The best recipe ever for Piccalilli

We love pickles, chutneys, salsas and spicy sauces as accompaniments with a wide variety of foods. Amongst our favourite is Piccalilli however, it has to be home-made. So far I have not found a shop bought version that can come anywhere near the recipe handed down from my great grandmother and probably even earlier.

September views from La Pasera

Each year in September we look forward to harvesting a variety of green vegetables that form the basis of our piccalilli: cucumber, celery, green tomatoes, cauliflower, courgette, onion and anything else that blends in with the mix. The key to a good mix is the fine chopping of the ingredients to ensure that everything is approximately of similar size. The other key components are a specific brand of dry mustard powder (Colman's) and good quality Turmeric.

This is the basic recipe that is tweaked each year to accommodate the vegetables we have available. We usually double these quantities.

Piccalilli

1 cauliflower

1 cucumber

3-4 courgettes

2 lb of shallots or onion

2 lb of green tomatoes

1 head of celery

About 6 lb of vegetable in total. Chop all the vegetables into small pieces. The cauliflower should be broken into small sized florets and if small enough, the shallots left whole. Soak overnight in a brine solution made with 8 pints of water and 1/2 lb of salt.

The following day, drain and rinse well, leave to drain and pat dry with a large clean towel whilst you make the sauce.

4 oz of mustard powder
1/2 oz of Turmeric
1 lb sugar (can be reduced if necessary)
2 1/2 pints of vinegar
1 cup of plain flour

Make a sauce with all the ingredients, thicken with the flour and gently bring to the boil to cook out the flour. Be careful not to burn the sauce, stir constantly. Add the dry vegetables and bring to the boil and immediately remove from the heat. Cover and leave to cool. Bottle and seal in sterilised jars the following day and label.

The piccalilli is best left to mature for at least 3 months but it will keep for over a year if kept in a cool dark place and if your bottles/jars are  sterile on bottling. Hide from everyone except your best friends....

Feeling peachy and full of beans...

Harvests come and go and when you grow the majority of your own fruit and vegetables or forage fruits and nuts, you cannot delay harvesting or processing; if you do you risk losing them to the animals or to nature.

 

In Asturias we have a wild peach called Piesco that produces small fruits which have a strong peachy taste but once ripe, do not last. If the rain comes their skins spoil and the insects and birds can soon devastate the crop. Knowing when to harvest is paramount. The reason we use these wild peaches is because of their wonderful flavour and they are perfect for making jams, chutneys and for dehydrating. A kind neighbour lets us have their crop of piescos that grow on one of their fields as they don't use them and they know how much we love them. 4kg of them were used to make jam and a further 6kg were chopped and frozen for use either for jam or chutney. They freeze well and it is a great way to preserve as much as the crop as possible before they spoil, especially if you don't have the time to use them straight away. We will collect more this week for dehydrating; they make a great snack for when out walking.

The beans have just been harvested and just in time. The recent heavy rains has caused some damage to the outer pod but fortunately this has not spread to the beans inside. We quickly shelled them and have left them to dry for a few days in the sun after which they will be frozen as is for 24 hours, re dried and stored. The freezing part was a tip from a neighbour who tells us that it destroys any lingering bugs or bacteria and therefore they last much longer and in better condition. It works for us.

Elsewhere we are just about to harvest our first tomatoes which is always a treat. We still have lots of basil left so plenty of scope for some Italian inspired tomato based dishes. On the list of things to do this week include: making piccalilli, chopping wood, extending the stone skirt to the garage, beginning to thin out and weed the garden....enough already.

What are you currently harvesting and what jobs are taking up your time during September?

August update from La Pasera

It's been a busy month. A couple of visits, a family wedding, a family barbecue, lots of work around the vegetable plot and garden, some building work, a street market to prepare for and stand, and...a few preserving and jam making jobs.

Luis' brother Oscar came to stay with us from El Salvador and besides valuing his help with one or two DIY jobs it was good to hear about his life as a Marist Brother teaching in El Salvador. He have previously been living up the Orinoco Delta in Venezuela so this recent move is quite a change for him.

Another brother of Luis, Ruben, got married to his long term partner Veronica and we all met up with the family at the weekend for a large family barbecue and gathering. It was a lovely day and great for Luis to spend time with some of his nieces and nephews.

Just a snack before the main event...

The vegetable plot is producing well with beetroots, aubergines, basil, peppers, cucumber, marrow and chard ready for harvesting almost on a daily basis. I made two large pots of Basil pesto (Recipe here) with lots of garlic and some mature Parmesan. It is lovely to have with pasta and a variety of vegetable and cheese dishes. I doubt it will last long. Luis made 14 jars of Raspberry Jam and there are still lots on the canes and many more frozen ready for later on in the season.

We have just stood our 5th or 6th annual Rastrillo in Nueva, a small village a few kilometres away. It has always been a great showcase for our chair restoration and with a live demonstration we always attract a lot of interest from passersby who either remember past relatives being able to weave cane or rush or from people who have chairs they want restoring. This year, along side the chairs we took a whole load of bric-a-brac; items we no longer had a need or use for. We took quite a healthy amount of money on the day and will probably put it towards a high-end shredder which will help tremendously with out coppicing and pruning off-cuts.

An early start setting up our stall.

We are gearing up for more visits in September and will continue with some building jobs before winter sets in, more about that in a later post. The main holiday season is nearly over here in Asturias and although it is good to see the place buzzing, it is also a relief when they leave and the beaches and roads become tranquil and at peace one again.

Garden shed clearing - out with the old, in with the new.

Every gardener knows that the garden shed is worth it's weight in crops as long as it is kept tidy and ordered. There is nothing worse than not being able to find your trowel, spend 15 minutes digging around for the hormone rooting powder or stumbling over the mound of unwashed plastic pots that litter the floor. Unfortunately we are as guilty as many for not keeping this precious work space as pristine as it could be. The potting table on the side of the shed was deteriorating fast and the whole shed beckoned for a little tender loving care.

The garden shed was one of the first things we built when we bought La Pasera as it was a key component in our plan to grow as much as our own fruit, vegetables and salad crops as possible. We have treated it well structurally with regular coats of water repellent stain and regular tightening of battens that protect it from the strong Costa Verde winds. It is sealed around the base regularly and the roof felt is good quality which when put all together, helps us to keep it water tight and in sound condition. However, this past two years we have been a bit neglectful and it was not long before we noticed that the wood was beginning to suffer in places and the seals were letting in small amounts of water, so time to spring into action and get it sorted.

We completely emptied it, washed the pots, threw the rubbish, sorted out lots that could be recycled, cleaned all the tools, swept it for cobwebs, painted it on the inside, repaired a couple of pieces near the base that were beginning to rot, painted it outside, re-sealed it and put everything back it. Suddenly it's enormous!

Re-painted and re-sealed

Waste not want not...

Never one to throw re-usable things away (hence the clutter in the first place), today Luis' brother Oscar, who is visiting from El Salvador, and I used the wood we cleared out to build two new planters. With a bit more sanding and a couple of treatments of preservative they will make a great addition to the garden for spring bulbs.

Clearing out and tidying the shed makes you realise how important it is to keep up with those jobs that you think will wait another season. As the seasons come and go, it is easy to let standards slip but keeping up with these sorts of chores really does make life easier in the long run.

The lusty month of May...

It's May, it's May, the lusty month of May...

What a start to the month, its been extremely busy with lots of jobs to do in and around the garden. The seedlings are progressing well and we'll soon be planting beans, marrow, cucumber and squash and kohlrabi. The peas, potatoes and beetroot have been in the ground for a few weeks now and are growing with vigour but the tomatoes have just not moved, probably due to the unseasonal cold weather and overcast days. The two new apple trees we planted are doing well and have set fruit so hopefully we will have an extended season of apples from this year on.

We've had an eventful month so far with Luis venturing out into the mountains both alone and with his brother Ruben, both in training for a 50 Km mountain walk on the 23rd May organised by El Soplao. You may remember Luis is seeking sponsorship for this and two other challenges he has set himself this Spring to raise monies for The Donkey Paradise here in Asturias - more of that later.

Earlier in the month it was World Nude Gardening Day and of course, Luis participated as he has done for the past three years. Fortunately, it wasn't too cold on the day and I managed to sneak a photograph when he wasn't looking...

The garden is looking very colourful at the moment with lots of plants in full flower both in the beds and rockeries. Lots of dead heading and cosmetic pruning takes up a bit of time but it extends the flowering period and helps keep debris and invaders down such as slugs, aphids and black fly. Fortunately we seem to have a healthy colony of ladybirds this year which is a great natural control.

We were rather disturbed to see a European Hornet in the garden. I managed to get a shot or two but I was wary of venturing too close as they have a nasty sting and can be aggressive.

Wentworth and Gawber the cats are recovering well from their recent illness although Gawber has ongoing eye problems that require regular check-ups and daily eye drops. He is such a timid cat and despite our efforts to re-assure him, he freaks at the site of the cat carrier and now is wary whenever we call him as he thinks the eye dropper is close at hand but it needs to be done.

Luis had a bike accident this week and managed to knock himself out. He ended up stopping in hospital overnight for neurological observations but was discharged the following day with some residual concussion and a few cuts and many bruises. He was given strict instructions to rest. I have told him the gardening will wait until the weekend...;-)

The Caring for Rosie Challenge to raise monies for Rosie the Donkey and her stable mates at El Paraiso del Burro is going great and we are overwhelmed and grateful to the many people who have donated and helped us to promote this worthy cause. So far we have raised £1000 and hope that with two challenges left to complete, we can raise another £250. We visited the donkey sanctuary today and it was great to see the donkeys out in the pastures enjoying the lush spring grass. If you could help us reach our target, please follow the link below on the photograph of Rosie or click on the Go Fund Me button.

Rosie enjoying the lush pastures at El Paraiso del Burro

Back to the lusty month of May, for those of you who don't know it it is the title of a song but do you know which one and from which musical (extra points if you can name the composers)? The lyrics sort of sum up our May but with only half the month gone, there is still time for more lusty goings on as the weather warms up and life in and around La Pasera brings with it new adventures and lasting memories.

Now back to that World Nude Gardening Day photograph...if you really want to see it scroll down..................................Surely that's worth a few £, € or $ towards the donkeys?

Knowing your onions...

When something works, why meddle? 

Onions have always cropped well for us, granted, some years have been better than others but on the whole we usually grow enough onions to last us most of the year. We use a lot of onions in cooking, in chutneys and pickles and in salads. This year like previous years we have planted 150 early onions, 150 red and 150 white. Together with spring onions and leeks we will, mother nature willing, have enough at harvest time to last throughout the year.

The ground is prepared by ensuring it has lots of compost and green manure dug in and left for a few weeks for the worms and micro organisms to start their work. We buy our main onion crop as small plants from a local grower who has a stall in Ribadesella market. Although they are not organic, we will grow them on using organic principals. We bought 400 onions and 12 lettuce from him for 20€.

We look for a good green and strong plant that has been well watered and not left to grow too leggy in the plant module. We have always been pleased with the quality of his stock.

We give the onions a good start in the ground by supplementing the rich soil with extremely well rotted manure. We have found a source near to us from a local farmer who has a few cows and horses. Over the years he has just piled up the manure and it has turned into black gold. We usually drop him off a bottle of home made liqueur based on Orujo and orange which we know he likes. We take the car up, fill a few sacks and off we go.

Heaps of black gold

A small trench is dug and filled in the base with black gold and then watered. The onions are laid out about 15cms apart, the trench filled and the onions bedded in. A final watering is pretty much all there is left to do and apart from a bit of light weeding from time to time and spraying with a natural fungicide, the onions will grow and swell without little interference from us.

Knowing our onions, the conditions they like, when and when not to spray and when to harvest works for us and results in a year round supply of delicious red and white onions for cooking and preserving. What are your tips on onion growing, maybe leave us a comment below or a link to your blog and we'll check them out? I bet they're not as big as ours.... ;-)

An update from Toriello

It has been full on here for the past seven days with lots of gardening, general maintenance, cycling challenges and visiting family.

This recent spell of bright sunshine and warmer weather has brought everything on at a pace and we now have lots of blossom on the peach and greengage, the pear is just about to bloom and the orange tree is full of tiny white buds. The vegetable plot now has 100 potatoes planted, several rows of peas and mange tout, a new lavender hedge (for the bees, soap and hand cream making) and, the remainder of the compost has been added around the raspberry canes. The ground also is prepared for the onions which will be planted next week. We are currently harvesting broccoli, leeks, celeriac, ruby chard and the last of the kalettes.

Luis' brother and his family came to stay this past week as Ruben planned to join Luis on the first of his challenges in the Caring for Rosie challenge (read more here). Last Tuesday Luis and Ruben set off from home at 8am and caught the train to Arriondas from where they commenced their cycle ride to the Lakes of the Picos de Europa mountains. They decided to start from Arriondas as there was a strong head wind on the day and they needed every drop of energy to tackle the 12 km ascent and the other 90 kms of road cycling.  They completed their epic ride and in total covered 100km with a total ascent of 2,827 m. So far We have raised over £750 for the Donkeys but with two further challenges to go I am confident we can meet our target of £1000.

It was good to spend time with Ruben, Veronica and the children and show them some of our local beaches and sights. The baby, Sara, is delightful and such a content and happy child. Kelan and Haizea are full of energy and really enjoyed playing in the garden and running wild on the sands. As for Luis and I, time to rest and recuperate over Easter in preparation for a busy Summer ahead.