Friday 19 August 2011

George's Harvest

We don't have a large veggie plot, and this year, with us being away at the wrong time, and then the weather and multiple pests attacking our plants, some of George's veggies haven't done so well, or in some cases even survived. However, today was a good day, and he has harvested Desiree and International Kidney potatoes, the last few broad beans, the first runner beans, onions, garlic and a pile of rhubarb. I adore broad beans with gammon, new potatoes and parsley sauce - gorgeous!
George's Veggies
The rhubarb is going to be turned into rhubarb and ginger jam, and most of the year's runner beans will be frozen. We're still eating last years, and I do love them. The garlic and onions will flavour most of our savoury dishes throughout the year, or at least till they're used up.

Our grandchildren usually come on a Friday, and today Lottie made a tiara - she's such a princess girl! Oliver, aged 4, was pretending to cook plastic veggies and said he was a chef, so if Lottie had a tiara, he could have a chef-arara! He was thrilled when Lottie and Grandpa made him a chef's hat to go home in.

2 comments:

nic@nipitinthebud said...

what's your secret with freezing beans? I've given loads away this year rather than waste them as they just don't taste right and are limp and watery when I've tried eating them from frozen.
Good haul George!

GeorgeP said...

What I do is this..
I wash and slice the beans, then blanch them by dropping them gradually into a large pan of rapidly boiling water on maximum heat; it's important that the water remains boiling as the beans are added. After a couple of minutes or so I lift them out using a slotted spoon and drop them quickly into a large bowl of ice cold water. Leave them to cool for a couple of minutes,then transfer them to a colander and then on to kitchen paper. Dab off the excess water with more kitchen roll and then package them in small freezer bags and get them straight into the freezer.
The essence is to get them up to boiling, then back cool again, as fast as possible.
To cook, drop the frozen beans into rapidly boiling lightly salted water and cook until tender.
They are never quite the same as freshly harvested ones, but still loads better than those from the supermarket!
Hope that helps!
George