Mother's Day!

[blackberry444]

I knew for reasons I can't be bothered to explain that Charles had bought me a present, but he forgot to give it to me!!

It wasn't until we were preparing the spuds this afternoon for roast potatoes for this evening's dinner that he suddenly remembered and said mysteriously that he had to see me upstairs. I refused to go upstairs until the spuds were ready and by that time he had forgotten again. He finally remembered at about 4.00 pm when he presented me with a cup of tea and a box of my favourite Thornton's Eden chocolates and a packet of chocolate ginger. He knows me so well!

So I have enough chocolate to keep me going for about three weeks, on a ration of one a day, although I had more than one today.

In return, I cooked us all a lovely free-range organic chook with roast potatoes, some surprisingly wonderful sprouting broccoli and superb gravy, even if I do say so myself. And as a bonus I made a syrup sponge pudding.  I haven't made one for ages so it was a real treat, although the amount of extra golden syrup John ladles onto his portion worries me a bit. Sponge pudding is the only thing, apart from spinach and fish, that I ever cook in the microwave.

I wish I could remember where I bought the sprouting broccoli, because it was excellent - very fresh and succulent. I think it may have been in Lidl, which I find surprisingly good for vegetables.

This morning I made a batch of blueberry muffins. I had specially large blueberries that I bought from Costco and I put double the amount in. They burst during cooking and made lovely little rivulets of juice all down the sides of the muffins.

I found a recipe in the book which I hadn't seen before for blackberry muffins with blackberry liqueur and rose water. I shall make those next time I find some expensive imported blackberries!

Before I left the kitchen I made sure to put the remaining gravy in the fridge.  I didn't want John throwing it away like he did the stock a couple of weeks ago.

We wormed the cats this afternoon.  They all hate it, of course, but Phoebe takes it very personally and won't speak to us for days, except that she had to come round today if she wanted her share of roast chicken!

Charles and I both got covered in quantities of the Panacur stuff.  I hope it doesn't bleach my ochre top.  I bet it has!

Comments

[g8bur.livejournal.com]

I wish I could remember where I bought the sprouting broccoli, because it was excellent - very fresh and succulent. I think it may have been in Lidl, which I find surprisingly good for vegetables.

The local one usually has very good quality veg, and quite often they have a half-price-on-all-veg offer. I like the flat green Spanish beans they sometimes sell, but they don't seem to have had any in for some time. The other supermarkets are selling them, but they're much too expensive for my pocket.

I like broccoli very much, but I'm possibly a bit unusual in that I much prefer the stalk of broccoli (and of cauliflower) to the florets. I cut off the main stalk, cut the dried-up end off, then dice it up and cook it with the florets (which I put into the saucepan a few minutes later so they don't overcook).

[blackberry44.livejournal.com]

I love the broccoli stalks too, but mostly they're cook's perks and get eaten raw while I'm cooking, since no-one else likes them much. The stalks are one reason I like purple sprouting so much, it's a bit like poor man's asparagus!

When I do a "Chinese" meal, though, I often cut the stems into little strips and include them in the vegetable dish with some oyster sauce.

I've never tried the flat beans, because I always think they're a rather weird colour, but now you've said that, I shall try them.

[g8bur.livejournal.com]

I don't often see purple sprouting broccoli in the usual shops; sometimes I can find it in Stevenage covered market though. I don't like it raw, but I much prefer it undercooked to overcooked.

I like your Chinese-style idea for the stems; I'll try to remember that for the next time I do a Chinese dish. I'll avoid the oyster sauce, though, as I'm allergic to shellfish.

The flat beans have a milder flavour than runner beans, but the great advantage that they only need top-and-tailing, and cutting to length (I normally just snap them in half). Unfortunately; much as I love them, good runner beans have become almost impossible to find in this area for a year or two now. Even the British-grown ones on sale in the autumn have tough, almost ironclad skins, and the strings on the sides are too thick to remove completely without a great deal of effort - my usual tool for this, a D-shape peeler, won't cut deep enough to skim them off.

It's icy-cold here today, even indoors - I might as well go out for a bit. I think I'll go to Welwyn Garden City and see what Lidl have in stock in the veg line.

[blackberry44.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately; much as I love them, good runner beans have become almost impossible to find in this area for a year or two now. E

I have found the same problem and last year I didn't even to manage to grow any of my own. The ruddy slugs and snails ate the plants right down to the earth during a week of wet weather when I didn't get out into the yard.

I think runner beans are probably my favourite vegetable, but you are right, it's impossible to buy runner beans sufficiently small to be tender.

If I have no luck again this year, I might try the frozen ones, just to see what they're like.

[g8bur.livejournal.com]

I've just got back from Lidl, where they had purple sprouting broccoli at half price, so I got some, to go with dinner (lamb-and-leek shepherd's pie) tonight.

I tried to grow runner beans twenty-odd years ago, but despite putting them in a nice sunny location and religiously watering them, I got 12oz of beans from the 12 plants.

Sorry to hear about the slug invasion - there are hordes of the little horrors in our garden - far more than we ever used to see.

I'll have to look out for the frozen runner beans, and try them if they're not too pricey.

[k425.livejournal.com]

Runner beans - Hestia is a dwarf and you can pick the pods while they're still small. In theory, they're stringless. Dwarf means great in pots, so if you've got a patio, one tub will give you 8 plants and plenty of pods, provided you keep the slugs off!

[blackberry44.livejournal.com]

if you've got a patio, one tub will give you 8 plants and plenty of pods, provided you keep the slugs off!

And that's not as easy as one might suppose.

I've tried copper bands around the pots, I've tried organic slug-pellets, I've tried that crunchy stuff they're supposed not to like to slide across, (although it seems no-one has told *them*, I've even tried the standard non-green allegedly lethal pellets, but *nothing* seems to deter the little b******ds.

In slug-hunting season, I even go out every evening at dusk and salt all the little slimy s***s, but apparently not before they've laid their eggs.

[g8bur.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip! That ought to be worth a go. We've got some large pots outside in the garden doing nothing. We also now have a greenhouse. I'll suggest it to Geoff, and see if we can put a few pots of Hestia beans in there. There's a big garden centre down on the Ware road out of Stevenage, so I can nip down and see if they have any seeds there.