Fifty Shades of Green

Well, maybe not fifty.

But there is still plenty of green stuff to harvest in the late summer potager- squashes, courgettes, salad leaves, apples, pears, sorrel, chard, herbs and kohlrabi to name a few.

Enough to inspire a green themed post today.




So, this month I give you recipes for vegetable fritters- using up some of your glut of courgettes perhaps- or making the most of other garden veg such as kohlrabi, broccoli or cabbage.
Also, a delicate flavoured soup made from lettuce and garden herbs.
And finally, an autumnal chutney using up the last of the apple crop, tomatoes, onions and pears.

At our Atelier de Cuisine this month, we made Palets de Courgettes (Fried Courgette Cakes).

Simply grate together 2 courgettes, 2 carrots, 2 potatoes, 1 onion and 2 cloves of garlic. (You can add whatever veg you like here- sweetcorn would be good or white cabbage or chopped broccoli)
Mix together in a bowl with 1-2 eggs, 100g of grated cheese ( eg Cheddar, Parmesan or Emmental) and plenty of salt and pepper.
We didn't add any flour on this occasion, but I would recommend adding a tablespoon of plain flour or cornflour to help bind the fritters and soak up the juice from the courgettes.

Grate together your veg into a bowl and add 1-2 eggs

Press spoonfuls into a pan ( with a dessertspoon of oil) and fry gently until golden on both sides

Press spoonfuls into a frying pan

We ate ours with macaroni cheese and a spicy chilli dipping sauce. Nice!

Fry gently until golden on both sides

I make a similar version with grated kohlrabi, if you grow it or can find it in the greengrocers:

Mix 2 grated kohlrabi with 3-4 chopped spring onions, a tbsp of curry powder, 1 tbsp plain flour, 1 egg and 2 tsps turmeric, plus 1-2 tsp salt:

Mix up your grated veg and spices with egg and a bit of flour

Fry spoonfuls in hot oil:

Fry in hot oil

Drain well on kitchen paper and serve:

Kohlrabi fritters

Next I am making my Mr McGregor Soup- so named as it uses lettuce and garden herbs, such as sorrel and parsley to give it it's delicate but delicious flavour ( and would appeal to both the farmer and to Peter Rabbit!)

If you haven't cooked with lettuce- now's the time to try it. It's a great way to use up a glut of salad  from the garden or some slightly sad leaves from the salad crisper which might otherwise go to waste.

Fry 1 chopped onion and 1 minced clove of garlic in a little oil, then add a chopped head of lettuce, a handful of chopped sorrel or spinach, a bunch of chopped parsley or chives and either 2 diced potatoes or some leftover mash and 1 litre of vegetable stock.

Fry up lettuce, onion, potato, herbs etc

Simmer gently until the potato is tender and then blitz with a hand blender and adjust the seasoning:

Blitz until smooth

You will probably need to sieve the mixture as well, as some types of lettuce can be quite fibrous.

You can add milk or cream, but I think you will find it is delicious as it is.

Mr McGregor Soup

Finally, I made a big batch of my Autumn Chutney- using up the veg and fruits which are plentiful at the end of the summer.

Ingredients:

800g of  peeled, chopped tomatoes

450g chopped onions

1.25 kg apples, (peeled and chopped)

600g pears ( peeled and chopped)

4 minced cloves of garlic

100g fresh grated root ginger

1-2 red chillies or 2 tsp chilli paste

450g sultanas

1 tbsp salt

900 ml white wine or cider vinegar

750g demerara sugar

Put all the ingredients in a very large preserving pan and bring to the boil:

Put everythiing in a large pan

Boil for 2-3 minutes and then reduce to a simmer. Let the mixture simmer for at least an hour, then mash the fruit with a potato masher to reduce the size of the chunks, stir and continue to simmer until reduced in volume and nice and thick for spooning into sterilized jars.

This quantity made 10 pots of chutney:

A batch of Autumn Chutney

A perfect way to round off a September session in the kitchen.

Or garden!