Steely days...
While last week’s post reflected the fleeting blush of winter’s pink…its counterbalance can be found in the chill blue-greys…perhaps a more true representation of winter’s midst! Even so, there’s a cosy fuzziness to be found as mousey brown for instance, brights to golden-tan on a bulrush spire, as the cold dawn sunlight gathers momentum, catching and highlighting each velvet core as the hours progress…
And the spent stem of the perilous agave glows deepest coral in its final throws… a captivating highlight against an ice blue sky…
The kindling, the logs, the ash…these are the colours that accompany buffeting winds, fingerless gloves, multi-layers (enough to make one feel, if not necessarily look like the famed Michelin Man!) and woollen scarves; as nerves on edge are likely accompanied by doors slamming shut with gusto in unexpected drafts and strewn washing blown off the line! Oh but thank goodness its cosy…inside!
What a week it’s been! Much of it not spent inside at all…and how I laughed when I saw this sight on repeat all around the orchard early on Tuesday morning! How grateful I was, that a film crew member reacted so spontaneously to my concern on Monday afternoon, when I heard the focus of much of their filming next day would take place around the Borders, Orchard and Hayshed…with no less than eleven children! Good grief…
These are the things one cannot predict - they have no place in garden planning (if they did, one would end up with a very dull garden indeed!). In the general scheme of the every day, who on earth is likely to tread close to the trunks of the olive trees? But all it would take to put paid to that much anticipated, annual vision of tall, bee-filled peony-poppies dancing in the spring breeze (and which I’m hoping to include in a spring workshop) is one errant camera man to take a step backwards, or someone to take a momentary short cut in haste! The same crew member responsible for the signs, was to be seen almost waiting behind each person likely to put a foot wrong as all attention was focused in front of them; and I’m hugely grateful…for at this stage of their growth, the peony poppies look little more than weeds - this is not their finest hour, but one that must be endured for the glory that will surely follow…as long as they come to no harm via misadventure!
Anyway, Tuesday passed in repetitive bursts of children shrieking with delight, running races between the (very muddy) rows in the Field and tossing mountains of crinkly, burnished leaves into the air, at each other…and the camera crew in the Borders. “We vacuumed them all up” one of the crew offered (in reference to the leaves) when all was over…and so they had!
I set up this simple little scene in a great rush on Wednesday morning after the mammoth dairy sweep and tidy from the day before (more for wanting to sit there myself for a moment, to bask in the sun which I’m disinclined to do of my own accord!) and so my city visitors were simply going to sit there too! What an opportunity to warm our bones…and enthusiastically plan an upcoming spring event.
The lemon balm has re-emerged in the last couple of weeks, post severe cut to all its leggy stems and how I do love this combination for a refreshing tisane…lemon balm, thyme and a calendula flower. I haven’t struck anyone yet who doesn’t seem to delight in the combination and truly…it’s the most welcoming brew. And an ideal last-minute something - when visitors are too late for morning tea, too early for lunch and pressed for time. Just a word of warning though if you are tempted to plant Lemon Balm…pop it in a pot, as like mint, it’s inclined to run and take over - something I’ve learned at cost here - for me, it’s too late!
Another standby that’s good to have on hand…especially if like me, you’re inclined to have visitors that may (or may not) need a little something to coincide with their visit - when time and inclination are all a bit vague…(it happens here a lot!) is a bowl of Hummus.
I’ve discovered over the years, that when we have a guest cook give a workshop, I’m inclined to take away one core recipe from the day that becomes an intrinsic part of my own repertoire. And so it has become with Cherie Hausler’s Preserved Lemon Hummus! The batch she made at last year’s workshop disappeared in a flash. It is, as Cherie suggested, utterly addictive and the huge plate she made and drizzled generously with olive oil was quickly mopped up that day with chunks of sourdough, before we all sat down to a candle-lit, fireside lunch. (I also seem to recall her mentioning something along the lines of eating her own bodyweight in this glorious stuff each week!). At the time, I had no preserved lemons of my own, so couldn’t immediately repeat the recipe (Cherie brought the last of her own!). But wow this recipe sure prompted me to preserve a batch when we had a glut of fruit last spring. I don’t usually bother…I haven’t been, to be honest, a huge preserved lemon fan, but I suspect it’s time to revisit some other recipes that include them, that I may have dismissed in the past. And anyway, for the sake of making Cherie’s Hummus…I shall now preserve lemons each season forevermore!
Given lemons are coming into season now (we’ve almost finished the Meyers - there’s only one left dangling on the tree but the Lisbons are ready) it’s a good opportunity to preserve a batch, though I can see I didn’t do this ‘til October last year…(the bunch of sweet peas behind in the pic are a dead giveaway!)…
Cherie Hausler’s Preserved Lemons - abbreviated (to be honest I suggest you grab a copy of her book A Plant Based Farmhouse, as she writes at length with generosity, sensibility and humour) and though we’re not vegan here, there are absolute gems contained within the pages. I do have copies here, so if you’re coming to visit…
Ingredients
Makes 2 x 500g jars
250g salt (Cherie uses Celtic sea salt)
1-1.2kg unwaxed lemons (if you don’t have a tree, ask a friend - they’re bound to say yes and you can always give them a jar in return…or a batch of hummus, say I!)
2g/1 teaspoon black peppercorns
2-4 fresh or dried bay leaves
50ml extra virgin olive oil
Method
After sterilising the jars, pour a layer of salt into each to cover the base
Cut each lemon into quarters, leaving the skin on and not worrying too much about the seeds
Add three or four lemon quarters to each jar, pushing them down with the end of a wooden spoon to release their juice
Add another layer of salt for every three or four lemon quarters, packing the salt around them and continually pushing them down with the wooden spoon so the salt and lemon juice cover the fruit
To each layer add a few black peppercorns and a bay leaf as you add the salt
Pack as many layers as you can so you end up with a snug fit, to help keep the fruit submerged under the top layer of salt and juice, finishing with a layer of salt
Finally, pour over the olive oil before sealing with the lid
Store in a cool, dark spot and leave to sit undisturbed for 10 - 12 weeks before eating. Once you’ve opened the jar it’s best to keep them in the fridge, adding more olive oil each time you remove a lemon quarter - this will keep the mould at bay and stop the lemons oxidising.
To eat the lemons, scrape away the flesh from the rind and discard.
It’s so many months since I did this, I now can’t quite recall how the quantities stacked up…but I don’t think you can go too far wrong (though looking at the image, maybe I put too much salt in the base of the jar!). They turned out fine though, and I think those two jars are likely to get me through many more batches of Hummus!
Cherie’s Preserved Lemon Hummus (abbreviated, as in minus her lovely accompanying story!)
Makes about 400g
Ingredients
40ml lemon juice
60g tahini
250g cooked chickpeas or tinned, drained
30ml extra virgin olive oil (plus extra for drizzling)
30ml water
1 preserved lemon quarter
2 large garlic cloves, peeled
Method
use a high speed blender to blitz the lemon juice and tahini ‘til its whipped and creamy
add all the other ingredients and blitz again ‘til smooth
Cherie suggests it’s unlikely to need salt because of the saltiness of the preserved lemon (I agree)
To serve, spread on a plate with the back of a spoon and drizzle with olive oil…
It will keep for a week in an airtight container in the fridge
To be honest, I’ve been cheating in using tinned (organic) chickpeas for each batch, which of course upsets the quantities entirely! So I’m using Cherie’s amounts as a guide. A tin seems to contain 425g…so I’m not quite doubling everything else. As I’m out of our own garlic now, I’m using organic minced garlic from a jar (I don’t trust buying fresh garlic unless it’s stipulated to be organic and all local growers will, anyway, be out of stock at this time of year ‘til the next harvest - they’re in the same boat as all of us).
How have I been eating the hummus (perhaps guzzling might be more apt!)? If not by the teaspoonful (in which case it’s difficult to stop at one!) then slathered on sourdough or slices of Pumpernickel Soda Bread (yes, that one of Belinda Jefferey’s) - either of those fresh or toasted and…topped with slices of…
Tomato! Drizzled generously with olive oil and a twist or two of black pepper! Thank you Cherie, for allowing me to share your delicious recipe here. (I can’t always share the recipes in these posts that I’d like to and I’m so glad Cherie said yes).
Can you believe we still have tomatoes? I can’t! Usually I’d suggest it’s an amazing thing to still have them into June…this quantity in July is simply unheard of! And large ones at that. The good old Hungarian Hearts have had a sublime year - these are the last two and still a handful of Black Russians (I think my Black have crossed with the Purple Russians!) amongst the Black Cherries and Sugarlumps, with a San Marzano here and there for good measure. No sooner is a plate of fruit ripe on the kitchen bench, than another fills to replace it, spending a week or so going through the same slow process of ripening, before making it sliced onto my hummus toast, or into the oven or a pan. I reduced a good handful of cherry tomatoes last night, to a caramelised stew to accompany sauteed potatoes (ours from the cellar!), leftover cold lamb cutlets from the weekend and a multi-leaf salad scattered with calendula petals. What a treat!
But really…it’s time now to sow tomato seed for next season. Which I’m tempted to do this weekend. I think I’ve saved seed of everyone now, so there’s no reason to delay and the earlier we sow into punnets, the earlier they can be potted on into root trainers for growing on, in order to have good specimens for planting out in mid/late spring. I often say there’s barely a week in the year when tomatoes don’t play some part - whether on our plate, tending them in the garden or both. This year…there will not even be a day without tomatoes featuring on my radar in some way!
And then…there are the sweet and juicy mandarins, from the funny old tree in the corner down the back. Filled with pips, I’ve been eating a couple of fruit a day; but over the last couple (having picked a huge haul last week that have spent too long off the branch) have squeezed them for our morning juice which is quite sublime. When all is said and done, I often think we have a greater array of produce in the winter months than the summer…and this year, we’re spoiled for choice!
I hope you’ve been able to keep warm and sheltered over the past days. They really have been the kind to curl up and hibernate, but instead…I’ve been working on events for spring. I’ll have a beauty to release in next week’s newsletter. Do you receive them? I don’t send too many (even fewer since I began writing on this platform!) but they are where I announce upcoming events…and I can’t wipe the smile of my face when I think of this one!
Have a wonderful week ahead and I’ll look forward to catching you at the next post.
With warmest wishes
Mickey x
Productive garden notes:
Eating from the garden:
Tomatoes (yes…still!), coloured chard, spinach, kale - cavolo nero, broccoli, cauliflower (forgot to mention these last two in recent weeks!), cima di rapa, kohl rabi, parsnip, Jerusalem artichoke, fennel, celery, celeriac, pumpkin, carrot, beetroot; lettuce, rocket, red elk mustard leaves. Lemons, oranges (Navel), mandarins, rhubarb. Mint, chives, parsley rosemary, thyme. Calendula, nasturtium and borage petals. Fennel fronds and the first leaves of coriander. The peas are coming! Potatoes…I neglected to mention the surprise haul last week or the week before in this section but we’re still making our way through them…
Going / gone: tomatoes, lovage, chives
Seed saving: tomato
Sowing: tomato seed into punnets
Planting: I did plant another round of lettuces to replace the ones we’ve eaten - I pulled a dozen or so that were on their last legs last weekend for eating and thought to go again - with a sprinkle of blood & bone and a handful of compost into each nearby hole - I do try not to plant exactly where the last ones were when I do this mid-season!
Ornamental garden notes:
Picking for the house: a rose or two, Chocolate Mint (Pelargonium quercifolium) and Apple Pelargonium (P. odoratissimum) and furry stems of lavender dentata (French lavender)
Perfumes and aromas: the perfume of ripe oranges is adrift in the kitchen garden…and the Osmanthus fragrans…caught me again by surprise on my kindling round yesterday afternoon…despite the howling gale!
Pruning and other: I had an impromptu weed, rake and reshuffle in the Field on Monday afternoon - the last place I thought anyone would wish to film at this time of year! Secateurs first to cut long whips of spring flowering roses that might catch on flailing arms and as much windfall as I could pick up. The Field…is not yet on my radar for its annual prune and tidy! It’s been a good week for Thalia to cut back the Perovskia behind the Dairy (a protected sunny patch of the ornamental Russian Sage) and to tackle the overspent Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) across the back of the kitchen garden. I can now both see and walk the path again! The espaliered fruit trees in the kitchen garden all needed a second pass as they’ve become quite congested and although I’d say it’s early yet to be pruning them, I can’t help but feel we may be in for an early season ahead. So…the stone fruit all had a copper spray too - at bud burst it’s too late and although they shouldn’t anytime soon…some are swelling at an alarming rate…
I’m hoping my workshop fills for October , not only for the joy of seeing you but also because I’ll be able to invest in a copy of Cherie’s book!!