week 5 - food - 52 images for 2011 flickr group

 

Torn between the two piccies again - finally decided on the one above.

 

I have struggled with the theme of food for the 52 images for 2011 flickr group this week, primarily because I take so many photos of food for the recipe items on my blog. I did not want to repeat myself so had to find something that I had not photographed before.
In end I have plumped for these butter beans, in macro.
They have just been fished out of the water they soaked in overnight, before going in the pot to simmer for an hour.
Later tonight they will be the main ingredient in my butter bean spicy curry.

Recipe will be here on my blog in the next couple of days.

Do you want a Jamie 30 minute version?

3 Bean Stew

But before that, does anyone else watch Jamie Oliver?  

He is currently on TV doing a series of 30 minute meals, that normally include a main, a salad or side dish and a pudding.  If I could just mute the voice over I think I would quite enjoy this series, but it is on at that sitting down in the evening with a glass of wine time, and has no other competition so inevitably it prattles on in the background.  

I have yet to be inspired by any of the food on offer apart from the salmon the other night - but as I cannot convince anyone else to eat salmon that is one recipe that will have to fall by the wayside.

But the point of this little entry was not to run down Jamie Oliver and his pre-pubescent presenting style, but to wonder where on earth his prop buyer has got to.

For me, one of the greatest pleasures in cookery programmes is looking at all the little bits and pieces of crockery, cutlery and gadgets, and coveting them.  

The derisory 'Delicious Miss Dahl' was one such programme, who cared what she said or what she cooked (with the cooked in inverted finger commas) when she had so many pretty things surrounding her.  Nigella is a disappointment in this sense, but her cooking does make up for it, won't even mention Heston or Nigel Slater, Delia occasionally had a bit of eye candy, but the king of pretty props used to be Jamie.  

And now - nothing.  

I have watched several of the new shows and have not felt the urge to cruise ebay for anything afterwards.  Bring back the props buyer!

Weeeeell - back on track now.

This 3 bean stew thingy is one of my favourite tapas nibbles, but it also makes a fantastic side dish - this evening it will be accompanying some roasted duck legs.

The long version involves dried beans, for the Jamie style 30 minute version use tinned or frozen beans.

2 large yellow onions

4 rashers of streaky bacon chopped into chunks or some lardons

1 litre of chicken stock

1 cupful each of any beans of your choice - chickpeans, flagelot, haricot, butter, kidney, borlotti etc

salt, pepper

fresh or dried thyme

Use a large oven proof pot with a lid.

Fry 2 large onions that have been roughly chopped in a tablespoon of olive oil with some black pepper.  This is not enough oil to thoroughly cook the onions you just want to give them a bit of colour.

When the pan looks too dry, add a splash of water and put a lid on to sweat the onions until they are soft.

In another frying pan, fry off the bacon, then add the bacon and any liquid from the pan into the onions. 

Add the beans, season, bring to the boil then leave on a high simmer for 20 minutes, add some fresh thyme, stir thoroughly and serve.

If using dried beans, soak overnight, then as above, but when you add the beans to the stock put the pan in the oven for about 3 or 4 hours to cook slowly and absorb the stock.

I normally use a mixture of dried and frozen beans.  A cup of chick peas, to a cup of frozen borlotti (I usually have some that have not dried enough naturally for storage so I just throw them in the freezer), and a cup of haricot beans.  When using frozen beans - do not let them defrost first - they go all mushy and lose a lot of their texture in the cooking if you do.

I think I need a prop buyer too.  

This Le Creuset enamel pan came from a car boot sale here in France about 3 years ago, and has been very badly treated by me since then.  I only paid a couple of euros for it, which is a good job really because once it hit the stone floor a couple of times most of the orange enamel fell off, and it has a couple of dents now too.  It is just the right size for 3 people though, and is so handy from hob to oven on the Rayburn but equally on the gas stove that I cannot bring myself to replace it, not until I spot another one at a bargain price anyway.

As I sit at my kitchen table writing this, with my stew bubbling away behind me, I realise that quite a few of my kitchen buys have been inspired by the pretty props on TV cookery shows, so in order to save pennies  I need to either stop watching the shows or start being grateful that the quality of prop buyer has dropped dramatically.

First Battalion of the Kelvedon Brigade

The advance guard are out in force, standing to attention and ready for inspection.

I always plant my beans and peas initially in toilet roll tubes - it is just one of the many things that I ask my clients and friends to keep in their 'Monika' boxes. Planting them like this protects them from extremes of weather once out in the garden, as well as slugs and other pests, and the toilet tubes degrade naturally in the soil once transplanted leaving lovely healthy deep roots. When planting out, leave a centimetre or so lip of cardboard above the ground this does seem to deter a lot of pests.

My cucumber seedlings are looking lovely and healthy, they are obviously enjoying  being in the greenhouse, they just need another few leaves and out into the garden they will go.

 My  little Calabrese seedlings are coming along quite well too, and I planted another few out today - I plant according to the lunar calendar and today is a leaf planting day according to the biodynamic calendar.

Biodynamic:
Moon in Cancer: This is a Water sign. It is a good time to sow Leaf plants like Basil, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbages, Celeriac, Celery, Dill, Kale, Lettuce, Rhubarb, Seakale, Spinach, Swiss Chard, but it would not be a good time to sow Fruiting plants like Aubergines (Eggplant), Broad Beans (Fava), Cucumbers, French Beans, Marrows and Courgettes, Peas, Peppers, Pumpkins, Runner Beans, Squashes, Sweetcorn, Tomatoes - taken from :  http://www.the-gardeners-calendar.co.uk/Moon_Planting.asp

These are the spinach, sprout and additional calabrese seeds heading out to the cold frames this morning.
I have grown Swiss and Rainbow Chard in previous years but have decided not to this year, after I found two bags full of frozen chard in the freezer - we or rather I, am just not using it enough to warrant growing any more this year.

One of my favourite things in the herb garden is horseradish.  I was very lucky when my father-in-law's partner sent me some a few years ago via the postal service.  I was not sure how it would survive after a week in an envelope but I planted it out and it thrives, coming back year after year, but getting bigger and bigger every year - it just means that I have to make more and more horseradish sauce, one of my favourite relishes and one I have not seen for sale here in France.  In fact if you mention that you eat horseradish (raifort)  they look at you very strangely - they consider it a weed and mostly inedible (or at least they do in this region anyway).

My herb garden is doing well, chives are thriving, I have garlic chives too, and they smell gorgeous, mint and marjoram are taking over a bit,  but rather than pulling them up I am more inclined to expand the herb garden to accomodate them.

Our garden is approximately 12 metres by 38 metres, which is a lot of ground to cover.  By about July I have abandoned weeding completely and only keep the planted rows clear and between rows I have learnt to keep a wide space - big enough for the lawnmower - more cheating I know, but life is short - too short to weed out every tiny bit of sorrel and yarrow and many other miscellaneous and unidentified plants otherwise known as weeds.

So after a lovely morning of planting out a few more of my leafy seeds like celery, after work I headed home for a bit of rotavating.  Luckily Brendan had been up and down the garden for the last cut before the storms forecast tonight and tomorrow, so I put up my guide lines and then went over the rows with the hoe for a clean till ready for planting.

I am actually hoping that the storms arrive because the ground is so dry, in fact I had to get the well pump running this morning for the duck pond which has dried up in the last couple of days.

This weekend is one of my busiest planting and seeding times, but in addition it is also the first big car boot of the season -  whoooo hoooooo - I lurve car booting.

Bean pole fun.

First few leaves of sage appearing in newly weeded herb garden.


There is something about keeping animals, whether pets or livestock, that leaves a portion of your mind perpetually occupied with thoughts of their welfare.

This morning I was pleased to see the new baby bunnies developing an interest in the world around them, their little noses twitching as their mummy ate her breakfast.

When I wandered up the road to visit Milla it was a different story. She was lay in the middle of the walled garden and did not get up as I approached. This is not like her - she likes to view everyone at eye level and prefers to look down on them if she can, to lie down and not get up is very out of character - instantly my thoughts are flitting between thoughts of illnes and injury.

She lumbered to her feet eventually and stood in her normal position for a good scratching, a hoof check and a check down her legs for any swellings and hot spots, then she walked around the garden and with a bit of encouragement broke into a trot.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

I think she has now visited the neighbour often enough that she feels comfortable and safe enough to lie down and sleep. Something she normally only does in our field or in her summer field.

Panic over.

With a bit of help from Thea the official pole carrier, I got my bean poles up.

Every year I try to rotate the garden to ensure that we never drain too many nutrients from one spot by constantly growing the same things in the same place.

The normal rotation I use is :

fallow ground or first year beds = potatoes
second year = brassicas
third year = roots
fourth year = peas and beans
then a rest period if possible with heavy manure or a green manure

Such a lovely start to the day, a morning spent gardening in the sun.