The Botanical Kitchen
Recipes, travel and the occasional rant
I just popped one of these in the oven and so I thought I’d write the recipe up while I still have the luscious smells wafting up from the kitchen and before I need to run downstairs and make custard for the girls. The blackberries are just about from the allotment. My new allotment neighbour […]
If there is one crop I’m chuffed with this year it’s my runner beans. I pulled the last of them yesterday and they’ve given me a plentiful crop all summer. I plant Firestorm Runner Beans as they have beautiful red flowers which are also edible. I planted late this year so didn’t think I’d get […]
So what is ‘it’ that is eating my kale? For the last two years I have planted kale at the allotment. I have given up trying to grow from seed. It’s impossible without a greenhouse so I am ashamed to say that I get a batch of six from the garden centre. Almost before I have […]
I haven’t spent much time on the allotment this year. What with opening up a cafe, settling into a rhythm of freelance work and just general family life it’s been hard to get there on a regular basis. My crops have suffered as a result but if there’s one veg that never lets me down it’s […]
There is a term we Gujaratis use often and do far too often. It’s called ‘biting’. It means snacking, eating little Polpo-esque portions of something to tide you over to the next biting or meal. When you are visiting relatives the first question you’ll be asked will be if you’ll partake in some ‘biting biting’. […]
The first time I saw sorrel was at The Eden Project in the gift shop. A stunning red veined variety which tasted as beautiful as it looked. I promptly bought a plant which sits happily in my garden for infrequent nibbles. It’s so pretty I don’t want to take too many leaves off it for […]
I am ashamed to say that prior to a couple of weeks ago I had never really thought about the different varieties of UK ‘Early Potatoes’. I’d grouped them all under ‘New Potatoes’ which is to be honest the only variety I tend to see mass marketed in the supermarkets. Jersey Royales in the main. I’ve discovered a […]
How is it midsummer weekend already? In my part of London we’ve only just started getting those balmy sunny evenings. They have been so few that we’ve savoured each one til the last trickle of light fades behind the trees and the Salvation Army tower visible from that special corner of the garden. Of course […]
I tried my hand at growing broccoli last year. I ordered some seeds and put them in the propagator. Nada. Not even one little sprout. So as I was a little late to the party now, I planted some rather limp looking plants from the garden centre – six to be precise. I watered. I weeded and […]
There is a beast on my allotment. Something that’s nibbling at the few plants we have in the ground. This is what it’s done to our wonderful kale which is all but gone. With sowing season now fully underway, I decided to pull out the final scraps and rework the bed for something new. Rainbow chard […]
Pancakes. They have become a Sunday ritual. It’s a weekend so porridge or cereal aren’t special enough. Somehow the Sunday breakfast deserves more attention. Deserves more time. But the warm bed, Sunday papers and my stack of new cookery books are calling and they deserve equal amounts of attention too after a long week. So the […]
It’s been almost Spring like today. I woke up before the sun and sat with a cup of tea watching it come up over the garden. A rare opportunity with children in the house. I’ve been distracted by the sky ever since. It’s been so vividly blue I couldn’t help stopping and staring out into […]