Cauliflower leaf soup

The cauliflower crop was very successful on the allotment this year. We therefore had a glut of both cauliflowers and cauliflower leaves. I wasn't entirely happy with throwing the leaves onto the compost heap so I did a search and found nothing of interest in terms of cauliflower leaf recipes. So I set about creating my own.

Cauliflower leaf soup is the result. It contains nettles and nasturtiums as well. I filmed this video in the summer on how to make it.

Jam tarts, apple pies and aloo gobi

After a frustrating day trying to deal with an email system that rejected every attempt to send a group email, and having spent quite some time writing an article for a publication I edit, I decided to abandon my office for the kitchen this evening to make jam tarts and an apple pie.

We still have some jam left from last year and we want to use it up as soon as possible as we need the storage space for this year's preserves. 24 jam tarts barely scratched the surface but they did taste fantastic! I also made an apple pie from the apples I bottled last year. I've not tried it yet so can't comment on its quality. The apples were a bit of a mush as it was not my most successful attempt at bottling fruit (it was also my first attempt so I was learning the hard way!)

I also had a go at making my first aloo gobi today. We still have a load of cauliflowers growing on the allotment so cauliflower recipes are popular reading with us at the moment. If you are interested, our cooking with cauliflowers will be on a YouTube video soon. We've filmed (today) how to make aloo gobi but we will also be filming how to make cauliflower and stilton soup, green leaf soup (using cauliflower leaves) cauliflower cheese and deep fried cauliflower with a dip. There may also be a cauliflower curry coming up soon as well.

Cabbages and cauliflowers under netting

The rabbits has a fantastic meal out on our winter cabbages in January. And what they didn't get, the slugs and snails did. With the entire crop having succumbed to these little critters, we planted summer cabbage and cauliflowers in bed 2. We grew them from seed in the greenhouse and David planted them out three weeks ago. This time, cabbage-munching bunnies can't get at them. We had some netting left over from the fruit cage and this now covers the cabbage patch.

There has, however, been one awful consequence. I found a dead bullfinch under the netting. It must have got trapped there.

The above photo was taken about 2 weeks ago. The seedlings look a bit sickly. However, I'm pleased to say that they are coming on well.