Eating what you sow

This week we thought we’d do you a wee update on the food we get from the garden rather than just lots of pictures of plants, although we will also be including pictures of plants of course

The exciting news this week is that we are seeing our first tomatoes. This is quite a big deal as last year we had so many tomatoes and it left us go wild in the kitchen with pasta and salads etc. So we’re both quite excited about this prospect again.

Obviously, the tomatoes are only small and green just now, but it’s a sure sign of things to come.

So what do we do with tomatoes from the garden? Well, this recipe is a big favourite of ours.

Summer Pasta

Ingredients

• Lots of tomatoes – all different types
• Garlic – raw – 6 cloves
• fresh basil – handful of shredded leaves
• olive oil – 6 table spoons
• spaghetti cooked

How to make

It’s really simple.

Cut up your tomatoes into bite sized pieces, mince the garlic and mix this all with the olive oil. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for a few hours.

Cook some spaghetti and then mix the garlicky tomato goodness through it.

Add your basil and some seasoning to taste… and serve.

Don’t be put off by the idea of the raw garlic, it’s not actually as overpowering as you think, it’s more of a warm hum when added to the tomatoes and basil.

Serve with a nice glass of chilled white wine in the garden.

So what else do we have?

Well the courgettes yet again are growing up a storm, we’ve already had one meal from this plant and there are clearly more to come. So what do we like to do with the courgettes?

Kate’s Lemon Thyme Chicken with Courgettes.

Ingredients

• Courgettes – sliced
• Chicken breast – cooked and sliced
• crème fresh
• lemon thyme

How to

Again a dead simple meal made with fresh ingredients from the garden.

Fry off the sliced chicken breast with the courgette slices until cooked.

Add the crème fresh and some lemon thyme from the garden, give it a good stir and a heat through, season and serve in a big bowl with homemade bread.

A big favourite of mine is beetroot and before you screw your nose up – real, fresh beetroot is completely different from the pickled stuff in jars we were fed as kids. Trust me.

Kate does the most amazing roast beetroot tart, which this beetroot is destined for next week – although I haven’t told Kate that yet. But she also does lovely roasted beetroot with rosemary. We blogged the recipe last year so click here and go make some.

Now rather than bore you with loads more of our recipes, here are some baby lemons… awwwwwwwww

Now this rhubarb is destined for a rhubarb and ginger crumble… I promise I’ll blog it when I make it. Yum!

And lastly lunch last weekend. Baked Camembert with broccoli spears from the garden to dip into the gooey cheese.

Life is hard being me and Kate!!!!