Alligator pears and fertility fruit (aka avocados)!

- Earlier this year my daughter told me about a delicious avocado-on-toast meal she had eaten at local cafe, Toast House in Ilkley, Yorkshire.

- Recently I sat at my kitchen table looking at a solitary ripe avocado and wondering what to do with it. What was the combo I mused.

- A few minutes later - Aha! A moment of recollection; it was mixed with peanut butter! How nutritious!

- A few seconds later - Er, I don't think so; it's pretty vile!

- Fast forward a month and I'm sitting in a wonderful cafe called Mrs Atha's in Leeds eating the most delicious avocado-on-toast meal. Strangely there wasn't a smear of peanut butter to be found! Instead there was perfectly ripe avocado smeared across two slices of granary toast, dusted with a few chilli flakes and topped off with a poached egg bursting with yolkiness.

- Now - I wonder if I can recreate it for my lunch!

Harvest Festival!

Wednesday was the Autumn Equinox which is Latin meaning equal and night. This means that the Earth is pretty much upright, leaning neither to nor away from the sun. In turn, our days are the same length as our nights, i.e. equal. Tonight there should be a Harvest Moon, being the full moon closest to the Autumn Equinox and this year, it will be a Supermoon with a Blood Moon eclipse! (I'm getting out of my depth here so I suggest you google it or go outside and have a look for yourselves - pretty spectacular by all accounts!)

I have just (7.20pm) taken the above photo from my front door - amazing sight!

Anyway, the point is, this explains why in Britain we have a Harvest Festival at this time! This is to celebrate the produce of the land and dates back to Pagan times. Services are held in churches and schools and gifts of food are brought for the poor and needy. 

I remember my schoolday harvest festivals when we brought in fruit, vegetables and flowers and these were then taken to the local old peoples home. Sometimes there would be a wonderful wheatsheaf of bread on display and we would all sing harvest themed songs and hymns giving thanks for a good harvest. The array of colourful produce could easily compete with the best market stalls.

Sadly, but possibly more relevantly, our local church today held their Harvest Festival service and asked for gifts of tinned and dried produce and toiletries! I cannot imagine it being the vibrant display of times gone by but, on a practical note, means the goods can be delivered to the needy (in this case the local Food Bank) without the fear of perishing.

In other countries around the world the main harvest is found at different times in various places. The celebrations involve eating, merriment, contests, music and even romance! In the United States it is known as Thanksgiving and has become a national holiday! That makes our celebration look a tad underwhelming!

Berry Tasty!

September, for me, marks the blackberry season. No not the hand held mobile device which, for many, became a crackberry, but the glistening crowd of juicy black druplets encircling a tiny seed. They can be bought in markets, supermarkets and greengrocers or picked in the wild where they are known as brambles.

I have many fond memories of picking them in the countryside. We knew from year to year which hedgerows held them and would make a family trip to gather them. With camping friends we would take plastic bags to the railway embankment and return to the campsite with scratched arms and purple fingers and mouths holding our treasure aloft with pride. In those days they would often be preserved for the winter by bottling and enjoyed during the winter months in pies and crumbles. (I think I have previously mentioned crunching on a snail shell which had been bottled all winter!)

This year I have battled the nettles and picked a few pounds which I have mostly frozen. I did however make a delicious pudding:-

Blackberry and Apple Tray Bake

175g butter

300g plain flour

2 bramley apples

1 red apple

2 tbsp lemon juice

300ml double cream

3 eggs

220g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

300g blackberries

Oven 170/gas 3. Butter & flour a pudding dish 20x30cms

Peel, core and thinly slice apples & toss in lemon juice

Melt butter in cream in saucepan gently - do not boil. Cool.

Beat eggs & sugar & add to cream & butter mix with vanilla essence stirring

Fold in flour then apple and blackberries

Pour into pudding dish & bake for 40 mins. 

Should be puffed up, slightly golden and crisp at edges. Skewer should come out cleanly.

Absolutely yummy served with custard, cream, creme frache, ice cream or greek yogurt!

Blackberries are high in vitamins and low in calories - perhaps they are the new crackberry to which we shall become addicted!

Showing off!

This weekend it has been our village show where people put their skills and wares on display for judging. There are many categories from best photograph to best wooden object and best nature display to best knitted item. There is usually an entry fee and items are entered by age and category and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes are a little bit of money and, of course, the coveted trophies.

Gardeners and growers, bakers and makers show off their best produce from fruit and vegetables to flowers, cakes and jams. When little, my daughter won for her display of pine cones in a basket which took her all of ten minutes to do! My sister has had prizes for her delicious mint jelly at her local show and has entered jams and chutneys whilst her husband entered fruit and vegetables.

To show fruit and veg you normally have to place three near perfect and of equal size and shape on a plate. That is unless you're going for the whopper or the most rudely shaped competition! 

These shows bring communities together and, whilst some may consider them serious, most people see them as a little bit of fun.

On a larger scale are the county shows which date back to the early 19th century. My nearest is the Great Yorkshire Show which started in 1837 in York and was held at different showgrounds around the county. In 1950 a permanent site in Harrogate was built. It is held every July and I remember, as a child, being allowed the day off school by my parents who said it was "educational!" In my twenties I worked for Calor Gas where we had a stand and demonstrated cooking on gas barbecues. Whenever the chance arose I would go and watch the showjumping or the show animals being led and judged around the arena. The white marquees held the craft competitions, food and drink judging and the produce displays. Whilst it isn't possible to eat or drink the entries, there is a myriad of stalls dotted around the show selling hot and cold food and beverages ranging from Pimms to Yorkshire Tea!

Unfortunately many people do not have the garden space to grow their own and in my local area the average time to wait for an allotment to become available is 8 years! I used to live opposite a lovely man called Bill who owned an allotment. I would arrive home from a busy day at work to find a bag of produce hanging on my kitchen door; everything from sweet apples to papery onions and soil covered potatoes! One time he delivered Jerusalem Artichokes and I had to find out what to do with them (roasting proved to be my favourite!) All the benefits of home grown without the work; it was bliss! 

With more people growing and making their own, living sustainable lives with a low carbon footprint and being environmentally aware, one can only assume the village and county shows are here to stay.

Back to school!

Early September and it's back to school for children around the country. Nowadays many religions, cultures and diets are catered for in the dinner hall and, whilst I wasn't vegetarian back in the day, I don't remember anyone having separate or different school dinners.

In my primary school years I would go home for lunch each day, travelling several miles by bus there and back. On the odd occasion I did stay at school to eat, my favourite by far was cornflake tart! In middle school we sat at tables of eight and two people were elected to "serve" the other six, including scraping their plates into the slop bucket which we believed was sent to feed pigs. My friend and I were at a table with 6 boys and we would trade our mains for their puddings. Massive blocks of sponge cake with a jug of (sometimes pink) custard was a real treat. At break the tuck shop sold crisps and at lunchtime an ice cream van would park up at the school gate!

In High School it was a canteen style arrangement and I would bypass the solid crusted meat pies and spam fritters in favour of a salad. This was served with a slab of fish paste which I would give away and make myself a lettuce and salad cream sandwich with the remaining food. Sometimes I would use the 25p to go out of school to buy a carton of milk and an apple or sometimes sweets. A friend's nan lived nearby and she would feed us spaghetti hoops on toast at her home.

The College I attended had a canteen too and I would queue for a salad sandwich and a Nutty Bar (believing that with no chocolate on it I wouldn't get spots ... how wrong I was!)

Upon starting at the village school, my twin niece and nephew returned home with stories of their adventures there. My sister was very puzzled when they told her for lunch they had eaten "really tiny, teeny tiny little meatballs". She told the dinner ladies how much they'd liked them, only to find out it was mincemeat!

My own children seemed to regularly eat pizza, pasta and hotdogs at school although I do remember fruit drinks being banned in favour of water.

A few years ago Jamie Oliver campaigned to ban junk and processed foods from schools and eventually tighter nutritional guidelines were introduced. 

New regulations this year stipulate that there is at least one portion of vegetables and salad each day and no more than two portions of fried and pastry based food on offer each week. Drinking water is the preferred beverage. 

Certainly there is more choice these days with healthier options and specific dietary needs being catered for from halal meats, gluten free, vegetarian and vegan foods. Whilst there is clearly still room for improvement, thankfully school dinners are heading in the right direction!

Happy Herbs!

I'm really not sure if it's currently a trendy ingredient in cooking, but it would seem that borage has jumped onto my radar during the last few months.

My first encounter was probably 30 years ago when the Consultant I worked for invited myself and his junior doctor team over for Pimms and croquet; neither of which I had tasted nor played up until that point. Floating in the Pimms were fruits, cucumber and dainty little blue star shaped flowers, aka borage. 

For the last 20 years I have created a herb garden wherever we moved house and I have included borage along with rosemary, oregano, marjorum, thyme, sage and various mints. A herb garden is a great asset to a garden with the above being easy to grow, looking good pretty much throughout the year and bringing joy every time you step outside to snip a bit to add to your cooking or salads. Borage flowers are usually a piercing blue colour but this year I have added a white flowering one too. These can be added to salads and drinks or candied for cake decorations. The leaves can also be used in summer drinks to add a cool cucumber flavour.

Last week in Majorca I ate out in an Italian(!) restaurant and enjoyed borage stuffed ravioli with walnut pesto. The ravioli was tasty 'tho' personally I found the walnut pesto a little overpowering and sickly.

The flowers are a great source of nectar and so enjoyed by the bees who go on to make borage honey. Whilst away in the Cotswolds this year I enjoyed borage porridge which appeals to my sense of rhyming in the same way as wearing a Hackett jacket does! Imagine how pleased I was on finding that the Celts believed that borage brought courage! The Greeks thought it made people glad and merry - when added to wine(!) More generally it is regarded as comforting the heart, cheering melancholy, giving a sense of well-being and reviving one on a hot day (especially if served in a large glass of Pimms I suspect! Happy days!) 

Top Tapas!

Having spent a few days walking through the golden hued streets of Palma, Majorca, I am writing this from my apartment rooftop in the northern town of Port de Pollenca. 

Majorca, like much of Spain, is famous for its Tapas. The story goes that the sherry drinkers in Andalucia would place pieces of bread over their glasses to prevent fruit flies falling in to their drink. The bread was then often eaten and thereafter developed into lots of different snacks being served with a drink.

The locals eat it as an appetizer but ordering several dishes can make up a complete meal. Whilst many involve meat, fish and seafood, these are my favourite vegetarian tapas dishes:-

Pa amb oli - similar to the widely known bruschetta. It is bread rubbed with garlic, smeared with fresh tomato, given a drizzle of olive oil and a scattering of sea salt. Cheese (and ham) are sometimes added.

Aioli - deliciously moreish garlic mayonnaise to dip food into or spread on bread.

Patatas bravas - fried potato cubes with mayonnaise and a spicy red sauce.

Padrones - small green peppers fried with olive oil, garlic and salt.

Truita espanyol or Tortilla espanyol - or Spanish omlette! It is an egg, potato and onion omlette often served in slices and can be hot or cold.

Other tapas or side dishes for the vegetarian are grilled aubergine or sweet bell peppers and steamed broad green beans and artichokes.

For a main course, a local vegetable stew called Tumbet is a winner which uses seasonal vegetables but usually consists of a mixture of aubergine, courgette, peppers, onions, potatoes and garlic. The first time I had it was 20 years ago in a restaurant called Coral in Port de Pollenca. It was like comfort food; wonderfully cooked vegetables in a (Heinz tasting) tomato soup!