Broad beans & Sweet Peas

Been a busy girl today planting broad beans in trays and putting in the potting shed I prefer to grow the dwarf variety as they don’t need to be staked also planted sweet peas in small pots about two seeds in each pot these can grown by runner beans to encourage pollination.

I have also picked charlotte potatoes as my early variety these are a salad potato and have placed them in egg boxes chitin away before planting them out in March.

Not a homemade Thai Green Curry as planned

I’m sorry I never updated last week, I had hoped to make a Thai Green Curry with my homemade Green curry paste, but all did not go to plan as they only delivered my fresh ingredients for the paste today after having my order for over 2 weeks and it was a slight waste of time as half the ingredients were missing. What a waste of £6 for express delivery, I think it is time I found a different supplier.

So I’m still unable to make it today as need to pop too a big supermarket as still need basil & coriander and shallots and they won’t be Thai but nothing else I can do.

So I do hope to bring you Thai Green Curry sometime this week.

As I could not have my own Thai green curry this week, I went for the second best thing A fantastic Thai green curry at the greyhound pub in Siddington,   http://www.thegreyhound-inn.co.uk/. Tuesdays nights they have a special offer of a Thai Curry with rice and a drink for £7.50. I of course had the Thai Green curry but they have a number of different curries  and it truly is a good curry better than any of the Thai curry’s you get from any of the Thai restaurants in this area.

The Greyhound is just a very cosy pub with no frills but it offers great food (not just Thai curries) at affordable prices and the meat is all locally sourced so the quality remains high.

I had Friday of and went shopping in Bath and of course lunch is a must, Bath has some great restaurants but I keep returning to a chain of restaurants as I have always had a good meal there and really can not fault the food at Loch Fyne in Bath www.lochfyne-restaurants.com/restaurants/bath.

I always start with oysters as I just love them, but I do keep to the rule of don’t eat Oysters in a month without an R, namely May through to August some say the saying is outdated but I prefer to apply this rule.

Then I had half a lobster and I of course a bottle or two of white wine washed down with 25% of the whole bill with my gourmet card. http://www.gourmetsociety.co.uk/. I do love my discounts.

It's getting hot in here

This Weekend I fancied a curry so thought I would try Jamie Oliver's Roasted Veg Vindalo (I do not feel it would be fair for me to publish his recipe) It is in his new book "Jamie's Great Britain"

 It truly was a good wholesome curry which was very warming will out being to hot to handle, and it did not take that long to make and again I made more and have it in the freezer ready for quicker meal when the mood take me.

 I did make a small change to Jamie's recipe I made my own Garam Masala as it’s just so simple and you can make more than you need and keep it in the cupboard for when you need it.

Garam Masala

30 green cardamom pods
15 cloves (laung)
5 black cardamom pods
4 pieces mace
4 pieces cinnamon (2.5 squared cm)(dalchini)
5 tbsp cumin seeds (jeera)
2 tbsp coriander seeds (dhaniya)
1 tbsp fennel seeds (saunf)
1 tsp black peppercorns
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds (

Place all the spices in a dry-frying pan and heat over a very low heat, stirring constantly. As soon as the aroma from the spices begins, remove the pan from the heat. This step is to release the aromatic oils from the spices.

Working with only a small quantity at a time, put the spices in an electric blender to grind it to a fine powder. Remove the cardamom pod skins. Allow to cool.

Store the Garam Masala in an air-tight container. As long as the container is tightly closed after each use, it should last for a long time.

This week I will be making up a batch of Thai Green Curry paste
I have to think ahead when I want to make batch of paste up as I need to Order the fresh ingredients online and they usually deliver on a Thursday as this is when all the fresh ingredients come in from Thailand.

I was very lucky a few years ago to holiday in Thailand and when I was there I spent a week doing a Thai cooking course it was so much fun, it was a totally relaxed course, is was so nice to cook on the beach with a beach bar and a lovely Thai Chap bringing me Mojito’s they were his own recipe and he would not tell me how he made them, I have tried to recreate but have never got it to taste the same.

I have not made my own paste for over year as I have tried various shop brought paste and it’s so not the same.

I will be making the paste in bulk and will be giving some away and freezing the rest in ice cube trays will I will cover as well so when I need some I can just grab them out of the freezer.

I will also be making a vegetarian version for my friend and all I will do for that is remove the shrimp paste and add a pinch of salt in it’s place.


GREEN CURRY PASTE
kruang gaeng keow wan
1 tbs coriander seed
2 ts cumin seeds
1 ts white pepper corns
–––––
3 stems lemon grass - chopped
5 cm galangal- chopped
1 ts turmeric - fresh, chopped
2 ts grated kaffir lime rind
5 shallots - chopped
12 cloves garlic - chopped
8 large fresh green chillies - chopped
2 tbs coriander leaves - chopped
10 basil leaves - chopped
4 coriander roots - chopped
2 tbs shrimp paste
2 tbs oil if blender is used


Fry all “dry” spices in a dry wok for 2-3 min until aromatic.

Pound roasted spices in a stone mortor until finely ground.
 Add the rest of ingredients a little at a time in the sequence above while scraping sides until the mixture forms into a smooth paste.

Now a stone mortor is how you are suppose to do it, I don’t I use a food processor and use 2 tbs oil to help it blend.

With the paste I will be making Thai Green curry but will update you next week on how that goes.

I have just received my seeds Catalogue so will be ordering my seeds in the next couple of days will update you with what I’ve brought to grow this year.

My Week

No gardening this week, but it is January and I won't start sowing until March to be fair I could of gone out and done abit of tidying up but it was way to windy, but the wind has given me three broken fences so we need to sort them out before I start any planting.

I went for Lunch on Monday to The Hare at Lambourn Woodlands  www.theharerestaurant.co.uk/ the food was great yet again and the menu changes monthly and so you are always guaranteed seasonal food My starter was Duck and pistachio terrine with Asian slaw and  Hoisin glaze then for main I had Kelmscott pork fillet with leek and local truffle stuffing, braised red cabbage, Jerusalem artichoke Puree with a Redcurrant jus and for desert Warm sticky toffee pudding with white chocolate mascarpone mousse. I could not fault anything I had to eat.

On previous visits I have had the Fish and chips and they really are good crispy and the fish is so fresh and the homemade tarter sauce just makes it.

And what makes it even better is with my gourmet card www.gourmetsociety.co.uk/ you get 25% of the total bill can't get much better than that.

Wednesday

I made one of my favourites and the best thing is it's so easy and I make it days in advance and leave it in the fridge until Wednesday after my aerobics class

Vegetable Chilli

This recipe should feed a family of four
1tsp Paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Olive Oil
1x diced Onion
1 x Clove of Garlic
1x diced courgettes
1 x diced Green Peppers
1xdiced carrots
A tin of Red kidneys beans (I use baked beans)
A tin of tomatoes
A pinch of sugar if using the kidney beans (the baked beans already have sugar in the sauce)
Seasoning (pepper & salt)

Grated cheddar or parmesan

Serve with either

Pitta breads
Rice
Jacket potatoes

In a large saucepan and on a low heat add a splash of olive oil and add the onions and garlic stir to stop them burning

Add the peppers and courgettes and cook gently stirring occasionally until they soften

Add the tin of tomatoes and the paprika and cayenne pepper and sugar if you are using it.

Add the beans and season to your taste and simmer for a further 5 minutes

And serve with either granted cheddar or parmesan

You could eat it on it own or serve with either a jacket potato, rice or my favourite pitta breads

Or leave to cool before placing in the fridge until you want it then all you have to do is take it out of the fridge and heat it up and serve.

So easy but so nice


I'm afraid I've found no great special offers this week but watch this space; I'm always hunting them out

A Garden Kitchen & Beyond: Happy New Year

A Garden Kitchen & Beyond: Happy New Year

Happy New Year

New Year and a Brand new blog, something which I have wanted to do for some time as I wanted to share my ideas with everyone.

I want to share my thoughts on Food, Gardening , Resturants and the best special offers to be had at the shops.