Jerusalem Artichokes - the story so far

Jerusalem Artichokes are one of the most under-rated vegetables. In France, there are fed to pigs and cattle and hardly looked at. My grand parents refuse to eat them - but maybe because that's all they ate for weeks on during the war ... I got weird looks when I told them I was thinking about growing them but went ahead anyway.

That must have been one of the best decisions ever! They are one of the easiest vegetable ever to grow: put the tubers in the ground between now and March and watch them grow. Come October, the leaves start yellowing and the tall stalks are just cut to ground level - I left a couple of inches to make sure I could spot them easily (and make sure I don't leave any stray tubers as they tend to go rampant the next year if you do!) Dig them up as you need them from October onwards, they keep in the ground all winter and have survived despite the rain and frosts we've had. I'm going to save the last tubers and plant them on.

The rise and fall of the Jerusalem Artichokes bed

The taste is hard to describe, I have heard anything from nutty to oyster flavoured; personally I think they taste a little like artichoke hearts. And they must be the most versatile veg ever: boil, roast, mash, in soups or even raw sliced or grated in salads. There are definetely one of my favourite vegetables! Here are a couple of recipes we sampled this winter.

Jerusalem Artichokes with Pancetta and Parsley

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 450g of Jerusalem Artichokes
• 50g of pancetta or smoked bacon
• 50g butter
• salt, pepper and a small bunch of flat leaved parsley

Method:

1. Scrub the Jerusalem Artichokes and cut them in half.
2. Melt the butter in a large pan and fry the artichokes for a few minutes, add the pancetta or smoked bacon and keep frying for another 4 or 5 minutes.
3. Add 100ml of water, cover with a lid and cook very slowly for 30-45 minutes. Check that they do not dry and add a small amount of water if necessary.
4. Taste and season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with the chopped parsley.

Jerusalem Artichokes and Leeks Gratin

This is perfect to use up those two winter staples!

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 700g Jerusalem Artichokes
• 3 medium size leeks
• 100g butter
• 30g flour
• 500ml milk
• 200g cheddar, grated
• salt and pepper
• nutmeg

Method:

1. Scrub the Jerusalem artichokes, boil for 8-10 minutes until par-boiled, drain and leave to cool.
2. In the meantime, clean and thinly slice the leeks. Fry in 20g of butter until soft but not brown.
3. Peel and cut the Jerusalem artichokes into slices. Preheat oven to 350F/180 C.
4. In a small saucepan, make a béchamel (white sauce) using 50g of butter, 30g of flour and 500 ml of milk. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Add 100g of grated cheddar and the cooked leeks.
5. In a shallow ovenproof dish, arrange sliced artichoke in a layer, and pour the béchamel and leeks mixture over the artichokes.
6. Sprinkle over the rest of the cheese, dot with butter and bake for 45 minutes and until brown.

PS: and everything you have heard or read about their side effects is true. Do not eat before important meetings, job interviews or a crucial date. You'll live to regret it.

Sloe gin

We spent the last bank holiday weekend in Lancashire. It was a bit too late to go blackberrying, the berries were almost all gone, eaten by birds, and the remainder was just getting mouldy on the bushes.

Instead, we went sloe picking. Sloes are the tiny fruits of the blackthorn bushes which are found in hedges all over Britain. Sloes are far too tart and bitter to be used in cooking, even with plenty of sugar added to them! However, they make a wonderful fruity liquor when mixed with alcohol and sugar. Vodka or gin are particularly suitable but I personaly prefer gin. We managed to pick a couple of bags full and have been making sloe gin. There are lots of recipes out there, but we like to follow Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's from the River Cottage Cookbook.

Ingredients:

2kgs sloes

1kg sugar

3 bottles of cheap gin (use vodka if you prefer)

Method:

Prick each fruit with a pin or a fork (that's the VERY boring bit!), then transfer to a large Kilner jar, demijohn or any suitable container with a stopper or tight fitting lid. Add the sugar and pour in the gin. Seal and leave in a cool place away from direct sunlight. Every week or so, turn the jar on its head, then back again. After 6 months, strain the liquid through several layers of muslin then bottle and seal tightly (we keep empty bottles of spirits for this). Leave for another 6 months. It will be even better after 2 years.

One of the two Kilner jars with the sloes steeping in gin

We made a couple of bottles last year. As you can see HFW recommends waiting up to 2 years but there’s no chance this is going to happen in our household! It was hard enough to wait a whole year, two would be torture. I had a glass on Monday night after a long pricking session and it was just perfect, rich flavoured and sweet. Nothing like the artificial sugary taste of the Gordon’s version – although I have been known to enjoy a glass or two before ours was ready!
I’m not sure how two bottles are going to see it through till’ next year though…

Runner bean chutney

I mentioned it in my previous post so I thought I'd post the recipe here. This is a very good recipe if you have a glut of runner beans. It is absolutely lovely with cold pork or cheese !

Ingredients (makes 6 to 7 lb / 2.7 to 3 kg):

900g (2lb) runner beans, weighed after trimming and slicing

700g (1.5lb) chopped onions850ml (1.5pts) malt vinegar

1 heaped tbsp cornflour

1 heaped tbsp dry english mustard powder

1 heaped tbsp turmeric

2 tsp pilau rice seasoning

225g (8oz) soft brown sugar

450g (1lb) demerara sugar

Method:

1. Place the chopped onions into a preserving pan with 275ml (0.5pt) of the vinegar, bring to simmering point and gently simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or until soft.

2. Cook the sliced runner beans in salted water for 10 minutes, strain and add the cooked runner beans to the cooked onions in the preserving pan.

3. In a small bowl or basin, mix the cornflour, mustard powder, turmeric and pilau rice seasoning with a little of the remaining vinegar to make a smooth paste. Add to the onion and beans mixture.

4. Pour in the rest of the vinegar, mix well, then simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

5. Stir in both quantities of the sugar until they dissolve and continue to simmer uncovered for a further 15 minutes (or until your chutney reaches the desired consistency).

Note: You can add more cornflour paste if you like a thicker chutney.

6. Put the chutney in hot sterilised jars, cover with a wax lid and screw lid. Store for 1 month before eating.

Two of my favourite courgette quiches

We got our first allotment when we were living in Chesterfield, in England. At the time we really didn't know anything about gardening AT ALL! We made up things as we went along, learning from successes and failures. We did loads of silly things which we laugh about now. One of our biggest (funny-ish) mistakes was to underestimate how many courgettes a courgette plant can produce over the course of a summer.

We planted 8 plants, and being a reasonnably warm summer, our courgettes went in total overdrive. From early July until late September, we were harvesting more than 10 courgettes a week! That is A LOT of courgettes. We had them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I started collecting all the recipes I could find, my mum sent them in, my grandmothers revealed their secrets. But that wasn't enough: we got sick of them and so did our friends!

These days we are a lot more sensible with our courgettes and get to appreciate them more!

Courgette plants - yellow and green

(before my weeding craze!)

One way to use courgettes that people don't necessarily think about is to use them in quiches. These are two of my favourite courgette quiche recipes.

Courgette, Feta and Mint Quiche


Ingredients (serves 6 to 8):

250g shortcrust pastry

2 medium size courgettes

125g of feta cheese

1 handful of mint, finely chopped

4 eggs

200ml of semi skimmed or full fat milk

200ml of single cream or liquid "crème fraîche"

salt and pepper




Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200C/400F/GM6

2. Line the pastry in the tart mold (butter the mold or use greaseproof paper)

3. Wash and grate the courgettes finely, place in a colander and press to extract as much water/courgette juice as possible.

4. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and incorporate the milk and cream. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Add the grated courgettes, the crumbled feta cheese and the finely chopped mint to the egg mixture. Pour into the mold.

6. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until set.

7. Serve hot or warm with a side salad.




Courgette Quiche with Shiitake Mushrooms and Goat Cheese

Ingredients (serves 6 to 8):

250g shortcrust pastry

2 small courgettes

250g shiitake mushrooms

150g soft goat cheese

1 bunch of flat leaf parsley

4 eggs

200ml full fat milk

250ml of single cream

10g of butter or greaseproof paper for the mold

1 tbsp of vegetal oil

2 pinches of cinnamon

nutmeg (to taste), salt and pepper



Method:

1. Preheat oven at 200C/400F/GM6

2. Line the pastry in the tart mold (butter the mold or use greaseproof paper)

3. Wash and dry the shiitake mushrooms and fry them for 2 minutes in 1tbsp of vegetable oil.

4. Wash and grate the courgettes finely, place in a colander and press to extract as much water/courgette juice as possible.

5. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and incorporate the milk and cream. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

6. Add the grated courgettes, the crumbled goat cheese, the mushrooms and the finely chopped parsley to the egg mixture. Pour into the mold.

7. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until set.

8. Serve hot or warm with a side salad seasoned with walnut or hazelnut dressing.


Both are also great for summer barbecues or picnics served cold!

Banana and pecan nuts bread

I am in the middle of sorting out my allotment pictures, eating some "just hot from the oven" banana bread so I thought I'd post the recipe. This was supposed to be made with walnuts but I didn't have any and I much prefer pecan nuts anyway!

Ingredients:

225g plain flour

100g sugar

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 large or 3 medium bananas mashed

2 tbsp melted butter

1 tbsp milk

1 egg

50-75g pecan nuts roughly chopped (or walnuts)

1tsp lemon rind

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C /350F/GM4.

2. Mix all the ingredients from the first group in one bowl.

3. Mix all the ingredients from the second group in another bowl.

4. Mix the contents of both bowls together.

5. Pour into a loaf tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 1 to 1 and 1/4 hours. When it's ready, an inserted toothpick or fine skewer should come out clean. Cool down on a wire rack and slice before serving.

Should make 8 to 10 slices.

PS. There wasn't much left by the time I got round to taking the picture!