Interesting day today - I posted my first post on the Grow Your Own 'Grapevine' Forum: -

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/new-shoots/yet-another-newbie_11978.html

Any way - I don't know if you have carrots left, but as I like it, here's Carrot & Coriander Soup: -

A flavoursome vegetarian soup with fresh and ground coriander. Serve with cheese and onion bread for a warming supper or lunch.
Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, sliced
450g/1lb carrots, sliced
1 tsp ground coriander
1.2 litresl/2 pints vegetable stock
large bunch fresh coriander, roughly chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
1. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onions and the carrots. Cook for 3-4 minutes until starting to soften.
2. Stir in the ground coriander and season well. Cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Simmer until the vegetables are tender.
4. Whizz with a hand blender or in a blender until smooth. Reheat in a clean pan, stir in the fresh coriander and serve.


Am looking at getting down the allotment (weather permitting) at the weekend, so you may see more of the 'Plot' than the 'Plate' next week!

Any recipe ideas for veg in season gratefully accepted!

I have been having a little look round for parsnip recipes, as I have the grand total of 3 (yes - three!) in the garden (not the allotment) to lift - I just hope they're OK. Anyway, these two sounded interesting (if a little different).



Parsnips With Almonds



Ingredients
1 1/2 lb fresh parsnips - scraped and sliced

1 egg, lightly beaten

3 tbsp butter or margarine

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg1/8 tsp pepper

1/4 cup toasted almonds - slivered and blanched

Directions
Cook parsnips in boiling salted water 10 minutes or until tender.Drain well; mash. Add egg, butter, nutmeg and pepper; stir well.Spoon parsnip mixture into an ungreased 1 qt. casserole. Sprinkle topevenly with toasted almonds. Bake at 325 F for 30 minutes



Arpagyongy Kremleves (Cream Of Pearl Barley Soup)

Ingredients
1 lb bones - pork and/or veal

2 each carrots, peeled, sliced

1 parsnip, peeled, sliced

1/2 cup pearl barley, uncooked

3 tbsp butter, clarified

1 tbsp flour, all-purpose

1/3 cup milk, whole

salt

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 egg yolk



Directions
Cook bones and vegetables in 1 1/2 quarts water for about 2 hours.Keep skimming the broth to remove scum. Strain. Add enough water tobring the amount to 1 1/2 quarts again. Add barley to the broth andcook until it is soft.Make a roux with butter and flour. Cook the roux over low heat,stirring constantly, but do not let it become dark. This should be a light roux. Stir 1/3 cup cold water and 1/3 cup cold milk into theroux and whip until smooth. Pour into soup and simmer it for 10minutes.Puree the soup in a blender or through a sieve. Adjust the salt totaste. Mix cream with the egg yolk and put it in a soup tureen. Justbefore serving, pour hot creamed soup over the yolk and cream mixture.
Serves: 6



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Welcome

This is my new (indeed first!) blog.

I acquired my allotment in the middle of 2007 & had relative success with it, but ended up with a lot of failures and a glut of other products.

I hope in this blog to provide a frequent (ish!) seasonal vegetable recipe - not necessarily the veg I take from my plot, but mostly those

I would welcome any feedback, recipes, hints & tips that you feel may be informative to other readers.

To the first recipe - I have a number of Turnip / Swede still to lift, and came across this: -

Turnip Gratin

Ingredients
1 clove garlic
25g/1oz butter
350g/12oz crisp turnips, peeled thickly, sliced thinly, parboiled for 2 minutes and drained
salt and pepper
1 tsp dried herbs
50g/2oz thinly sliced pancetta ham, cut into a fine julienne
150ml/¼ pint double cream
Grated Cheddar Cheese to top off

Method
1. Rub two small ramekin dishes well with garlic, let it dry, butter generously.
2. Put the turnip slices in a saucepan, add the cream, herbs, ham and salt and pepper and simmer until very tender.
3. Spoon the turnip mixture into the ready prepared ramekins and grill in the oven until lightly brown on top - then add the cheese to cover until melted

A Word Of Warning

This is one of the recipes I haven't tried yet - any who does pelase let me know how you get on!

Now off to read the seed catalogues!

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