouraged to motivate their children into becoming involved in both the kitchen and the garden. Stephanie's philosophy is that there is no such thing as special food for children: if food is good, everyone will enjoy it regardless of age. Following her work with inner-city primary school children, where she set up a kitchen garden to give them the opportunity to learn about food first hand, she continues her work in her book.

Despite its slightly unwieldy size, this book will become
well-thumbed and never left on the shelf as it's set to become my trusty kitchen garden partner.

Kitchen Garden Companion by Stephanie Alexander is published by Quadrille.
Hardback RRP £30.00
Order yours now

Book kindly supplied by Quadrille Publishing

Juicy Pickings

I just had to share a picture of my lovely strawberries with you. I put in some plants last year and only got a small bowl full, but after they had finished fruiting, lots of runners shot out and found their places in the soil. As there was plenty of space for them to spread, I let them grow where they pleased, and with amazing results.

I was surprised that I got so much fruit from them this year, as I have to admit that I neglected them. They had no protection in winter and had to survive on only natural rainfall for moisture, during the spring.
Maybe "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen" can be a applied to strawberries too.

A Frenzy of Foliage

The plants are closing in, but in a good way, a way that envelops you in a safe verdant blanket.

I can't quite believe how much everything has grown. Periods of rain have given way to some long warm sunny days, lately, and that has bestowed every leaf and shoot with a healthy boost.

It's all very good, but I've had to cut back some of the shrubs and overhanging branches, just so that I can get around the garden without having to duck or being snagged by wayward twigs.

Our garden is quite large, so we have tried to make it as low maintenance as possible, as there's not always enough time to be constantly tending to plants. We removed the lawn a few years ago and hauled barrow loads of gravel in to take its place. After taking the view that a lawn was largely a waste of time and moreover a waste of space, it seemed the best thing to. Before you lambast me for tearing up a green space, i would like to say that, in my defence, that we now have more plants and a small pond. The gravel has now become merely a set of pathways between areas and the garden looks far more attractive.

I have confession to make. I am not a tidy gardener, so things may be a bit straggly and unkempt. There are empty plant pots stacked up here and there and maybe a small heap of last year's tree prunings in a corner somewhere, but I've found that this has attracted an abundance of wildlife, something the garden never had when we first moved here nine years ago. 

It would seem that, inadvertently, we have created a permaculture. There are some mature trees creating a canopy, shrubs beneath and then smaller plants. Much of the edible stuff such as tomatoes, potatoes and the like, we grow in pots right outside the kitchen door and the herbs are never far away either. Our instinctive planting layout has created the perfect microclimate, each plant supporting one another and we try to avoid nasty chemicals wherever possible.

We don't have a designated herb plot as the various plants reside throughout the entire garden, be they in the ground or in containers. I would say that the herbs make up most of the structure and are beautiful to look at, smell wonderful and are essential to my cooking.

The photo above is of a sage bush. It started life as small plant, given to me by my Mum, from a cutting she had taken from hers. The plants is huge now and of all the sages I have, is the only one that flowers. It certainly keeps the bees well fed and as soon as the sun is out, I can hear the buzzing as the bees bob from flower to flower gathering nectar.

Below is a purple sage. It may not flower but the leaves are very attractive.

I love the taste of sage, but you don't need to use very much of it as it has a very strong flavour, which can be quite medicinal in nature.

It dries very well, so is one of the best herbs for winter storage, especially as it adopts a sad droopy look during the colder months. Drying is very easy to do, just clip of large sprigs (I tend to do this when I'm pruning the plant) and then bunch them together and tie with string. Hang them upside down in a warm, dry, well ventilated space for a week or so. When they are completely dry, crumble in to airtight jars.

One of my other favourite herbs is rosemary, the smell is heavenly. Just a few sprigs can perk up roast potatoes and of course it's great with lamb.

Rosemary is fantastic all year round, it is the only one that retains its glory through the winter, so I've never needed to dry it. I've been known to dash down a frosty garden to clip some for dinner!

We're relatively new to fruit growing, we've had a couple of failures, notably mystery blueberry deaths and non-fruiting gooseberries, but so far the raspberry has been a success. This year it is a mass of flowers and they're looking pretty good, with the exception of some greenfly which the ants are farming. I think if we can keep these bugs off with a little organic spray, they should be OK.

Good to see the bees like the raspberry flowers, too – pollination is important.

Yes I know this basil plant looks a little worse for wear but if you saw it a couple of weeks ago, you'd have though it was destined for the dustbin!

It's one of those supermarket ones and usually they don't last that long, so after I gave it the haircut of it's life when making a pesto, I thought it was a goner. Just as I was about to dispose of it, my husband stopped me, saying "it might grow back". I was quite sceptical at this point, but put it back on the windowsill. Lo and behold, it did grow back! I'm continuing to water it and let it outside during good weather to "sunbathe" and seems to be flourishing.

One of our trees is an almond that came with the garden, I would say it is as old as the house, probably 90 years or so. It is festooned with gorgeous pink blossom in the early spring which later develops into fuzzy green fruits. I've never actually eaten the almonds inside, so the local squirrels get those.

The tree has done so well since the old asbestos garage was demolished and without competition, the tree has grown and spread. However, it is not without a few problems. Every year, without fail, it succumbs to the dreaded peach leaf curl. Some leaves mutate into crinkly red freaks and the ones that remain untouched by the fungal infection, present themselves peppered with holes. I believe some kind creepy crawly is responsible. I'd say it is armed with a hole punch as those holes are perfectly spherical.

I grow the lemon balm in a large trough together with the mint as they both have the inclination to spread wherever they please. I've started to use lemon balm mixed with green tea. It makes a lovely relaxing infusion with citrusy notes.

I always look forward to the mint returning in spring. It's always best used fresh.

This year, the oregano has become rather prolific and has made a fantastic green cushion in the trough. I love using it with olive oil and lemon juice as a marinade for chicken before chargrilling.

More lemon flavours in form of lemon thyme. Again, this is great with chicken and also fish. The plant was looking a little forlorn and then it picked up when new green shoots began to appear on the twiggy mess it once was.

Maybe I've planted these somewhat late, but I though it worth a try, as I love french beans. There's nothing better than a fresh picked, young and tender pod.

The bean plants may only be small but they have flower buds, so that's promising.

This is florence fennel that I started growing last year, although it didn't bulb up, I have been using the leaves as a herb. I'm hoping that this year I might get some bulbs at the bottom, failing that, I've discovered that the flowers are supremely delicious. I was reading about fennel pollen the other day, apparently it is very sought after by posh restaurants and valuable too. Is this what I have?

The peas were as late as the beans going in, but they're going great guns. Those tendrils are finding the sticks and winding their way up. Sometimes when I'm sitting outside, I swear I can see those tendrils moving and twisting.

I like to grow potatoes in containers, it makes it so much easier to harvest them. As I only want small new potatoes, this works just fine. After the potatoes have finished flowering, I start removing the soil and perfect little potatoes are revealed.

Baby salad leaves are really easy to grow. To get a succession throughout the summer I sow several containers at eight week intervals and this gives me a plentiful supply of small juicy leaves.

The ones I have growing are a peppery mixture with my favourites, the red mustard.

Providing I can keep aphids, leaf miner, carrot fly, snails, slugs and even the squirrels (they like to excavate the pots) at bay, my kitchen garden should keep us relatively well fed.

High Chive

I would say that chives are one of the most versatile herbs - the leaves are perfect snipped into a potato salad, or an omelette, lending a subtle onion flavour to any dish that demands it. No need to bother with a chopping board and knife, just by grasping a bunch in your hand and cutting away at the ends with the kitchen scissors, it couldn't be simpler. They look pretty too, like little emerald flecks.

My garden seems to provide the ideal conditions for chives to thrive, as each year, the clumps get bigger and bigger, that I need not worry how much I pick.
They give me much amusement too, when next door's cat comes in for her 'medicine', she often mistakes chives for grass. The look on that poor feline's face as she gets that strong taste in her mouth.

I couldn't resist taking the photo as I think chives have the most attractive blooms and they're edible too. When the mood takes me I might take an artistic approach to the most basic salad, and chuck in a few flower heads. Unlike the leaves, the flowers are extremely pungent and quite hot, so go easy if you're not prepared for the shock!

The First Gooseberry

It seems, that this year, everything in the garden has been so slow to get started, no doubt due to to the hard winter followed by a reluctant and cold spring.
At last the weather is warming up and the sun is beginning to have some actual beneficial heat, I've even sat outside having my lunch as it's been so nice.
During one of my outdoor sandwiches I noticed that my gooseberry bush has started to bear fruit. Just a tiny little berry hanging off the very end of a spikey branch, but it's a start.
I have three gooseberry bushes in the garden and if they all do the same, I should be lucky enough to have plenty of fruit.

Just need to keep the saw fly larvae at bay, as they have a voracious appetite for goosberry leaves and are capable of de-nuding an entire plant in a matter of days – the little buggers!

Too Many Tomatoes

Actually you can’t have too many tomatoes, especially home grown ones. Fortunately they are so versatile that you never run out of uses for them.

There’s just the problem of using them all up before they turn squishy and mouldy, that’s when I thought about preserving some of them.

I think I’ve already perfected the technique of oven-drying them (there’s a description of how to do that in a previous post) so I thought why not put the oven dried tomatoes into a jar and preserve them in oil?

I made sure I sterilised the jar first, of course, to kill off any potential contaminants and then packed it almost to the top. Then I added a couple of tablespoons of red wine vinegar and topped it up with olive oil, making sure the tomatoes were completely covered. Then I just tipped the jar back and forth so that any air bubbles were expelled, then sealed it with the lid.

I reckon that they should keep very well, and as long as I use them up within a month after opening, they should be okay.
I’m looking forward to using them in sauces, on pizza, in salads and who knows what else?

Buy the Jar

Carrots!

At last the carrots are ready to pull up.

They've been happily growing in their pot for a good few months now and we've been itching to taste them.

They're very easy to lift from the soil and it's so satisfying to see how large they are as they come up inch by inch.

We've grown two varieties - Nantes and Chanteney.

I can't quite believe the smell of them - they're nothing like anything you'd buy in a shop. The aroma is intense, almost resinous.

No sooner as we've gathered them, I wash them and drop them into a saucepan with some water and simmer gently. When they are tender, I drain off the water and add a knob of butter to glaze them.

These are the best carrots we've ever eaten – so sweet and delicious, and they actually taste of carrot! Supermarket carrots have nothing on these - you simply can't beat homegrown for freshness.

Whilst searching for information on carrots, 

I found this rather interesting website of the 

virtual World Carrot Museum. Click here to view.

Grow Your Own

Fruits of Our Labour

My blog has been a little neglected lately as a lot of my time has been taken up with the needs of the kitchen garden.

It's amazing how things have grown so quickly over the past few weeks. The tomatoes have come on in leaps and bounds, helped along by the long, warm sunny days. It doesn't seem that long ago that they were little plants full of potential. Their growth rate has been incredible – I found myself imagining that I could hear them creaking as they climbed up past the window and the little fruits literally popping into existence overnight! As you can see from the picture above, I have one tomato already beginning to ripen.

The hoverflies have been busy aiding pollination. I don't think I've ever seen so many of these little insects all at once. I find it quite relaxing watching them flit about between the flowers as they feed on nectar.

There are so many tomatoes now, that I'm already making plans to make ketchup and chutney, as well as eating them in salads of course.

The carrots and beetroots are developing well too. The tops of the swelling roots are now visible at the compost's surface. I'll definitely be growing them in containers next year, as this has successfully deterred the carrot flies which can destroy your crop.

Good Growing

It’s time for a follow up again, on what’s been growing in the garden, and I have to say that I’m very proud of the potatoes.
What started out as an experiment started back in March has proved to be most fruitful. From a few wrinkly sprouting potatoes lying in the bottom of the vegetable trolley, a surprising amount of fresh baby spuds have been born – 2 kilograms in fact.
These are quite special potatoes as well; the variety is Vivaldi – one of my favourites for its exceptional flavour and texture. It’s so creamy, almost buttery, so you don’t even have to add butter, but it is nice, all the same!
We have an assortment of sizes – nothing huge – but they are perfect cooked in their thin skins, as ‘new potatoes’, tossed with chopped dill (yes, I’ve grown that too).

The gooseberries have now been picked too. They’re not particularly large, but it’s not all about size is it? Flavour is what counts.

Salad Days

I wouldn’t normally rave on about a pile of salad leaves, but these ones are special.
From tiny seeds some amazing leaves have sprouted in a variety of colours, shapes and flavours – and what’s more I have grown them myself. That’s what makes them special.

I don’t have to go to the shops to find them, queue to pay for them and when I get home I don’t have to rip open a plastic bag. I just walk through the kitchen, open the back door and wander out into the garden armed with a pair of scissors and bowl. A few snips here and there and I can select just the right amount I need, leaving the rest to carry on growing and remaining fresh in the outdoors.

Things always taste better that way.

Grow Your Own

Solving a Radish Problem

I’m not very pleased. It may have been my fault and maybe I should have thinned them out, but my radishes are not making radishes.

They’re all leaves, very lush and juicy, but there’s no round, bright pinkish-red root at the bottom. There should be by now. The seed packet says you can harvest them in 4-6 weeks from the time of sowing!
It’s a little upsetting as I was looking forward to some crunchy, hot, little scarlet orbs in my salad – but that is not to be.

Sorry radishes for cramping your style and confining you all too close together, but you haven’t won, because I can still eat you!

Yes, the leaves are quite edible and you treat them just like spinach – they’re a bit on the hairy side to be enjoyed raw, so it’s best to cook them.

Mine made their way into a simple pasta sauce. I heated a little olive oil in a pan and add two grated cloves of garlic. Then dried porcini mushrooms which I had first soaked in warm water and then drained, followed by two heaped tablespoons of Philadelphia Light cream cheese. If it seems too thick, just add some milk. Then I added some chopped fresh oregano (from the garden) and shredded radish leaves. 

I stirred them altogether seasoned with salt and pepper and a good grating of nutmeg. To finish I mixed in some fresh grated parmesan cheese. Yum.

Watercress: No River Required

Hot and peppery, juicy and crunchy, that’s how I like my watercress, and it would seem that the only way it’s going to be good is if it’s picked fresh and eaten straight away.
Supermarkets have the rather nasty knack of separating it into little pieces and squashing it into a plastic bag. This has the undesirable effect of bruising and ruining the flavour as well as the texture.

Now I’ve discovered that my local Sainbury’s has seen some sense and is supplying it living and growing in a pot. What a brilliant idea – if they can do it with herbs and lettuces, then why not watercress?
The one I found was even grown in my home county, so that proved to be an added delight.

Then it struck me. If it’s alive then why can’t I keep it going beyond it’s little container, so that it can provide a continous plentiful supply of its leaves and stems?
I promptly went in to the garden and filled a terracotta pot with compost and then eased the plant out of its plastic pot and divided it into three clumps. I planted them in the compost and then poured some gravel over and around. Next I put the whole pot into another container so that it could stand in water to keep it nice and moist.

As watercress normally grows in its natural habitat near to flowing streams I’ve been making sure that the water is changed regularly so that it doesn’t go stagnant.
The plants seem to be doing very well, especially after all the rain we've had (what happened to summer?) and have recovered well each time, after me snipping off their leaves.

For information about watercress and some recipe ideas visit: watercress.co.uk

Roots and Shoots

It's been a while since my last post – three weeks, in fact – and a lot has happened in the kitchen garden since then. My tomato, pepper, courgette and pumpkin seeds have germinated and are well on their way to becoming good strong plants. They have produced their second true leaves, except for the peppers, which are slower to germinate and have only just popped out of the soil over the last couple of days.

As you can see from the photos, the plants are going so well that they're nearly ready to be potted up and put outside for a few hours each day to harden them off.

Two weeks ago, I also sowed some beetroot, carrot, radish, chive and spring onion seeds, directly into large containers outside. Nothing has happened yet, but the weather has been cold so I shall have to be patient.

We've also been to the garden centre and bought some thyme plants, which hubby and I put into some attractive galvanised metal troughs. I used to have some thyme in the garden, but it slowly disappeared – not due to any over zealous clipping on my part – I think it just got worn out of its own accord!

We also purchased some additional sage plants – not only are they useful for cooking but they make lovely fragrant shrubs.