Celebrating seasonal, homegrown, and wild food
We are finally enjoying our first successful year of growing carrots. We were able to harvest a handful in our first season, but didn’t yet have enough growing space to get very many. Then last year we didn’t harvest any at all due to the flooding of our plot and the destruction caused by what [...]
One of the goal's we've had for our allotment since the very beginning has been to grow as much as we can throughout the year so that we can keep allowing the land to sustain us, at least in part, through the winter months as well as the summer. Obviously we're far from being able [...]
With May being so cold this year, a lot of things have been a little slower to appear than usual. One example is the St George's mushroom, Calocybe gambosa, which as its name suggests usually starts to appear around St George's Day, 23rd April. This year, however, they didn't seem to start appearing until much [...]
Radishes are one of the quickest foods you can grow, from seed to plate in just 4-5 weeks, and they are a great spring food with their crisp, crunchy texture and hot, peppery yet fresh flavour. I've gone from hardly liking them at all to considering them a bit of a wonder-veg. Now is the [...]
The story of this particular recipe begins - perhaps surprisingly - in Luang Prabang, Laos. You might be puzzled - how can a warming winter broth full of ingredients that grow abundantly in the wild during the coldest season here in the UK have anything to do with a small city in a tropical country [...]
Green tomatoes at this time of year are unlikely to have enough daylight hours to ripen, but that isn't a reason to despair! Green tomatoes are entirely edible and I really enjoy their fresh crunchiness. Every year I make a green tomato chutney using the tomatoes that are left on the plants too late into [...]
I always say I’m not a morning person, I never have been, and it’s true that everyone is different when it comes to the best time of day for them to be productive, energised and motivated. However, I recognise that there is an energy that comes with rising early that, when I manage to catch [...]
Celeriac is a perfect winter staple. It's another winter root* vegetable that we tend to confine to soups, or a purée if we're feeling chef-y. It certainly excels at both, but I wanted to broaden the repertoire here. Celeriac for me bridges the gap between comforting and (dare I say) healthy with its velvety texture [...]
Plot & Lane 