Tag Archives: organic
Roasted winter veggies with satay sauce.
This is my favourite winter recipe – so hearty and delicious – it never fails to impress. It’s a great way to use up veggies, and the satay sauce is just divine.
Ingredients:
Usually whatever is in the fridge that needs to be used up.
A mix of root vegetables – beetroot, potatoes, parsnips, carrots
Garlic, onion, leeks, celery, zucchini, red pepper
Broccoli
A couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary / thyme
Pinch of salt and olive oil
Satay Sauce
½ tablespoon peanut oil
1 small onion (finely chopped)
1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon sweet soy sauce
2 tablespoons peanut butter (crunchy)
1 can coconut milk
Method:
Cooking time is approx. 40 mins. Heat the oven to 180 degrees.
Chop the root veggies and add garlic, onions, a dash of olive oil, salt, fresh herbs – pop in the oven. While these are cooking cut up the rest of the vegetables.
After 10 minutes add the rest of the vegetables except broccoli (if you are using). Broccoli – I always add this about 10-15 minutes from the end so not to over cook.
While the vegetables are cooking make the satay sauce.
Satay sauce
The satay sauce is a community recipe posted by Ashy on nigella.com. Because I like a bit of spice I swap out the chilly flakes for fresh chillies (those fiery little green ones if you like it hot!). And if you want a gluten-free option just swap the soy sauce for tamari (add a couple of extra teaspoons depending on taste).
Method:
Heat the oil in a wok and fry the garlic, onion and chilli over a moderate heat until onion is soft. Add the sugar and stir until slightly caramelised. Add the soy sauce and peanut butter and stir through. Add a little coconut milk at a time until you achieve your desired consistency.
Once the veggies are cooked pour over the satay sauce. Enjoy!
Special thanks to Lisa Barber for the headline photo.
Russ’s winter greens trial update
At the end of October I thinned out the seedlings as ruthlessly as I could. This meant removing around half to make plenty of room for the remaining plants to continue growing. I always feel a sense of brutality at pulling up perfectly healthy plants, but we made the most of the thinned out seedlings as a delicious addition to a bowl of hot noodles. In particular the brassica seedlings will thank me for this activity, as brassicas are notoriously fussy about not having their roots disturbed too much and disliking competition from neighbouring roots.
In fact, next time I would consider sowing directly into a seed bed of well sieved soil in the poly, rather than having to transplant the seedlings. The brassica’s above ground healthy looks belie their pathetic, weedy looking root system. I worry that they can’t support their top-heavy heads, but they have survived the transplant so far.
Even with minimal trips to the poly tunnel this month the capillary matting worked really well, and there’s been some bright days allowing the seedlings to put on some growth, particularly the Mizuna which you can see in the foreground of the picture of transplanted seedlings.
I was able to plant out the seedlings at the weekend, ensuring the soil they were planted into was finely raked and moist. The poly tunnel has been well manured over the growing season and is relatively fertile. I have added some organic slug pellets, which I know are under scrutiny as to whether they are truly organic, but as they are being used undercover, I hope that any contaminated pests will not be accessed by birds or wildlife.
I will continue my infrequent visits to the seedlings to water and check for pest damage, although in the first few days of transplanting I will make sure they are watered every 2-3 days. Once they have had a chance to establish themselves, I may also make a further thinning out – if I can bear it!
Russ’s Winter Greens Trial in his allotment poly tunnel.
I have had a poly tunnel on my plot for a couple of years but have never tried growing over winter. I have had really successful crops of tomatoes and chillies over the summer but I am keen to see if my poly can be equally productive during winter. I chose 5 plants to try out: Mizuna, Spinach, Pak Choi, Choy Sum, Chop Suey Greens.
The seedlings are currently looking very happy, although the spinach had a very poor germination rate leaving me with only 3 seedlings. The seeds were sown in organic seed compost in a bright shed and then placed out into the poly once they germinated. I am using a capillary matting technique to ensure the seedlings are kept moist from below, as I don’t visit the allotment as frequently this time of year. My next step will be to thin out the seedlings and wait until they have 2 sets of ‘true’ leaves before planting them into the ground in the poly.
I’ll post an update so you can see how I’m getting on, or join me in trialling growing winter greens yourself. If you’ve already had experience growing over winter, then comment with any advice to share.
Summer at our community allotment
We had a fruitful summer at the allotment. A bumper harvest meant that we were able to pick and donate over a ton of local, organic apples to Fareshare, who distribute food to vulnerable groups in Sussex. A vital organisation ideally suited to distributing gluts of produce.
Nikki with Apples on their way to Fareshare
Alan with heritage organic apples ranging from Ashmead’s Kernel to Rosemary Russet.
The lavender harvest
We were delighted to welcome our newest member Ivy!
Our summer culminated with the autumn equinox picnic. Delicious delights from our summer harvest plus, of course, Barbara’s amazing baking (every week she brings something incredible for us to eat!).
Every Sunday our Organic Community Allotment welcomes new visitors between 11 and 1 pm.
Fungal Forage
Fungal Forage in the Forest: An autumn foraging workshop with Vera Zakharov
Sun Oct 15th 12-3 Stanmer Park
We will wander with Vera in the woods. She will show us which fungi are ok to pick, and which are not. Whether they are poisonous or whether they are part of a fragile ecological web needing to be conserved, not disturbed.
Meet at Stamner house. Wear study shoes bring a mac and picnic.
Starting to think about Christmas presents?
Our friends Finca Slow produce amazing olive oil from their heritage organic trees, which were bought as part of a derelive grove and are being renovated under permaculture principles.
Sue, a member of Brighton and Hove Organic Gardening Group who went to stay at the grove, says “The olive oil is superb, especially the one from the heritage trees. This is because they pick some olives green, when the taste is great but there is less oil, and blend it with those picked fully ripe when the taste is less good but they produce more oil…I’ve given some of these heritage packs for Christmas presents and they’ve gone down really well!”
Finca Slow are visiting Brighton at the moment and are hoping to establish us as a bit of a hub, so if you’re interested in buying delicious, sustainably produced olive oil as a gift – even for yourself! – please contact us.
