Ep 20. Cooking with your home grown produce

Sam (: 00:00

Have you been busy growing your own produce? Here is your promised episode of what to cook up with that homegrown haul.

Hey, it's Sam and with all the amazing sunshine that we've been enjoying over the last few weeks, my raspberry and strawberry plants have gone totally wild. So I've been super excited to get the recording of this episode underway so that I can share with you what is ready to eat in my garden and what I actually plan to do with it all.

I've been down at the allotment almost every day recently, picking, digging, cutting, whatever needs doing. And with everything I'm doing, I've actually been thinking about what I'm going to make with it and actually sharing those ideas with you. But quickly, before I do this, I just wanted to say once again, thank you very much for your continued messages and the support that you continually give the podcast.

Also, I could really do with your input on something. I'm going to be recording a Q &A episode really soon. So if there's something that I haven't talked about or something that you'd like to know more about that we've already covered, then please do get in touch. There's my Facebook page, Let's Thermomix with Sam, my Instagram page, or you can email me at notpastaregen at hotmail.com. Right.

Today's episode, what are we going to be covering? Well, it's all about what I've been growing and what I've been picking, how I've used it, and also I'm going to be sharing some really great ideas that you guys have also shared with me with what you've been making with your produce too.

Okay, so let's start with what I've been doing with my homegrown produce. And I know lots of you are also enjoying lots of different things that you've grown, but for me right now, it's been berries all the way. Those of you who follow me on social media will know that I pretty much could have started my own pick your own raspberry farm, given the absolute abundance of raspberries that we've been enjoying at the allotment. I seriously can't tell you how many raspberries I've picked. It has been a never ending story.

I would say that every day for over a week, I have been going up to the allotment and I have actually been enjoying picking loads and loads of super juicy, beautifully red and very tasty raspberries. The strawberries, well, they're coming in a very close second. And given that neither of those two plants yielded very much last year, I'm incredibly grateful for the many, many kilograms I've now got in my freezer.

So if like me, you've been picking lots of these two types of summer fruits, here's what I've been doing with mine. Pretty much I have been turning it into coulis. There's a beautiful recipe on cookidoo which is like a whip whereby it's just a few very basic ingredients and it's like a very soft, light, airy mousse. I've been making compotes. I'm freezing fruit for smoothies so I don't need to use ice. I've added it to muffins, particularly using raspberries and muffins.

and I've even recently added raspberries and I'm gonna add strawberries too into a traditional lemonade. It just provides so much beautiful colour and a really nice fruity twist. Now, I don't drink, but I do know that a few strawberries and raspberries in a jug of Pimms would go down really well. And there's also recipes like Eat Eton Mess, which are absolutely beautiful with fresh English berries.

My rhubarb, well that's another win that I'm enjoying again because last year we had none. It was a very new plant for us and whilst I've only got two plants, they have actually provided me lots and lots of fresh, beautiful tasting rhubarb. What am I doing with that? I've tended to again make compotes.

added them to crumbles, which are in the freezer. There's another jar of jam on the side that I can see. And I've also made a really beautiful savory chutney, which I grabbed from a recipe on Cookidoo that is actually to be eaten with a beef pie. So I'm really looking forward in the winter to bringing that together to see what that contrasting flavour really, really tastes like. Potatoes.

loads and loads of those too. And again, we always seem to have a lot of potatoes. This is something that my dad likes and that's obviously who I work the allotment with. And what I tend to do with my potatoes is use them in salads, I steam them and I actually combine them with the herbs that I'm also enjoying buying as well. can just sprinkle them in whilst you're steaming them or maybe you're boiling your potatoes. Again, you can just add them into the water to add a little bit of flavour.

But mainly what I'm doing with every single herb I've got is making a variation on a fresh pesto and serving it with warm steamed potatoes is absolutely delicious. So the herbs that I'm using in such things like that are, actually made a mint pesto at the weekend. It was stunning. And again, that would be beautiful not only with potatoes, but with lamb. Parsley added in with some other herbs would also make a nice variation for a pesto.

I'm not the greatest at growing basil, but I have used what I've got combined with some spinach leaves. And again, it just gives you an alternative variation on a beautiful ingredient that you can add to so many things to add beautiful flavour.

And one final thing with your potatoes, don't forget that they go beautifully with marinated meat on the barbecue. And I'm guessing that there are quite a few barbecues that are being used in our gardens right now. And I just wanted to add something about herbs. I have got a glut of herbs. So when I reference the mint, the basil, the parsley that I'm growing quite successfully,

I don't want to waste any of it and I don't really know how to dry them. So if anyone out there can help me and give me some tips on how to best dry them, that would be incredible because then I've got access to them for the whole year. Okay, lettuce. Not my favorite ingredient, but it's something that my dad loves and my mum so we seem to be growing quite a lot of lettuce.

And like I said, it's great in a salad and I did spot one of my advisors in my team. She made a beautiful and silky smooth lettuce soup. So maybe I should give that a go as well. If you've got any guinea pigs, then obviously you can feed the guinea pigs the excess lettuce as well. I am gonna start getting courgettes, green beans, they're gonna be coming through in abundance very, very soon. So I look forward to sharing recipes in the future that I'll be using with those ingredients.

But just coming back, I guess if I was to share with you two recipes now that stand out for me, one that I'm using a lot with my berries is the whip recipe that I referenced and I'll share that in the show notes at the end. And then also a very simple pesto recipe because I think it just adds a lift.

a dish really super easily and you can vary the herbs that you put into it and if you want to I referenced using spinach it just bulks it out it's a little bit more cost-effective if you're having to buy your own basil for example.

So growing your own comes with its challenges, but it also comes with so many wins. And I think that's what I want to talk about now because I am loving my allotment at the minute. And I have to say, I feel super lucky that my dad has probably done the majority of the hard work. I'm not worrying too much though, because he is also enjoying the rewards as well.

But we were there at the weekend, example, mowing the grass, don't know, digging up the potatoes. I was picking raspberries, walking backwards and forwards, watering the different plants that needed it because it has been so warm and the ground is so dry. It just really got me thinking and I started reflecting on, I guess, how far we've come in the last couple of years by having the allotment. It's never something I thought I would have.

And having come from an overgrown plot of land to something that now feeds both of our families really well for a really long period of time, it just makes me feel really good. I get this nice warm feeling from it. And whilst I used to think, ⁓ God, I've got to go to the allotment. I've got to water, I've got to pick fruit. I actually really love doing that now. It isn't a chore, which I think it was how I framed it initially. It is actually become.

a place for me to wind down, to switch off, to just be part of the day there and then, rather than always thinking about other things that are going on around me. And I have to say, I've got a little bit of an addictive personality, and there is something really addictive about ensuring that I've picked every single raspberry. I get raspberry guilt if I feel like I've left some on the bush. And you you pick a bush up and you find another handful of amazing raspberries that just need to be picked.

But yeah, it's just, I've been reflecting on that a lot recently and it is something I am so glad that I invested the time and the money into for so many reasons. I think the other thing that really stands out for me when I think about the allotment is that I really don't waste very much. know that whatever I pick or whatever we're growing, as soon as I get home and I can switch cookadoo on and I can put my thermomix on,

Everything is going to get used up super easily. There's literally very little effort from me and huge amounts of wins with the very, very tasty outcomes that we make with whatever we take home. So here I'd say whilst growing your own can be hard work, it is massively worth it, particularly when you sit down and you see and you enjoy your own produce and that

that you're not actually spending a fortune on a supermarket equivalent. And for me, the other win on that level is it hasn't got the additives and preservatives in it to keep it fresh. You are literally using things as you take it from the ground to the table.

One more thing.

I think the other win that I have really, really noticed as well is that it ties into talking with my friend Sam last month, I think it was, and that was all about frugal eating, eating on a budget. And I think growing your own produce really feeds into this idea. And yes, there is an outlay initially, because you've got to get all your plants, you've got to spend some time.

fertilizing and those sorts of things, but it's actually the return that you get that makes it so, so valuable. And like I said, I think it's valuable on so many levels. I won't be buying berries. I won't be buying potatoes, courgettes, green beans, and I definitely won't be needing to buy herbs once I know how I can dry them. So if you haven't yet, really do think about investing a little bit of time into having pots on your win-

windowsills or just having a little area in your garden so that you can enjoy some of this reward that I feel I'm enjoying at the moment.

Okay, enough about me. I want to turn our attention to some of the recipes that you guys have been sharing with me. And there are some really, really good ones. And there are some that personally, I probably wouldn't try, but I do know that other people have been trying them based on the fact you've been sharing them.

So first off, I want to tell you about a broad bean salad because broad beans are also prevalent at the moment. I was actually offered some broad beans by a fellow allotmenter, if that's a word, and I kindly declined because they're not my favorite vegetable. Anyway, Lindsay shared a really interesting idea for a fabulous salad, which she made with her own crop. And like I say, not my preference, but she swears by it. So have a look and see if that's something that might appeal to you.

Another great recipe has come from Nicola who's actually been using up her blackberry haul from last autumn. And she used the raspberry whip recipe that I'm going to be sharing in the show notes, which just shows you how you can interchange the fruit in every recipe. So she said it was gorgeous, refreshing and absolutely a practical way to use up the glut of blackberries that she had.

Another brilliant recipe shared by Jill, this one I particularly loved because she shared the most fantastic picture of her cabbage. Okay, so she said, this is what life is all about. You spend months growing a cabbage, it finally hearts, you harvest it, add a few ingredients, blitz it for six seconds in the Thermomix and you eat coleslaw. And if you can, in my Thermomix group, go have a look, it is a sensational cabbage.

And then finally, Shelly shared her elderflower cordial. And this one particularly stood out for me because it's something that Shelly said that she had never made before despite it being something she absolutely loves. Oh my word, she says, I can't believe I haven't made this before because it's my absolute favorite and it's dead easy. The straining got a bit messy, but I will probably buy a gadget to help.

Elder flowers are everywhere at the moment. mean, mine are in my garden, but there are some growing wild within five minutes. I have the recipe and I have already been given, give being, I have the recipe and have already given away a little half bottle to a friend. So I hope these ideas give you inspiration to use the things that you might have in your freezer, in your garden. Maybe it will.

inspire you to start a garden or allotment next year as well. And if I've missed any great recipes and you want to share those with me, then please do get in touch and I will share to all of us.

And guys, just a reminder that we don't all need to have an allotment and be picking fruit every day. But if you are offered a punnet of strawberries or given some broad beans like I was offered at my allotment, then just hopefully this will give you some ideas and some inspiration on how you can use it.

Right, I think I'll leave it there for this episode. I need to get back to the allotment, surprise, surprise. This time it's strawberries that need picking, the raspberries are actually done, and also I need some more potatoes for dinner this evening, and yes, I will be serving it with fresh pesto made from herbs I'm gonna pick again. So please keep sharing pictures of your delicious produce, the dishes that you make, I really do love seeing them, and they do provide inspiration to others. So remember, you don't need to be self-sufficient.

to feel the benefits of homegrown, that pot of basil on your windowsill, a bag of frozen raspberries or a recipe made from scratch, it all counts.

The next few episodes are actually gonna be a little bit different and I'm really looking forward to doing them and I really hope you enjoy them as well. It's gonna be a mini series that runs for a week and it's going to focus on something close to my heart, which is ultra processed foods, why they seem to be so prevalent in our lives, and then we're gonna look at how we can hopefully limit and maybe even avoid them in our kitchens.

so make sure you join me next time and until then let's flourish rather than flounder when we're in our kitchen.