From Plot to Pot III: A wonderful harvest

 Chard, marrows, beans, courgettes, beetroots, onion, garlic, parsley and lettuce - what a wonderful harvest.

Today we are going to cook a vegetarian stew from all these deliciously fresh vegetables.

First, chop and fry garlic and onions. Add water, bring to a boil and add your vegetables of choice. Some vegetable stock, pepper, eventually curry (or anything else you fancy for that matter) for seasoning and couscous for thickening. Let everything simmer until tender. Fresh herbs such as parsley, thyme and coriander round this simply tasty stew off.

Keeping it simple always works!

From Plot to Pot II: Pickled Superstar

This week's 'From Plot to Pot' presents Beetroot in the leading role. Charming and versatile as she is, I am trying to turn you into a fan as well. Through its many health benefits beetroot has gained more and more popularity in recent years, reaching status of a 'super food'. Here are some of the ingredients that turn this earthy lady into a superstar:
potassium, magnesium, iron, vitamin A, B6, C, folic acid, protein, antioxidants and soluble fibre.

Its high contents of vitamin C helps to absorb the iron. Not only the root itself contains iron but its leaves, too, and for this matter young beetroot leaves make a better source of iron than spinach. So, next time don't waste it, eat it. The variety of vitamins and nutrients help boosting your immune system as well as stimulating the reoxidation of cells and the production of new blood cells. What it's often best known for today is its immediate effect it has on  high blood pressure as well as increasing your stamina.


So, if this doesn't sounds great, then let's see what we can do with it. Beetroot is great eaten raw, keeping all those vitamins and nutrients intact. Therefore we start with a simple beetroot salad.

 Ingredients are again freshly picked produce from our very own community plot: Butterhead lettuce, garlic, onion, carrots, parsley, and of course the beets! One 'Golden Burpee's' and one 'Chioggia Pink'.

And look how beautiful they are on the inside! Well, you shouldn't judge from the outside anyway, should you?

Quite distinctly different in taste, too! Chioggia Pink has this very characteristic earthy taste, slightly bitter, whereas Golden Burpee's on the other hand tastes slightly sweet, which makes it great for eating raw.

Let's do it then! Chop your veg, grate the beets, quick simple dressing (oil, (balsamic) vinegar, salt, pepper, paprika powder; yoghurt dressing works great, too) and a healthy 5-minute salad to enjoy is done.
(Yes, admittedly, there is some non-homegrown corn in there, but we'll ignore that for a minute...)

 Next are some home-made quick and easy pickles. Here a photo only to compare, these beets are huge, look at them! Take four of those, makes 1,5kg together, boil them as a whole. A Pressure cooker is fantastic here, done in 15min, saving time and energy. Meanwhile bring the vinegar to boil, add spices according to your liking. In this case whole black pepper corns, mustard seeds, bay leaves. Once the beets are cooked the skin comes off easily and you can chop them into slices, as thick or thin as you prefer.

Sterilise your jars with boiling water, fill in your beets and pour the still hot vinegar-spices mixture on top. Close lids and leave to proof for at least 3 weeks. As you can see most of the colour has drained out of these Chioggia Pink, leaving only the pickling juice in bright rose. Quite interesting...

From Plot to Pot I

Follow our new weekly series 'From Plot to Pot' during harvesting season: see how fresh veg from community gardens and foraged foods are transformed into some delicious meals, jams and preserves. Today we present 'From Plot to Pot in 4 hours'. At the Campus Farm we are busy with building more and new raised beds (photos soon to follow), we sowed spinach and lamb's lettuce for winter crops and, of course the best part: harvesting!

Some butterhead lettuce, parsley, green tomatoes, marigolds and nasturtiums, dill, 2 carrots "Parisian Market", small peppers, a handful of rasperries, waxy potatoes and chard.


The marigolds go straight to dry (joining some sage and french beans):

Marigolds (Calendula officinalis) are great for making tea and ointments. Marigold Flower Tea is a cleansing and detoxifying herb with anti-fungal, anti-viral and antibiotic activity. It's strongly anti-inflammatory and healing. The tea can also help to regulate women's menstrual periods and benefits the immune and lymphatic systems.
Ointments are ideal for healing cuts, scrapes, lacerations, surgical wounds and scars and small infected wounds. It's useful for skin conditions such as acne, dermatitis, eczema sores, impetigo spots and other systemic fungal, bacterial and viral conditions.

Parsley and Dill are immediately chopped and frozen - creates your own source of fresh herbs for throughout the winter. It's so easy:




 

 For dinner, quick and easy, a peasant's meal: fried potatoes with dill and parsley, tzatziki, salad with carrots, green peppers, decorated with nasturtiums and raspberries for dessert. Simple and delicious.

Permaculture Design Course @ Apricot Centre

Are you interested in Permaculture? Maybe you have already attended a short introduction course and now you are craving for more?

The Apricot Centre near Manningtree is offering a full Permaculture Design Course to teach you all the basics. The PDC course covers:
Permaculture principles and ethics - Renewable energy and sustainable building - Simple vegetable growing and fruit growing - Forest gardening - Simple livestock management - Woodland and timber - Transition movement - Design skills - All delivered with creative and practical teaching methods.

The PDC is a 12 day course starting and ending with a full weekend, running on Saturdays (and sometimes for whole weekends) through the autumn, winter and spring of 2012/13.

For more information visit their website.