A Break from Routine

The Royal Welsh & A Twist on a Salad Nicoise

The growing season is in full swing and there is always something to be done, but we managed a little R&R towards the end of May. We visited the Royal Welsh Spring Show in Builth Wells.

The Royal Welsh Agricultural Society’s main event is in July and attracts the proper farmers. The spring show is aimed at the smallholder. It’s the first time we’ve visited and it was fun, if a little wet on the first day, so we left early feeling wet and miserable.  However on Sunday, the weather improved and we explored the entire show.

People were exhibiting their livestock and there were many rosettes to be won. 

Traditional skills were on show, such as rope making, blacksmith and farrier skills.

Many stalls were selling new equipment and small holder essentials and there were talks by experts on relevant smallholder topics, such as beekeeping and how to be self sufficient on one acre or less.

Most of the wet Saturday was spent walking round the food hall and sampling the local products on offer. From small independent producers of cheese, ice-cream, local honey to chilli relishes, homemade pies and cakes and the odd independent brewer producing Welsh pale ales. 

Arriving home at the end of a busy weekend it was time to throw something quick and tasty together. Something light, crisp and colourful to mark the true arrival of spring and incorporate  local or home grown ingredients.

The result was a variation on a Tuna Nicoise salad using Pembrokeshire potatoes, the first small eggs from the new chickens, oriental salad leaves and herbs from the hydro-tunnel.

Fragrant Tuna Nicoise
Grilled Tuna Steak
Hard Boiled Eggs
Sliced Cherry Tomatoes
Sauted Potato Cubes in Toasted Sesame Seeds
Endame
Sliced Welsh Onion (a type of salad / spring onion)
Served on a bed of Oriental Salad Leaves (a mix of Mizuna, Mibuna, Green Mustard Pizzo, Red Mustard, Pak choi Canton White, and Tatsoi).

For The Salad Dressing
Chopped Chives, Cilantro, Garlic, Soy Sauce, Hemp Oil & Red Wine Vinegar.

Liver, Fava Beans, But No Chianti

Things Your Mother Would Make You Eat As A Child!

I remember disliking some foods so much as a child, that I would refuse to eat them, the humble broad bean (aka fava bean, faba bean, field bean, English bean to name just  a few of its aliases) was one of them.

They looked so green and tasty inside their fur lined pod when picked fresh. I didn’t like them because they were cooked the old fashioned way, popped un-peeled into a pan of salted boiling water, which meant they would end up pale and wrinkly.  The outer shell separating slightly from the bean inside. They always tasted dry and leathery. Sometimes the outer skin would fall off the bean completely and would stick to the roof of your mouth! Yuk!

Depending upon where you live in the world, broad / fava beans are either eaten whole or peeled. If picked young enough, they do not need to be peeled, as the tough skin has yet to form. 

If only my mother had peeled the beans or perhaps not let them grow too long on the pod….

I now like broad beans. The first batch have been planted out into raised beds this week.. 

Here’s the  building blocks to a nice fresh broad / fava bean recipe, that you can enjoy with a ‘fine chianti!’ 

I used frozen beans on this recipe and parsley from the hydro tunnel.

Broad Bean & Parsley Houmous with Crispy Pancetta

Peeled Broad Beans
Bunch of Parsley
1 Clove of Garlic
Lemon Juice
Salt & Pepper
Crispy Pancetta Strips
Hemp Oil / Olive Oil

Blanch fresh beans first to make the skins easy to remove.
Steam beans until tender
Blitz all the ingredients together, apart from the crispy pancetta.
Add oil until you reach your preferred consistency
Top with crispy pancetta and serve with wholemeal toast or grilled poultry.

Busy Busy Busy!

Easter Came Early… And Spring Is Just Now Catching Its Breath

Springtime in Wales means lambs!  Back in March we had the opportunity to watch lambs being born on a friend’s farm. Now that’s a busy & hectic time of year!

We’ve had our own busy couple of months at the small holding. 

Here’s a look at what’s been happening….

New Chicken Coop Built & We Got 5 More Chickens

Plenty of work has gone into preparing the garden for planting.

Digging Over The Kitchen Garden

New Raised Beds Built

Seed Sowing

More Seed Sowing

Hardening off Seedlings for Planting

More Seedlings Ready for Planting

Pea & Bean Supports Made

Tomato Supports Put Up

The hydro-tunnel has been reorganised and the first crops are coming along nicely! There is a new watercress cascading system which we hope will increase this years yield. And there are two new additions to the hydro-tunnel this year – Okra & Micro Greens.

Waiting for Germination

New Watercress System

Mixed Greens & First Basil Crop

Tomatillo, Tomato & Okra Ready for Transplanting

Salad Leaves Almost Ready to Harvest

Micro Greens Beginning to Sprout

 

Here’s hoping May will bring Spring to life. We’ve had heavy frosts up until the end of April, historically the second week of April usually signals the end of the frosty weather, fingers crossed.

Let the planting continue.

California Dreamin’

Sourdough & Pickup Trucks

There are two things I miss from my time in California, old Chevy pickup trucks and sourdough bread. I can’t do much about the truck here in the UK, but I can the sourdough.

At Hydro2Plate it’s not only important to us that we grow as much of our food as possible, be it hydroponically or conventionally, but that we make all our food from scratch. 

The humble loaf of bread is no exception.

It’s relatively simple to start your own sourdough starter with some flour, yeast and water. That being said I was looking for something with a bit more heritage and authenticity. Everyone has probably heard of the original San Francisco Sourdough culture and I would have been happy with that, until I stumbled upon a place that specialised in all sorts of cultures. I was spoilt for choice.

In the end I chose the following, they are all slightly different and have their own unique personalities.

Yukon Culture – the story goes that this was passed down from a Yukon prospector.
Red Sea Culture  – from one of the oldest ethnic bakeries in Egypt on the shores of the Red Sea.
French Culture – from a small 150 year old bakery on the edge of Paris.
South African Culture – a culture strong enough to leaven wholewheat flour and has a good sour taste.

As wholemeal bread is healthier, I brought the South African culture to life first. Adapting a recipe from the Knead Bakery cookbook (a cafe/bakery located in Cape Town), I substituted the recipe’s ‘rustic poolish’ for my sourdough starter. The bread did rise, but not as much as I expected.
More practice is needed!

Slightly disheartened at my fist sourdough attempts I dug out my favourite french baguette recipe and using my steam oven for the first time, the bread came out quite well. 

I can’t wait to bring another culture (or as they are affectionately known ‘my bugs’) to life as the sourdough adventure continues.

French Baguette Recipe
I use dried active yeast (readily available in UK supermarkets) instead of instant yeast for all my bread making. So the recipe has been adapted to work with dried active yeast.

Dried Yeast Prep
1 tsp white sugar
150ml warm water
1 tbs dried active yeast
Dissolve the sugar in the water. Whisk in the yeast and leave in a warm place for 10 – 15 minutes

Bread Ingredients Starter Dough
2 cups Canadian strong white bread Flour (112)
350ml warm water
Prepared yeast mix
Add yeast mix and water to the flour and stir well
Cover and let rise for 3 hours.
If using an electric proofing box set temperature to 21 degrees centigrade

Bread Ingredients Step 2
2 cups Canadian strong white bread flour (112)
1 tsp salt
Mix the salt and flour together
Add the dry ingredients slowly to the starter dough and mix ingredients together on minimum to incorporate.
Once incorporated turn the mixer to 1 and mix until smooth and pliable
Rise for 1 hour and knock down.
Cut the dough into 3 and shape and let rise for another 20 minutes
Cook for 15 mins at 230 degrees centigrade.

“The VegiVows”

How Does My Garden Grow?

As an avid Margaret Atwood fan I devour her novels almost as soon as I can get my grubby gardener hands on them. But what with the move to, and all the renovations at the small holding I’ve not found the time to read. With all the major DIY projects finally behind us this year, the new garden season not yet in full swing and the dismal, Fifty Shades of Kodak Grey skies, I finally picked up Atwood’s The Year of The Flood. An aptly titled book , since it hasn’t stopped raining?  In the book we’re introduced to the “Gardeners” a vegetarian eco group who take Vegivows and cultivate secret roof top gardens to grow their own food in preparation for the coming of the waterless flood that will destroy civilisation.

Even though Atwood’s “Gardeners” were not great fans of technology, I feel hydroponic technology is a great way to produce your own food when space is limited or you do not have access to a soil garden or allotment.  You can even do it on a window sill!

So how does a hydroponic garden grow? Simply put, plants grow in oxygenated water containing dissolved nutrients. 

I’m experimenting with a few different hydroponic methods to see what works well and will be cost effective. Currently our winter herbs and salad leaves are growing in an enclosed aero-hydroponic system. 

The plants sit in small net pots filled with clay pebbles with their roots growing in the air.
A water pump then pumps nutrient rich water through a sprinkler system that sprays the roots. Surplus water drains back into the tank to recirculate. The water is currently heated to 20 degrees centigrade. We didn’t have to do that in the summer.

On the book tour for the The Year of The Flood, Atwood said they would follow what she called the “Vegivows” – a list of things to make the tour as green as possible. One element of these vows was to eat locally produced and if possible organic food. 

I guess the reason we moved to our small holding was to abide by our own set of  “VegiVows”

Grow as much of our food as possible.
Make everything from scratch.
And what we can’t – Know it’s provenance. Be it sourced locally or from small independent suppliers that grow or raise their products naturally.

Beetroot Bonanza

And other Winter Weeding Hidden Gems

It’s slightly melancholic putting a garden or polytunnel to bed for the winter and yet it’s strangely uplifting at the same time.

In the midst of all the nettles, weeds and radishes that had gone to seed there were a few hidden gems and some weird and wonderful things left behind to discover.

Despite the months of neglect I was able to harvest some final spoils of war.

There were a few tender baby Sutherland Kale leaves which I gently wilted to act as a bed for some sautéed scallops with a creamy gorgonzola and pancetta sauce.

Some weedy looking leeks, that I will use to make a Welsh Onion soup and a  then there was the bumper harvest of beetroot. 

My brother-in-law once told me that beetroot was notoriously hard to grow, so in the past I bought beetroot plants from the garden centre. Last year I grew them from seed for the first time. I did pick a variety that was supposedly “bolt hardy.” Bolting is where a plant has a tendency to go to seed prematurely, usually due to a sudden cold spell, and is not usable. I planted 2 crops this year and both did okay.

After pulling up the remaining plants, the larger beets were turned into beetroot mash served with sous vide lamb shanks with a beetroot sauce and served with fresh salad leaves harvested from the winter hydroponic garden. 

Beetroot Sauce

Saute chopped carrot, onion and celery.
Puree cooked beetroot in a jug blender with a little water
Add the cooking juices from the sous vide lamb shanks.
Thicken to desired consistency.
There’s no need to  strain the sauce at this point, unless you want a clear jus.

Handy Cooking Tip: Beetroots can be cooked relatively quickly in a microwave. 

The baby beets were left whole and pickled using my own pickling spice blend. I used a 500ml preserving jar and 155g of peeled baby beets. 

Beetroot Pickling Spice

1 tbs yellow mustard seed
1 tbs whole black peppercorns
1 tsp mace blades crushed
2 tsp dried juniper berries
1 tsp black onion seed
1 tsp chili flakes.
Dry roast the spices. Don’t let the chilli flakes burn.
Add the roasted spices to 500ml of white wine vinegar & 80g of soft brown sugar and bring to a simmer.
Put the cooled cooked beetroots in a sterilised jar.
Pour over the hot spiced vinegar.
Add 1 tsp of course sea salt to the jar and seal.
These should be ready to eat in about 2 weeks.

One beautiful little thing I found nestling in the soil of my neglected polytunnel, protected from the incessant welsh rain were these delicate little tomatillo husks. 

Fifty Shades of Kodak Grey

In other words, It’s been raining… Raining…  and yes…  Raining!

 

I use these handy little test targets in the other job (TOJ) to assess colour reproduction. However the last few months I can safely say I could have used the Grey Scale target to determine, from the colour of the sky, how much rain we were going to have that day. The rain just has not stopped. Everything has turned to mud! 

With the ground waterlogged, there’s not been a chance to burn the weeds in the kitchen garden so that I could dig over and fertilise the patch ready for the next growing season. This may mean that the kitchen garden is not quite so productive this year and the more reason the hydroponic & other polytunnel need to be in full production.  

On a slightly drizzly evening, where the daytime sky had been maybe a 1 or 2 on the grey scale target we decided to introduce a little warmth and colour to brighten up an otherwise wet and dull few months.

We fired up the Pizza Oven.

I have a favourite dough recipe that I got from the book American Pie by Peter Reinhart. I make a big batch at a time as it freezes well. I like the recipe  because even if you cook your pizza in a normal oven it makes a great base. 

I tend to omit or reduce the amount of salt and sugar used in recipes (just our preference), so for my pizza dough I changed the quantities used. I also adapted the recipe to work with dried active yeast (readily available in UK supermarkets), instead of instant yeast.

Neo – Neapolitan Pizza Dough

10 cups 00 flour
3 teaspoon salt
Yeast  *see below
4 tablespoons olive oil
500ml room temperature water

Dried Active Yeast Preparation

2/3rd tsp sugar
100ml water (taken from the 500ml)
2 tsp yeast
Dissolve the sugar in the water.
Mix in the yeast and leave in a warm place for 15 minutes.
This is now ready to use with the other ingredients.

Some of best garlic bread is the simplest to make when you’re using a wood fired oven.

Take a piece of pizza dough.
Roll it out.
Dot with garlic, butter (or olive oil) and maybe a sprinkling of parmesan and poppy seeds.

Today the sun shines and we had the first decent frost of the winter. It’s time to take stock, make a list of what needs to be done, as February is fast approaching and the first seeds will need to be put in the propagator. 

I have a few busy weeks ahead. Let’s hope the rain stays away.

Festive Family Feast

Menu Planning, Mistakes Made and Lessons Learnt

I like to experiment at Christmas. Create a twist to accompany the traditional Turkey and Christmas Pudding with rum sauce. 

This year I wanted to cook dinner for my family over the 3 main holiday days, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day (26th December, a UK holiday), but the challenge was to:

1. Use some the things still growing in either the hydroponic or conventional polytunnel / small holding
2. Control the amount of sugar used
3. Plan ahead and prepare some dishes in advance so I could enjoy the festivities
4. Have an old fashioned Boxing Day buffet with left overs and Baked Ham.

With a very long list of potential dishes, I didn’t know where to start, until I realised I needed to plan the menu for each day and work back from there.

And so the menu was born. Here are some highlights…

Challenge 1 

Beetroot – A Meatless Borsch – for Christmas Eve and I could even make the stock base on the 23rd.
Kale – A side dish of Mashed potato and kale to go with the Turkey
Leeks – Roast leeks with thyme & vermouth – also for Christmas Day
Fresh Eggs – Caesar Salad for Christmas Eve

Challenge 2 

Mince pies – Traditional mincemeat is usually made months in advance. I found a quick and easy recipe for Cranberry & Orange Mincemeat to make when needed or stored in the fridge
Black Forest Gateau for Boxing Day – I used organic Cacao Powder instead of processed chocolate powder for the sponge.

Challenge 3 

The  Gateau – sponge and pastry base made in advance and frozen.
Cure the Salmon with tequila & grapefruit for Christmas eve.
Hot Ham with Port & Lime Sauce – Pre-Cook the Ham and freeze until needed.
Cook carrots for Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve

Challenge 4 

This was a success.
It was time to rest and watch a Bond Film on TV. Another quirky UK Boxing Day tradition.

Mistakes Made…
The cured salmon wasn’t ready in time, so it became Hot Smoked Salmon
The pomegranate sauce for the Turkey… well, let’s just say it resembled a pink bread sauce!!

 

Festive Crib Notes

Fried Green Tomatoes & Chutney

Stocking The Shelves for Winter

My mother’s pantry, was a narrow room with a sloping roof built under the stairs, just off the kitchen. The shelves on the lowest wall were reserved for the growing number of preserves she would make over the year. There would be all sorts of jams and jellies. Many flavours and colours. Strawberry Jam. Blackberry Jam. Quince Jam. Raspberry Jelly which was prepared just like jam but she’d strain the liquid through a jelly bag to make a crystal clear preserve. But there would be only one type of chutney on the shelf. Green Tomato Chutney. She made the same recipe year after year. I never did get a copy of it, but remember the main ingredients were unripe green tomatoes, apples, sultanas, vinegar and sugar. As for any herbs and spices – those remain a mystery.

With the end of season tomatoes just hanging on the vines, refusing to ripen, it was time to dig out the copper preserving pan and make my own green tomato chutney.

There are so many recipes out there, all with their own little variations. I wanted my chutney to be as typically Old English as possible. As chutney originated in India and was brought over and adapted by the Victorians as a way of preserving fruit and vegetables from the garden I wanted to use some traditional spices. As my mother’s chutney didn’t taste too spicy I used just Cyan and Turmeric.

The building blocks for a chutney recipe

2.5kg Green Tomatoes
500g White Onion
500g British Russet Apples
215g Sultanas
1 litre Distilled Malt Vinegar
475g Dark Muscavado Sugar
5g White Pepper
3g Cyan
3g Turmeric.
Once cooked don’t forget to let the chutney mature for about 3 months.

Next year I think I will experiment with a few more spices, perhaps some mustard seed, coriander, ginger and mace.

I saved a few green tomatoes to try something I’ve always wanted to taste…Fried Green Tomatoes –  a side dish from the Southern United States. Having never eaten them I had no idea how to make my own. I used a great recipe from the online magazine thekitchn.com

And the verdict? I love them! 

Hooked on the idea of using green tomatoes, other than as a substitute for tomatillos, I searched out other recipes and found Green Tomato Mayonnaise which made use of my hydroponically grown basil leaves.

Here are the links:

Fried Green Tomatoes:- http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-recommendation-fried-gr-57523
Green Tomato Mayonnaise: – http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/green-tomato-mayonnaise

Would love to know what you do with green tomatoes and looking forward to the long winter nights since we’ve left DST when I can sit back and think about my own recipes.

The Three Musketeers

Basque ChilLi, Tomato & Tomatillo  – Hydroponic Salsa Ingredients

Finally the Basque Chillis are turning red. I bought these seeds from http://www.realseeds.co.uk a family run company based here in Wales. What I like about this company is that they sell seeds for plants that you can save from one years harvest to plant the following year. Traditionally this used to be common practice by farmers and gardeners alike, but I think it is not so prevalent today. When the other job (TOJ) slows down a little I plan on starting to save my own seed. It’s something I feel quite strongly about with regards to ensuring my own food security.

One of the main reasons for the hydroponic polytunnel was to try and grow chillis. I’m growing 2 types,  a green Jalapeño, that’s not doing too well and the red Basque Chilli. The Basque Chilli is a fantastic heirloom chilli pepper from the South of France that does really well in the UK. They are a deep red chilli that will give you a warm glow!

Red Tomato & Tomatillo Salsa Recipe
Red Cherry Tomatoes *
Final Crop of Tomatillos *
Basque Chili *
Parsley *
Sweet Onion
Lime Juice
Spot of Sugar

* Ingredients were all grown in an unheated, natural daylight hydroponic polytunnel here in Wales. 

I made this to serve over a piece of poached sea bass, but any leftovers make a great bruschetta the next day.