Easy Sponge Cake - with citrus, rosemary and thyme

this week  is the FWDR Blog Birthday week! it's been an whole entire year since the first post 52 weeks ago, and how far we've come. the year has been a good one, with lots of sun (and rain) and great home grown food. when FWDR first posted the Homegrown Bloody Mary post, it was also THE Julia Child's Birthday, and what a day to begin a food blog! So, in honour of Julia and the big birthday, I've taken from Julia's, Baking with Julia Cookbook, a cake recipe I've used time and time again with great results. I tweaked it a little to give it an FWDR spin, by adding lime zest, rosemary and thyme. its a perfect sponge recipe made even better with freshly whipped cream and homemade jam.

 

I've added a lot of pictures of the sponge making process, as I feel many people are afraid of making sponge cake. it really is easy, though. the one trick is to use a light touch, and not to be scared! the only leavening to this cake is the air you whip into the eggs, so an aggressive hand will knock out vital air and lend to a dense, lifeless cake. this is a traditional French genoise recipe, using the cold technique. don't skimp on whipping time, you need to whip the eggs and sugar until a ribbon sits on top of the mixture for 10 seconds, so beat those eggs for at least 5 minutes.

 

 

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Phew! Finally found a scrap of time to pull this post together. The computer is still being fixed, which is the main reason it's taken so long to post. So just The same as my last post, this is all being written on my smartphone. 

The weather has really turned back to an Irish summer, it's grey, warm, wet and the air is quite close. Which are the perfect conditions for blight! That said i just finished pulling up my second early potatoes, called 'records'. They looked great, with no blight at all. All that's left are the main crop 'golden wonder' spuds. Looking forward to them! 

Since its been so dreary out I've been really craving warm summer Mexican cuisine. The first crop of tomatillos were harvested just last week. I knew what was destined for those babies- tomatillo salsa. It's great as a dip for tortilla chips or it makes a fantastic and authentic enchilada sauce, which is where my tomatillos ended up. Baked with cheese and spicy beef filling. 

Radicchio Apple and Grapes

It's been an exciting week with daily rain and thunder showers then amazing blazing sunny periods. the veg patch Is loving the weather, im not so sure about it myself. The week was made even more exciting when the video card in our computer died, oops. Could be a few weeks till its back up and running! So this post is being written entirely from my smartphone. Which with the blogger app isn't as bad as I would have imagined. 

The up side is my Radicchio Treviso plants are looking fab, and I've decided to try out a recipe I've earmarked for a time like now when my plants were ready. The recipe is adapted from Around my French Table, by Dorrie Greenspan, (see Bookshelf Page, above) a must have for any enthusiastic chef who loves entertaining with simplistic and delicious food. I love recipes that toy with sweet and savoury ingredients, so this one caught my eye.

Radicchio is part of the endive/chicory family of plants thats flavours range from faintly bitter to intensely bitter. The Bitterness can change during the growing season too, depending on outside temperatures, cooler temperatures aiding in a more mild flavour. The bitterness mellows with cooking as well, adding a bit of cream helps too. This dish is slow cooked with salted butter, sweet grapes and tart apples balance out the bitter tones of the radicchio. One bite is bitter the next sweet and savoury, its a flavour sensation, and a little rosemary undertone sews the whole plate together. Enjoy! 

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Radicchio, Apple and Grapes

Serves 2 as a main or 4 starters

Making this dish reminds me of cooking a tart tatin, the aromas of the butter caramelising with the apples and grapes are part of the reason. Another is the time involved, patience is key. Everything needs to be soft and melting for this dish to be perfect. 

2 medium heads Radicchio Treviso or 1 large head, halved for medium heads or quartered for large

1 1/2 Gala apples, quartered and cored

3 small clumps of green grapes

3 -4 small sprigs rosemary

2 tablespoons salted butter 

• place a large sauté pan on a low heat , add the butter and let melt. 

• place radicchio in pan cut side down, fill in gaps with apples, grapes and rosemary, leave to bubble away slowly for 20-25 minutes

•check to see if everything is caramelising, if not turn up heat a fraction and wait to turn the fruit and radicchio.

• once browned flip everything over and repeat cooking another 20-25 minutes

• poke the radicchio, apples and grapes to make sure they are soft, check got caramelisation, if ready remove from heat and plate. If not let cook longer adjusting heat if necessary.

• add a small bit of water to the pan to make a scant amount of sauce and spoon over the finished dish

Salads Everyday

French breakfast radishes with greens

here in west cork, we are having the best weather in it seems like a century! you don't even want to think about cooking, its that warm. spain is even cooler than here, global warming? maybe. does it matter? not right now! (i'm half joking there) we seriously haven't had rain in weeks.

despite the lack of rain, one of the great things about this time of year is every time i go to the garden, there's something new to pick and chop up into a salad. which is great for a hot afternoon.
there's cauliflower, courgette, cabbage, kale, peas, beetroot, radishes, spinach, lettuce, onions, chard.... you get what i mean? its a great time to have a garden and this post is a celebration of that fact.

there's no recipe today but there's more posts on the way like: a tangy slaw for tacos, elderflower fizz and cocktails (yes, MORE cocktails!) and a recipe that goes great with crispy calamari. enjoy the photos, there's loads more on the FWDR instagram page.

little gems are a great lettuce to grow if the slugs don't get to them first!

smoked mackerel with chard, fennel and flowers

Cucumber Gin Gimlet

 

what's better than a day in the garden? a drink afterwards! especially on a misty day like today. (its the first rain in weeks!) this cocktail is the perfect summer time refreshment and if you are growing your own cucumbers you shouldn't have to wait much longer to harvest your own 'cucs' and try out this handy cucumber gin infusion recipe. then you can sit back and admire your garden and your fancy cocktail skills.

 

a gimlet is a classic cocktail traditionally made with Rose's Lime Juice (a sweetened lime juice) and gin or vodka. Rose's proves hard to find in this part of the world so a simple syrup and fresh lime juice combo makes a good stand in. the gimlet has many variations, a cocktail tip: if you substitute the gin/vodka for rum you'd be making a daiquiri!

 

I had my first gimlet last year in a cool cocktail bar in Barcelona, with no menu.  the gimlets were served with a retro green maraschino cherry as a garnish. im not sure if it was the day-glo green cherries or the heat (or maybe just the gin), but I've been thinking about my own version ever since. a cucumber gin and lime pairing seemed like a good idea. after the first test run I was a bit surprised that I didn't have to tweak the ratio at all. the cucumber flavour makes a great background for the zingy lime juice and herbal gin spices. a word of warning - just follow this golden rule: no more than two!

 

 

I ended up using a store bought cucumber for this recipe, I just couldn't wait for the in season ones! be sure to use the entire thing for packing loads of cucumber flavour in your gin, I recommend Gordon's gin for this recipe it's my favourite at the moment. De-lish!

 

Polytunnel Build

about a month ago I set up shop to build a small polytunnel, to cover the new 'herb only' addition to  the veg patch. I took the idea and design from my neighbour's who own Cambium Garden Centre. last year they grew the most amazing basil plants and lettuces, I was sold on the idea. everything seems to grow better under plastic in Ireland. that said we seem to be experiencing a drought! im afraid to mention it else I jinx the good fortune we've been having. at the moment watering the garden has become a novelty!

 

below are some images of the polytunnel build as it progressed over one week. it's a great design as it can be opened from both sides. with over 2 feet of standing room for plants you can grow just about anything, bar: sweet corn and tall tomatoes. this bed is being held as a herb bed for basil, parsley, sage, rosemary, mint, thyme, lemon thyme, coriander, fennel bulb and lemon balm. just about every herb you can dream of - which should make for some interesting pesto recipes!  the dimensions are 3'x 14' so, 42 square feet.

 

empty bed constructed of pallet wood

6' lengths of 1'' piping doubled up at four points, 2'' would be ideal

2"x1" brace under piping and ends covered in polytunnel plastic, stapled at bottom

 

Rhubarb Jelly Doughnuts with Lavender Sugar

 

here's another spirit lifting recipe for those of you experiencing this crazy 'spring' weather. its been mostly windy and rainy the past week, but the soil has warmed up. there's new life emerging in the raised beds at last! all the garlic is up with some radish, beetroot and frilly red mustard, too. we are also due for the hatching of some new chicks, from our lavender pekin bantams. so these doughnuts are also a little tribute to them, too.

is spring here, yet? it better be!

 

 

i wanted to call these dough nuts: 'rainy day rhubarb doughnuts' because they are perfect for a rainy day afternoon spent in the kitchen. these doughnuts may seem tricky to make but with a a couple hours, a few basic ingredients and tools - you'll be in jelly filled doughnut heaven. i've always wanted to make jelly doughnuts, mainly because im a sucker for deep fried foods, and who isn't? (i even tried beer battered bacon once!) but also because a good jelly doughnut is complete bliss and as it turns out - very obtainable in the home kitchen.

i couldn't wait to put rhubarb on the blog, either. after the winter we've had its a welcomed bit of colour and tang to the gardener's kitchen! im fortunate to always have friends or family who grow rhubarb, so i've never planted my own crowns. the crowns take a year or so to establish before harvesting, which doesn't really fit into a semi-nomadic lifestyle. but saying so, every working veg patch should have a couple rhubarb plants, for a 'hungry gap' fruit boost. maybe this is my year to plant my own?

this recipe is completely from scratch, all the way to making the rhubarb jelly filling. but you could use any jelly or jam you have in the house, just beat it a bit before piping into the fluffy doughnuts. the lavender sugar coating is super easy to blend up, so give it a whirl. but if you don't have lavender buds plain sugar will do! or maybe a different herb (i.e: rosemary or thyme)?  the lavender has a calming effect for when you really want to be outside but the weather won't allow it.

doughnuts as medicine? why not!

 

Garden Chive Fiesta Muffins

looks like i spoke too soon about the beautiful spring weather! the past two weeks have been sub zero and snowing! again! oh well, i guess we have to wait a bit longer. the snow has slowly evolced into more rain and flooding. my garden looks a bit like a swamp at the moment and the hens are hiding under the hen house. i can't blame them one bit.

to lift some spirits i wanted to pep up easter sunday with these warming Garden Chive Fiesta Muffins. they'll transport you straight to that sunny mexican beach holiday you're dreaming of. i also posted them as chives seem to be the only crop in the garden at the moment, along with the purple sprouting brocolli. but i decided that maybe 3 back-to-back posts on PSB would be too much.

these muffins look impressive, taste impressive and whip up in impressively no time at all. 15 minutes in the oven is all they take to double in size and cook through. i love the kick that the pickled pepperoncinis give to the muffins and married with chives, cheddar, and sour cream makes for one big fiesta of fun. their texture is airy and moist, almost popver-like. they bake perfect everytime.

Charred Purple Sprouting with Hollandaise and Poached Eggs

what a change in weather from last week! we've had some rain but the frosts subsided and its just begining to feel like spring. just in time cause it was starting to get me down! (see last post) for paddy's day this year i spent the afternoon in the garden, a long awaited treat. i planted seed potatoes as many people did for paddy's day, (it seems to be a tradition here in ireland.) i opted for three floury types: coleen's (a first early crop), record (main crop) and golden wonder (a late main crop). i wanted to try and introduce a bit of crop roation to my current garden's second year. so i planted them where i planted roots and onions last spring.

 

 

 

the idea of crop rotation is an old one. the basis is: different plant families take different nutrients from the soil as they grow. in turn they release new nutrients to the soil that benifit other plants. in a lot of vegetable gardens this determines alot of the seasons planting scheme. after some research there turns out to be some debate on what rotations people use. im following a four year rotation plan:

 

LEGUMES > BRASSICAS > ROOTS & ONIONS > POTATOES

 

do you use a different roation in your garden than the above one?

 

 

after planting spuds i was able to clear bolting kale plants, weed the flower beds and sow my first bit of lettuce, radish and beetroots. i popped in some garlic sets for good measure and much needed slug protection. in the lettuce area of the garden i was hoping to create an artistic planting effect by alternating plants with different colours and textures: frilly red mustards next to a row of little gem lettuce heads, followed by red beetroot and a row of pea shoots. its an exciting prospect to add a bit of colour and intrest to the veg plot. we'll see if it turns out as planned! fingers crossed.

Thai Breakfast Congee

 



some of you may have already guessed, but the isn't a whole lot happening in the garden lately. the big producer at the moment, and even those numbers have dropped, are the hens. i've got 3 busy kale plants,  6 purple sprouting brocolli (yay!), a box of beetroot, and thats it! so eggs are on the menu, along with some kale i used in this recipe. 

 

its been a long month for the hens with non stop rain and freezing temperatures. the prolonged daylength and a small rise in temperature has done a world of good for egg numbers. my young pullet at the moment just started laying last week! it feels like spring is actually coming. which is a great

feeling after the shock returning from holidays in thailand. my first order of seeds has arrived and i've already put a few broad bean seeds in the ground.

 

before the growing season begins, i decided to take the time to repair and finish the fence i started last fall. it's made from pallet wood thats been stained a mahogany colour, with willow branches attached to create a sort of cottagey feel. it looks just about how i imagined it would, which is a relief! all thats left is a gate and possibly a new arbour for vine plants. ill try not to get too carried away!  



the hens out on their first real day of sun in a long time!

Celeriac Remoulade with Irish Bacon

so, after making this classic dish, celeriac remoulade. i realised that 1) remoulade is a fancy word for coleslaw and 2) its pretty tasty! and after a few seconds of wiki research i realised the name stems from french cusine and that remoulade is a sauce like aioli or mayonaise. so celeriac remoulade means: celeriac with a creamy sauce, or - coleslaw, i was RIGHT. i love coleslaw so thats probably why i think this is so tasty. the simpleness of the recipe and the flavours are lovely for a sunny day lunch or a picnic, if you're lucky enough to live somewhere it isn't raining.

preparing a celeriac

i have already mentioned my love of the root vegetable Celeriac before, if you care to read about my celeriac rants you can click, here. in the post i went as far as to claim myself an expert on the subject of celeriac. with some fancy trivia on the misnomer of its nickname: 'celery root.' very exciting and VERY nerdy. im still reserving extra space in the garden for my new root friends this year while cutting back on its stalky cousin. celeriac to me is a very understated veg, and everytime i peel, slice, or grate one im reminded this. what shows itself as an angry knobbly root in the garden is actually a subltle and friendly vegetable in the kitchen. sweet! this post is in a way a fairwell to a good friend, as this celeriac is the last celeriac from the garden this year, until october when the next crop will be ready. i've got the seed packets ready!

Wasabi Deviled Eggs

today is one of those days where the skies just open up and let loose. its absolutely bucketing down here, and my hens are probably wishing they were ducks, huddled up in the corner of their shelted pens. so, in honour of them im bringing this recipe to the table. it's a bit of a dinner party stand by, has a lot of room for improvising and has family memories that come with it.

it's that time of year for dinner parties, and being american myself, this season kicks off with a bang - Thanksgiving. my sister has (without fail) produced amazing thanksgiving dinners for upwards of 20 people every year. there's something about the dinner that instantly recalls back to memory the years of thanksgiving dinners, the memories of family and friends getting together, and giving thanks. much like christmas dinner does here in ireland. but, in my family, thanksgiving is always a bigger dinning event. chistmas eve being the second big dinner and chistmas day a more intimate family day lunch. this may seem odd to some but traditions are usually always biased, and im partial to mine!

with all these parties to consider, and the heaps of food required for these dinners, there's always three things im asked to make. every year. they are: cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, and Deviled Eggs. i can make anything in addition to these sides, but these, are 'traditionally' mine to make.

deviled eggs are hard boiled eggs that are halved and the yolks are blended with a mixture of mustard, something acidic, something spicy, and a touch of seasoning. this mixture is then piped back into the halved eggs and garnished, most commonly with paprika and curly parsley. deviled eggs and many other 'retro'  foods are getting a new lease of life, with: deviled quails eggs, green curry deviled eggs and bloody mary deviled eggs - these wasabi ones meet the modern mark on a retro canape.

my first deviled egg memories are of my grandmother, Geraldine, who was a natural entertainer. she loved food and get-togethers. as a child i can remember always being attracted to the mustardy eggs and their wiggly soft texture. probably eating far more than my share, but when you're a kid, and you like something- fair is subjective. my grandmother died when i was 6 so these types of memories are held quite dear, they usually all revolve around eating (funny, huh?): my first ketchup with scrambled eggs, discovering fresh papya, bread n' butter pickles, canned peaches, fresh curly parsley growing from the garden, and ambrosia salad. if i was only old enough to try the cocktails at her parties!

there is a key to making good, easy to peel, hard boiled eggs. the eggs need to be 'not so fresh.' aged, rather. which, if you are like me and pride yourself on the freshest eggs around, this is a tough egg to crack. most grocery store eggs are going to be a week old or older so will probably do. i recently discover from, a local egg producer, that eggs can last for 3 months! but the health department, in all their wisdom, only allow 28 days from being laid to being sold. so, its up to you to decide when to toss em. the consensus is: if the egg floats in water it's bad.

 i would by eggs as close to their 'sell by date' as possible for deviled eggs. the reason being is: an older egg has more a bit more oxygen inside its shell, from a longer absorbtion period. making the egg (once cooked), much easier to peel away from the shell. peeling fresh eggs is a nightmare and usually results in multiple crumbly throw aways. it is still possible to get a peeled egg from a fresh one, just more time consuming.

i brought these Wasabi Deviled Eggs to our Thanksgiving Dinner last thursday. they went down a treat, the wasabi adds that needed kick to the eggs, while the subtle cooling cucmber garnish mellows the flavours. wasabi is a member of the brassica family (cabbage, brocolli, mustard, etc.) and is generally called japanese horseradish, as its native to japan. but funnily enough its not of the horseradish species (which shares the same family) at all! the flavour is very similar, if not more potent, as the more familiar horseradish. you'll usually find wasabi in more well known sushi dishes as a condiment.

have fun at your next dinner party!

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Wasabi Deviled Eggs
Makes 24


'classic' deviled eggs have a mixture filled with dijon mustard, minced shallots, tabasco and mayonaise; garnished with paprika. but, let your mind run wild for filling additions! for a  'bloody mary' spin try using: horseradish, worchestire sauce, lemon juice, tabasco and celery salt - garnish with finely chopped tomato, black pepper and a splash of vodka! for green curry ones try: green curry paste and lime juice with a coriander sprig garnish.

1 dozen hard boiled eggs, cooled

filling:
2 tablespoons wasabi paste
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
2 tablesppons fresh ginger, minced super fine
3 large spoonfulls of store bought mayonaise

garnish:
1/4 cucumber, de-seeded and finely chopped
rice wine vinegar
chilli flakes
chives, finely chopped

• take all but the chives for your garnish and toss together with enough rice wine vinegar to coat the cucmber pieces. set aside.
• peel your hard boiled eggs. i do this under a running sink tap. tap them to loosen the shells.
• dry the eggs, once peeled with kitchen paper.
• halve you eggs with a sharp knife and remove the yolks into a mixing bowl. set the halved whites on a serving platter.
• with a fork or whisk mash your egg yolks till smooth. add the rest of the ingreidents for the filling, mix till combined. taste the filling and adjust with what you feel it needs. we're looking for a balance of flavours, and a nice kick.
• fill a piping bag or freezer bag with the end snipped, fitted with a star piping tip, with your filling. and pipe rosettes into the egg white 'shells'
• garnish with your cucumber garnish, and chopped chives.
• chill until ready to serve.

 

Celeriac and Apple Soup

whatta veg!

introducing a whopper of a veg, the super knobbly scary looking, the mighty mighty big, with an even bigger creamy flavour: Celeriac! it looked so nondescript in the veg patch all year, but after diggin one up the truth was revealed - a frankenstien monster of roots! what a beaut

celeriac is also called: turnip-rooted celery, 'knob' celery (ha ha!) or the wrongly named 'celery root'. thanks to wikipedia, i am now the celeriac quiz master and can say celeriac its wrongly called celery 'root' because, when we eat celeriac we are eating the hypocotyl of the plant, not its roots. what's the hypocotyl you ask? well, i can tell you a hypocotyl is the stem from a germinating seed, if you look closely the roots are actually growing from the hypocotyl, which are cut off before cooking. if you are interested in hypocotyls and what they have to offer click, here.  .

i'm pretty sure this is the first time i've cooked celeriac (i don't know why) let alone grow the bugger. bar one time possibly roasting it? and what a fool i've been to not have tried this veg in the kitchen more often. growing it proved to be slightly tricky, as the slugs burrowed into half of them and literally ate them from the inside out. eeek! i'll be giving this root veg more space in the patch next year and possibly less to its stalky cousin, gasp! i love celery stalks (see this post) but i grew way to much. 9 plants in total.
 

DIY Seed Saving

carrot seed heads

growing veg from seeds saved from the previous years crops is an age old art. for the DIY-er its a climax in self sufficiency. its also easy to do with most veg or flowers. the trick is patience, as well as learning to let your plants go to seed rather than harvesting their crop. which at times can make a veg plot seem untended and messy. its just the natural course of a plants life and a great way to get more in touch with different plants and their life cycles.

in the not-so-distant past, commercial seeds where unavailiable to most. so every farmer knew to have enough food for the years to come - you have to save seeds from the best plants, at the end of the growing year. we can now get almost any imaginable seeds in garden centers, supermarkets, and farm supply shops. 'so why save 'em whe you can buy em ready to go?' im all for buying new seeds, its actually one of my vices, my collection expands every year and i love trying new varieties of veg. especially ones that are hard to find in shops: romanesco, heirloom tomato varieties, raddichio, coloured carrots, and painted corn.. have all joined my seed box collection recently, and these are the rare seed varieties i try and save seeds from. there is also an added benefit to saving seeds from successful crops: every year the seeds that mature and grow are more adapted to the surounding climates, so they'll grow better for you each year! so its a very handy skill, for our rainy climate.

dried carrots seeds (center, spiky) ready for storage

Saving your own seeds:
i've included pictures from two types of veg that have a slight trick to saving their seeds: tomatoes and carrots. tomato seeds need to be fermented before drying, and to get good carrots from your own seeds you need to wait till the second year of the plants lifecycle when the plants are matured.

No-Knead Focaccia Loaf- and a garden tour

 

i started this blog as a way to share my garden, the food i cook from the garden, with more people. i feel like now is a good time, the end of summer, to show-off this years veg plot at the height of its glory. i started this plot in march of this year, creating the raised beds with recycled scaffolding boards. a friend of mine found a great source for them at a .50 cent a foot for damaged or unusable boards. these were cut to shape, with a jig saw and screwed together with a bit of galvi-band. the finish on the boards is with an outdoor mahgony coloured furniture stain, which i've used on everything stainable, veg crates, doors, garden furniture, you name it. after that we (me, my other half and 4 friends) filled the beds with a third topsoil, then another third with really old sheep manure (a thoughtful gift from friends of mine!), then the top third with compost from the local recycling center, in bandon. it worked out at 40 euro for all the compost. all in all the beds cost around 80 euro to fill and build. not bad.



clockwise , beetroot and rainbow chard, red russian kale plants

old spud patch (they grew 6foot long)

 

i was inspired by joy larcom's book, Creative Vegetable Gardening (see side bar), for my garden design and all of my planting scheme. i wanted to create a small space within the garden to be able to use for entertaining, eating and enjoying the garden. i went for a square 'C' shape, with a willow arch over the entrance. its my favourite garden i've had in the dozen or so i've created in the past. from joy's book i tried to add intrest by interplanting different textures and colours of plants and planting crops on the diagonal instead of straight lines.



purple sprouting, and red russian kale

leeks, seeding radishes, and squash, lots of nasturtiums

 

i didn't actually want  or need this garden to meet my eating needs throughout the year, i dont have time to grow all that veg! but rather to just be able to grow the interesting veg i want, enjoy the process of growing them and create an outdoor space to be in. and to my surprise i've had loads of veg, almost more than i need! since the begining of the lettuce season the beds have been giving me loads of choice: from beetroot, to romanesco, spuds, mangetout, onions, courgette, beans, chard, celery, lettuce, herbs, and loads of sweet peas - and theres even more to come!

celery, courgette(front corner), celeriac, beetroot and chard

more purple sprouting, asparagus, purple beans, celery

Beetroot: part 1 of 3 - Minted Beetroot Hummus

'Bolivar' Beetroots

welcome to the begining of a three part beetroot bonanza! ive decided to dedicate the next three posts and recipes to this, king of root veg. the earthy sweetness of beetroot makes it perfect for an array of recipes even cakes and sweets! it comes in all sorts of colours, the 'chioggia' being the trendy one at the moment, with its pink and white bulls eye patterning. but my all time favourite has to be golden  beetroot, especially because im finding it hard to source seeds here in ireland. its been tempting me to smuggle some in the post next year. anyone flying over from the states, perhaps? the golden beetroot is great for salads and paired with its bloodier brother adds a bright suprise to a sunday roast. the best part is that golden beetroots don't dye your hands or other foods - they're just polite that way. they can also be used in the same recipes as regular red beetroots.

triple planted beetroot

disregard my love for golden beetroots, because the next three recipes are all going to feature the red guys. ive got a recipe for a minted beetroot hummus, candied beetroot truffles, and another -veggie cocktail! you're listening now, right?

i've only actually tried one of these recipes, so i hope i can pull the other two off with out too much blood (or juice) on my hands. and since its raining everyday (bar today and yesterday!) ive got an extra couple hours to spend in the kitchen. but there's some great news i've learned from a new book i'm reading: How to Grow Winter Vegetables, by Charles Dowding, he says that wet crappy summers are great for winter veggies! (without the 'crappy' part) and summer blogging (he didn't say that, either) so its not so bad, really!

Growing beetroot: i once read in a companion planting article its a good idea to plant beetroot with onions , and the past two years i've grow them side by side in the same drill and i had beetroot harvests within 3 months of growing, as well as big onions. this year i grew them seperate and they have taken longer to mature. i always sow my beetroot direct into the ground, ive found it hard to transplant beets without losing a few in the process.

while the roots are forming its ok to take a few leaves for salad every so often, just don't take too many leaves or the roots may take longer to develop.

for the best flavour its best to harvest beetroot once it reaches the size of a golf ball or as large as a snooker ball.

beetroot is a biennial plant, which means it flowers in its second year. they do keep pretty well in the ground in winter and store well in a cold larder, if dug up, for a good few weeks.