weezl and friends Phase 4 - recipe testing christmas treats!

Fivenations

Hi everyone
I;m not able to follow the plan as I have too many dietary restriction, namely gluten, but I like to check in and add the odd comment.

as the thread is I hope Wheezl wont mi nd if I suggest some simple summer variations on some of the staples in the list plus some seasonal ingredients that will either be cheap or growing in our grdens and windowledges. Please excuse my spelling - I'm typing this in the garden, making the most of the sunshe and there is a lot of screen glare.

My small garden is bursting with herbs and salad leaves and I'm being given tomatoes, beans and spinach. These are also cheap if bought from the market or ethnic shops. If I could have gluten I would be making lots of pasta dishes, hot and cold, bulghar and couscous salads and stuffed garlicky roasted vegetables.

HERBY SPAGHETTI for 4

Finely chop 4 tablespoons of basil leaves,parsley and rosemary to taste and add to a tablespoon of breadcrumbs.
Finely chop 2 spring onions, coaersely chop 1 tablespoon of capers and 50g stoned olives ( well, they;re staples in my kitchen!) and gently saute over a low heat in 4 tablespoons oil ( or to taste) for 5 minutes. Add the herb/bread mix and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes.

Add to hot pasta cooked al dent and tossed in some olive oil. If you feeling decadent garnish with fried basil leaves.

Note: Supermarket basil can be potted up at home. Gently separate into clumps and plant deeply. Give it some TLC - not too much direct sunlight in tne first week. I rescue whoopsied herbs and give them a new lease of life - basil, parsley, dill, thyme, tarragon - most work. Coarinder runs to seed but it does that even if groen from seed.

RAW TOMATO SAUCE
Over ripe tomatoes are perfect for this sauce. They just need to be quickly skinned by pouring boiling water over them until the skin wrincles. No need to deseed if you cant be bother. chop and add to serving bowl with finely chopped garlic, basil, olive oil ( be geneours - at least 3 tablespoons), salt & pepper. Olives, capers and leftover roasted pepers optional. Allow to marinate for 30 minutesCook and drain your pasta and add immediatly to the sauce. Stir well and serve after 5 minutes or so. Also good served cold.

I cant type any more - screen too dark. Happy Sunday.

shanks77

Hi Fivenations nice to see you again and thanks for those ideas they sound great. If only i could get my toms to fruit i would give it a go lol xxx

katkins78

Shanks, I don't think this weather helps, I am only getting dribs and drabs and my tomatoes are in the polytunnel, last year I was getting heaps by now. Worth the wait though, they taste awesome compared to shop bought!

Are they at least flowering?

shanks77

Katkins no however Scotland is a normally a few weeks behind in growing time so will keep fingers crossed. My plant is indoors but the way the house is situated i dont think it is getting enough sunshine but will wait and see

katkins78

Oh well fingers crossed- everything seems to be this year! I wouldn't mind but I'm supposed to be in the sunny South....It was sunny in April and May I suppose, I was begging for rain back then:o

shanks77

I have just made the rose petal jam that is on the CFR blog and can confirm that it is very easy and nom nom xx

Kitchenbunny

Sorry, but do you have a link to the CFR blog? Hoping it has some updates on (as I don't do Facebook) and the jam sounds lovely.

Thanks,

KB xx

Julimk

Hi KB

The blog is here:

http://weezl.wordpress.com/

There is also a link from the homepage of CFR.

shanks77

Been very quiet on here hope everyone is ok. Still doing a lot of CFR food as i seem to have been spending money on one thing or another and my road tax is due at the end of the month:(
Look forward to hearing how you are all doing xx

boredofbeingathome

Hi Shanks, i am mixing and matching food- still enjoy recipes from CFR site- and still sticking to a very low budget as you can see from my sig. I hope to gradually bring it all down as i stock up my larder. Hope you are well, my car tax is due for renewal at the beginning of October, so i have started comparing nice and early to get the best possible price