Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Pulses and/or beans
Can report on a new broad bean recipe. Take dried broad beans, paying no attention to the largeish number of what look like woodworm holes. Add lots of water and bring to boil. Turn off heat and leave to soak overnight. Drain, rinse and add some more water. Bring to boil and cook for a while. Put the whole lot through a food mixer. In the mean time fry some finely chopped onions and bacon in butter. Stir into beans.
The result is rather an odd colour but entirely edible. Probably best as a vegetable consumed with a meaty meal, rather than by itself. Admirable way of getting rid of excess beans - of which I have plenty.
Also on a variant of a lentil soup recipe. Being short of carrots added some dried shelled runner beans. This turned the soup a rather odd colour. So added some chopped cabbage which turned the whole thing back to a reasonable green, rather than the usual yellow. But result entirely acceptable.
The result is rather an odd colour but entirely edible. Probably best as a vegetable consumed with a meaty meal, rather than by itself. Admirable way of getting rid of excess beans - of which I have plenty.
Also on a variant of a lentil soup recipe. Being short of carrots added some dried shelled runner beans. This turned the soup a rather odd colour. So added some chopped cabbage which turned the whole thing back to a reasonable green, rather than the usual yellow. But result entirely acceptable.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Later
Walked around Epsom common. Warm for late October. But the common remains infested with trusties chasing the latest ecofad. Presently they are playing farm with cows and chainsaws.
Checked out the allotment. Picked the last cucumbers. Not too hot by this time of year and we must have twenty of them Waste not want not. Picked some more runner beans which will be shelled into tonight's pork stew. Made sure the new bamboo plant is still there. Wondering whether I ought to cut it back as suggested in the leaflet. Do deer eat bamboo?
Checked out the allotment. Picked the last cucumbers. Not too hot by this time of year and we must have twenty of them Waste not want not. Picked some more runner beans which will be shelled into tonight's pork stew. Made sure the new bamboo plant is still there. Wondering whether I ought to cut it back as suggested in the leaflet. Do deer eat bamboo?
A first post
Thoughts of an Epsom pumpkin grower on retirement from less important activities.
It has not been a good year for pumpkins, at least not for me. Only managed two fifty pounders - and put to shame by the Square and Compass at Worth Maltravers where the village competition stumped up dozens of the the things. They also gave me the idea of naming them - a practise I shall start next year. What would be a suitable paint? Something that is not going to crack as the pumpkin grows.
But I did get quite a lot of small ones - two to three inches across - which bake well with a bit of butter and cheese inside.
Got to work on germination which I am bad at presently - with the result that I get too few plants out too late in the season.
It has not been a good year for pumpkins, at least not for me. Only managed two fifty pounders - and put to shame by the Square and Compass at Worth Maltravers where the village competition stumped up dozens of the the things. They also gave me the idea of naming them - a practise I shall start next year. What would be a suitable paint? Something that is not going to crack as the pumpkin grows.
But I did get quite a lot of small ones - two to three inches across - which bake well with a bit of butter and cheese inside.
Got to work on germination which I am bad at presently - with the result that I get too few plants out too late in the season.
