Food

September is a busy time of year with food processing taking up many hours in the kitchen. There's tomatoes to skin, de-seed and pulp ready for Passata (concentrate of tomato with onion, oregano and garlic) Beetroot to boil and bottle, Soups aplenty to concoct and freeze, aubergines to stuff, slice for Moussaka and dice to make pâté from. Herbs to harvest and dry, along with Beans ready for stripping later in the month. Bread is a reoccurring event with 5 large loaves made at a time using a mix of white and wholemeal flour, seed mix and occaisionally added herbs. Sloes to be collected for Sloe Gin and blackberries for jams and blackberry brandy. Jam season continues as various fruits ripen: damsons, greengage, figs, apples and green tomato for jam. Pickles are high on the food agenda as well with a large batch of Piccalilli, Indian Spiced fruit chutney and pickled chilli peppers. We have also started to make our own stock cubes comprising of parsley, red and green pepper, onion and garlic, blitzed in a processor and then frozen as quenelles to add to sauces, soups and casseroles as required. With salt, pepper, herbs and spices to taste they are a convenient and healthier option to the bought cubes.


Qué aproveche!