It's that time in the growing season when you look at the stored vegetable harvest and wonder how much longer will it last. I don't mean will it run out but will it deteriorate and be no longer fit to use?
We still have lots of fruit and vegetables in the freezer but other vegetables are beginning to wake up to the fact that it is time to start regrowing.
The stored potatoes are beginning to shoot and there are a few too many for us to use before they are past it. So as to waste as few as possible we decided to freeze some as mash and some as par boiled chunks. I also used some to make a few cottage pies.
I made two larger ones for the freezer and we ate the two individual ones for dinner. I was also able to use some of the carrot that are finally becoming woody. I do mean carrot and not carrots as I only part used a huge one. These were a spicy version with Moroccan spices and chick peas added to the filling.
The onions are also starting to shoot. We have used most of the decent sized ones but have quite a few small ones left and so I pickled some.
We have one or two squash left which rather than starting to grow are turning soft and beginning to rot. Some has been parcooked and frozen in cubes to add to tagines and casseroles and some has been puréed to use in baking. I made some pumpkin and apples muffins with some.
Mary Berry would be unimpressed as they are not uniform in size. If asked I would say that this is intentional with larger ones for Martyn and smaller for me.
The harvest seasons are now overlapping as we pulled the first sticks of new seasons rhubarb which was stewed and picked some of last season's parsley which was destined to be included in a frittata.
The harvest seasons are now overlapping as we pulled the first sticks of new seasons rhubarb which was stewed and picked some of last season's parsley which was destined to be included in a frittata.
Computer update:
My computer is dead and has had to be replaced. This has given me a few problems. A new operating system to get to grips with and the fact that I didn't realise that my back up system ignores some files such as the original pages of my websites. Fortunately I do also do a manual back up of important files but unfortunately since the middle of January I haven't carried this out and so I daren't update the web site until I figure out what to do. If I hadn't disabled the right mouse click as a security feature I could have copied and pasted from the web. So it looks like I will be rewriting some pages. I've also lost some email contacts from my BT email account, (not the 'hotmail' one associated with the blog) so if you contact me on my 'openworld' account please email me to restore a connection. Then there are all the passwords demanded that have long been unused! Still it could have been much worse as I have only lost about a day's worth of photos which were not very important whew.
Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett
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Computers ~ who'd have them? Sorry to hear of your troubles with yours. When they work well they are the best thing, but when they do not work it is another story.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you are maximising your harvest! I would be making up some kind of chutney with that squash too. I grow umpteen courgette plants every year purely with an eye to my courgette chutney ~ which is coming to an end far to early this season! The mashed potatoes look good on top of your pies too, and so do the pickled onions.
Another lot of pickled onions to do, Deb and then we will only have a few onions left
DeleteYikes - Computer problems are a nightmare to a Luddite like me. But you have my sympathy.
ReplyDeleteWe ate our last stored potatoes a week ago! Rhubarb is under wraps for another week. I am jealous of your early variety.
Rhubarb and custard for dinner tonight, Mal :)
DeleteWhat a busy day you had in the kitchen, still, you might as well use up as many things as you can rather than them go to waste. My family are fans of roast potatoes and I always end up making too many, so I freeze the leftovers and they only take twenty minutes in the oven to warm back up from frozen. Sorry to hear about your computer, I hope you get it all sorted out soon.
ReplyDeleteNot all done on the same day, Jo :)
DeleteI live in fear that my computer will give up on me. Especially when my son has been home!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do not grow potatoes now and our huge magnificent tasty 'dirty' carrots and swedes come from our wonderful village farm shop, Brenda likes to prepare mashes of these veg in batches and freeze them in meal size pots. Saves a lot of work for her as she just has to microwave the pots when she prepares dinner.
We like to have one or two homemade ready meals in the freezer Roger.
DeleteA gardener and a cook! But I suppose these two talents go together more often that I think. These sound like delicious ways to continue using your veggies. Our dog loves raw potatoes, at least the home grown ones, so it is a toss up as to who gets to the potato box first. (We make sure that she never eats green ones of course!) so sorry to hear of your computer woes, enough to make you pull your hair out.
ReplyDeletePumpkin bread that is morelike a cake is up next up sweffling
DeleteHow nice to see you writing about food as well as gardening, Sue - my two favourite subjects! Glad to hear that the computer situation is not catastrophic (although it must still be a major inconvenience!)
ReplyDeleteA kind plot neighbour has lent us a lead that will enable hopefully us to connect my old hard disk to the new computer so I can retrieve everything. Fingers crossed. Is the third favourite subject eating Mark?
DeleteSorry to hear about your computer woes. It reminds me that I really need to back mine up. I don't do it nearly often enough.
ReplyDeleteI had to throw a squash out last week as it was starting to go. But there aren't many more left, I'm sure I'll get to them before I lose more. And your last photo made me laugh. The huge rhubarb leaves with the itty bitty parley. Quite a contrast.
I smiled at the contrast too, Daphne.
DeleteGood to know that all your remaining food is being cooked, frozen or pickled. I do hate waste! I rather fancy a pickled onion now!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear of your computer problems, mine has just crashed too and I'm having to use an ancient one and have the same problem with passwords, connections etc....sighs...xxx
Pickled onions are strangely tempting aren't they Dina?
DeleteFunnily enough I've been contemplating my one remaining pumpkin and shallots today Sue thinking that I must do something with them :) I like the logic behind the discrepancy in muffin size. Sorry to hear about your computer woes.
ReplyDeleteWe have one more squash and a few small onions to use up Anna, Martyn approved of the logic too,
DeleteI wish I had more squash left, the muffins look fab. And despite using up some of my potatoes to freeze a couple of weeks back some have still gone to waste - I was too lazy to use up the smallest ones, I hate washing them, silly me. Glad to see you've still been eating allotment related goodies :)
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the computer troubles, I always leave that stuff to Jan.
I should have used 350g sugar to 300g of flour that seemed a lot especially as squash is sweet so I cut it ti 200g and it was fine, Lou The recipe writer must have had a very sweet tooth
DeleteWow, lucky you realised, I would have just followed the recipe without noticing!
DeleteI've only ever frozen mashed potatoes - when you freeze the potato chunks, how do you use them...do you bake them?
ReplyDeleteI hate sorting out a new computer, whether it was planned or not. All those little hassles like passwords and setting up everything just as it was...such a pain.
We haven't really used any yet Margaret as it's a trial. Obviously they will need using in some way that finishes the cooking. Adding to casseroles springs ti mind and also just finishing the cooking and eating them as chunks or crushing,
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