Purple Podded French Climbing Beans

I got the seeds for these from a seed exchange that is organised every year by the Cottage Garden Society. The flowers are rose pink and the beans purple. When cooked they quickly turn green. They have a very good flavour. I have saved my own seeds from the last two years for planting the next year and passing on to friends.

Details of the seed exchange are here

A Package of Seed

Now seeds are just dimes to the man in the store

And the dimes are the things he needs,

And I've been to buy them in season before

But I've thought of them merely as seeds;

But it flashed through my mind as I took them this time,

"You purchased a miracle for a dime".

by Edgar A. Guest

Plum Muffin Cake

Victoria plums are in season at the moment. Uncooked ripe Victorias are sweet. When cooked they become sharper with an amazing and intense flavour.

I experimented by making a muffin mix based on this Delia's online recipe. I doubled the basic ingredients and used plums in place of blueberries and pecans.. Please see Delia's recipe for metric measures and mixing instructions.

10oz SR flour

2 eggs

3 oz sugar

4oz butter

I tsp pure vanilla extract

10 oz SR flour

8 fl oz milk

pinch of salt

I had some buffalo milk so used this in place of the cows' milk which gave it a creamy taste. I used 1lb (454g) of stoned plums. Half were chopped and mixed into the muffin mix and the other half arranged around the top. The mixture was put into a 10in dish flan dish and baked for about 50 minutes at gas 6. The plums should be slightly caramelised. I added some flaked almonds and a sprinkle of sugar while still hot. This could be eaten hot as a pudding or cold as a cake. I did both.

Notes

A nice cake but the vanilla taste was not very strong so I would use 2 tsp pure vanilla or one of artificial vanilla. I would use 4 oz sugar next time.

Chilli Fiesta, West Dean, West Sussex

This will about my fourth visit to the Chilli Fiesta at West Dean This is where I first discovered chipotle bought from Chillipepperpete Wandering around from stall to stall in the sunshine picking up wafts of delicious cooking smells and the sounds of Latin music playing is a treat though the hardest bit for me was choosing from Moroccan, Carribean, Thai, Indian etc To drink there were locally brewed Ballards ales and apple juice from West Dean's own apples.

There are lots of samples to try such as hot sauces, relishes, chilli chocolate etc.

It is held in the grounds of West Dean College which is set in some lovely landscape and has gardens that are worth visiting in their own right.

At the end of the day lots of people head back to the car park in the fields laden with bags of spices and a big chilli plant tucked under one arm.

THE STARS OF THE SHOW

Chilli 'Masquerade' heat level 8

Salsa on the lawn

Lunch came from Masala Monkey
Plenty of Latin music to listen to

and advice on how to grow chilies

A giant wire chili with seats insideIn the Victorian greenhouses there are over 200 chilli plants on display.

and more music

Herbs

Many herbs look good in a flower border. as well as being useful for cooking. I like to have a generous supply not far from the back door. Above are golden marjoram, variegated sage, and Italian thyme. I add a mix of chopped golden marjoram, thyme chives and mint to salads.

Last year I had some in a hanging basket just outside the door so I could reach then without going out in the rain.

Below is a selection of herbs bought recently including wonderfully aromatic Vietnamese coriander and zingy lemon verbena whose flavour seems more lemony than lemon.

I also got dill, chervil, coriander and winter savoury which is new to me. I was on the look out for it after hearing about it on one of Nigel Slater's TV programmes. These have been potted up and are growing fast.

I buy my herbs from the Foxhollow Nursery (click here for location) It's up a narrow track and feels like the heart of the countryside rather than the edge of the London suburbs. It is one of the smallholdings on the Little Woodcote Estate. These smallholdings were originally offered to returning servicemen after World War One as part of the 'Homes for Heroes' in the 1920s

This one has a large selection of herbs so there are several varieties of, say, rosemary or thyme etc as well as the unusual and more exotic herbs. They also grow and sell Christmas trees.

The thymes are in full bloom


and on the right are some Christmas trees.

Cut Rounds

Cut Rounds

I saw these being made on Edwardian Farm on the BBC. They looked and sounded wonderful and I wanted to taste them so I searched for the recipe online and eventually found it. These were made in Devon in Edwardian times although I don't think they had powdered milk then but milk from their own cows. I found this series delightful and beautifully made.

They are similar to scones that are still served in Devon and Cornwall with clotted cream and jam as a cream tea. Splits are also served in Cornwall. These are raised with yeast.

Clotted cream with golden syrup is known as thunder and lightning

I followed the recipe except I only had self raising flour so I used that and added a teaspoon of baking powder. I can't be sure that the amount of raising agent is the same.

I divided the dough in half so one half of my cut rounds are plain. To the other half I added 60g grated Cheddar and 1 tbs chopped herbs from the garden, thyme, rosemary and lavender flowers as I wanted to experiment with a savoury version.

Both versions taste good. The outer crust crisp and the inside more like cake than scone.

Recipe for Cut Rounds by Richard Hunt, Executive Chef, The Grand Hotel, Torquay

Makes 12 approx

Ingredients
500gm Plain Flour
50gm Milk Powder
35gm Baking Powder
50gm Butter
220ml Buttermilk
70ml Milk
(If you like a sweet version add 30gm Caster Sugar)
Beaten egg to Glaze
Method
1. Preheat the Oven to 180c or Gas 6
2. Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl
3. Rub in the Butter
4. Mix in the Buttermilk, and Normal milk, bring together until a soft dough is reached
5. Please use your hands, not a mixer, as you will over tighten the dough!!
6. Roll into a cylinder shape about 3 inches across
7. Cut into pieces approx 60gm each
8. Slightly press to a nice shape
9. Place on the Baking Tray and Glaze with egg
10. Bake for 14-18 minutes until golden and risen
Notes
The dough must be soft not dry, don’t be afraid to add a touch more liquid if you are not happy with the consistency

Happy cooking!

Shiso, aka Japanese Basil

My friend Kyoko recently gave me some shiso plants for the garden. Shiso has an unusual taste like nothing else that I have tasted. The nearest I can get to describing it that to me it has a fresh green summery taste a bit like the smell of new mown grass with a hint of that smell you get when you brush against tomato leaves, with a whisper of lemon.

I have eaten this with salad and deep fried in tempura batter.

For a present, Kyoko made a bottle of clear magenta cordial for me from the red ( purple) shiso and she tells me it is used when pickling plums. The cordial is easy to make. Pick some red shiso leaves and soak overnight in some water with a little citric acid added. Not too much water, just enough to cover the leaves. Green shiso leaves can be mixed in with the red ones. In the morning drain the juice and boil it with some sugar. Don't use an aluminium pan as the acid can eat into the metal. When cool bottle and refrigerate the cordial. Add water and ice to taste.

Pepsi Japan even produced a Pepsi shiso.

It is used in cooking throughout Asia. The green shiso is wrapped around chicken pieces to be stir fried.

The purple shiso can double up as an ornamental plant, I have seen it in planting schemes at the Chelsea Flower Show. If the birds and snails don't eat them they can grow to 2 or 3 feet high.



The botanical name for shiso is Perilla frutescens and it belongs to the mint family along with basil, coleus and nettles. They all have square shaped stems.
It is used in Chinese medicine and is said to boost the immune system.

Pasta with courgettes, almond and lemon

I found a recipe for Zuccini pasta with almonds and lemon zest on one of my favourite food blogs, Chocolate and Zuccini. Click here for the recipe.

I followed the recipe fairly closely. I didn't have any harissa paste so I ground a mixture of coriander, cumin, caraway with some powdered chipotle. I used about 1/4 tsp of each with 1/2 a tsp coriander.

I used a couple of mini garlics fresh from the garden. They were self seeded from a previous year's crop. This and the dry weather may be why they are so small but there are plenty of them. I chopped some of the green leaf part and added that as well. Raw that tastes surprisingly strong. I also added some chopped flat leaved parsley at the end of the cooking time. That also came from the garden as a self seeded bonus.

This is a gorgeous combination of flavours and textures. I like the combination of the spices with the lemon and the contrast of textures from the crunch of the almond to the softness of the courgettes and pasta. It made 2 portions and I have a little left over to have cold with salad