Our pathetic excuse for snow, garden jobs, flowers and getting out a bit

First of all Harry would like to say thank you for your healing vibes as he is feeling much better now. It certainly took a few days for the medication to really kick in but he's now bright eyed and bushy tailed and by tomorrow I expect he'll be back to racing around like a loony with the others. Phew! As for me I've been feeling fine this week and have been getting out and about. We had a teensy bit of snow on Tuesday morning, the most pathetic excuse I've ever seen. I could see photos all over facebook from people in Brittany and they all got far more than we did (not that I mind! I like a good snow cover once a winter but that's about it because we can't get anywhere when it snows here).

At least there is grass over the septic tank now!

Despite the cold I've managed a bit more garden clearing up and you can see from the following photos the sort of mess you get that needs tidying up before new growth starts to sprout. There's a fine line though between tidying and leaving shelter for the bugs, but I reckon most of the tall dead stalks can be cut off without that being a problem for the overwintering insects. And the reason I'm trying desperately to do as much as possible now? Because I saw my surgeon last week and he told me I wouldn't be allowed to do any gardening for THREE MONTHS!!!!! I nearly fell off my chair, I was horrified. :-(

Irises and Golden Rod.

Taken through double glazing but my front bed has been irritating me for ages cos it was such a mess!

I haven't finished but after a couple of hours out here the day before the snow
(yes that's snow) it looks a lot better.

One plant I won't chop back yet are the Sedums,
as they still look really decorative.

And I need to leave some of the Verbena bonariensis. I was amazed to see these Blue Tits still
eating seed as I'd imagined the seed would have long gone after months of rain and wind!
Not good pics as it was about an hour before dusk and I had to take these through double glazing.

Just another pic taken through the living room windows.
It's warmer indoors. ;-)

OK I did brave the cold and took a few photos of new flowers and Hydrangeas which always look great when the flowers have dried out.

Japonica or Flowering Quince.

Heartsease Viola, Primroses and a Hydrangea petal.

Dried out Lacecap Hydrangea which is another plant
I don't prune back until about April.

Snowdrops under my Wiggly Hazel.

And some bulbs coming up in pots.

Just for fun, this is what happens when you've got a macro lens on and a cat comes too close...

I said I'd been out and about. What I got up to on Thursday afternoon I'll tell you about in another post. Today though we went to Decathlon which is a large sports store because it occurred to me it would be a good idea to get some more trackie/dance pants for after my op, because I'll want something nice and loose and soft around my middle! The fact I came out with another fluffy fleece and a tee shirt has got nothing to do with it, and quite how my OH came out with a bag full of clothes and shoes when it was me who was supposed to be shopping I do not know..... and they say it's us women who are shopaholics!

And because in about 10 days I've got to go on a really boring low fibre diet for a week before my op, and who knows when I'll be able to get out again after, or even when I'll be able to eat spicy food again, I've persuaded my OH (it wasn't difficult, funnily enough) that we should eat out a couple of times beforehand. This Chinese resto is an all you can eat buffet place and we always come out absolutely stuffed. :-)

Left is my starter and right my main course. I forgot to take a pic of my dessert, but most of it
was that Chinese nougat which I always steal and bring home in a napkin to munch on at home
in the evening, as I don't need any dinner! As you can see, I've got my appetite back.

And this is just a church taken through the windscreen
in the small town of Melesse on the way home.

I still have most of last year's fruit in my freezers, most of which can go hang as I really can't be bothered with making any jams and jellies. But we do both love blackcurrant cordial which is easy to make, so I'm currently simmering 2.5kg of currants with some water which will be hung in a jelly bag overnight, then the juice reheated with sugar tomorrow. I follow the River Cottage recipe, although if you use the amount of sugar they suggest it is overly sweet and sickly, so I only add about half the amount in the recipe. As I'm freezing the cordial I don't need the sugar as a preservative - but even if I was bottling and needed extra sugar I still wouldn't add as much as they suggest!


BLACKCURRANT CORDIAL
(from River Cottage cookbook)

2kg Fruit

Place your fruit in a large saucepan. For each 1kg blackcurrants add 600ml water. Bring to the boil crushing the fruit with a masher or wooden spoon.

Cook gently until fruit is soft and juices flowing - will take anything up to 45 mins depending on fruit. Remove from the heat.

Scald a jelly bag or fine tea towel and suspend over a large bowl. Tip the fruit in and leave to drip overnight.

Measure the resulting juice and pour into a clean pan. For every litre juice add 700g sugar (or to taste). Heat the mixture gently to dissolve the sugar, then remove from the heat. 

Pour immediately into warm sterilised bottles leaving a 1cm gap at the top. Seal with screw-top or cork.

Will keep for several months (if want to keep for longer you will need to sterilise the bottles in a water bath immediately after bottling).

Blackcurrants before simmering.

 

Tried and tested pumpkin/squash recipes

The time came where I had to cut into my monster 5kg pumpkin, or winter squash, depending on what you prefer to call them. This is my home grown Courge Musquée de Provence. I have to admit I was disappointed with it. It's ripe and it looks lovely, but the flesh is too sweet, rather like Butternuts, but also a bit on the stringy side. However I did manage to get through one of them by making puree from the left over bits after trying out several savoury recipes shown below. I would have enjoyed the savoury recipes far more if I had made them with my usual winter squash, Potimarron, which has a chestnutty flavour, is not too sweet and roasts wonderfully, but I only managed to grow one tiny one, which we saved to have with our Christmas dinner.

Courge Musquée de Provence

Roast Butternut, Spinach, Feta and Lentil gratin

This recipe was in the Times but luckily I have found it online.
Link to recipe here

I have to admit to a few changes. This recipe really sounds like a very odd mix of ingredients, but they actually work very well together! I couldn't find any spinach in the shops though so can't comment on that.

I also don't like Puy lentils and have never heard of black lentils, so I used some French blonde lentils that had been in the cupboard for a long time. These are not like the kind of lentils that you use in Indian cuisine which break down nicely to make things like dhal, for example. You really need lentils that hold their shape for this recipe.  I also only used half the amount of feta cheese which was just the right amount, in my opinion.

So there's a nice mix of flavours, and be warned, this vegetarian version of 'Shepherds Pie' is far more filling than the meat version! 

Roast butternut, spinach, feta and lentil gratin

I also had a go at making the following recipe. Unfortunately I can't find the recipe online so I'm going to have to type it out. And I've taken the liberty of photographing the photo from the magazine to show you what it should look like, all plated up beautifully and shot by a professional food photographer. :-)

My photo of a photo in Good Housekeeping so credit to whoever
and apologies for my watermark which is automatic.

Jamie Oliver's Sicilian Squash and Chickpea Stew 
(from Good Housekeeping magazine, Nov 2013)

1 butternut squash (about 1.2kg)
Olive oil 
2 onions
1/2 bunch of fresh coriander (about 15g)
40g raisins
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
50g mixed olives, stone in
1 tin of chickpeas (400g)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes (400g)
1 vegetable stock cube
1 mug couscous (about 325g)
Fat free natural yoghurt, to serve

1. Preheat the oven to 190C (170C fan) mark 5. Peel the squash using a Y-shaped peeler, then carefully halve and deseed it (put the peel and seeds in a bowl, discarding any stringy bits, and set aside). Cut the squash into 3cm (1 1/4 inch) chunks, place in a large roasting tin and toss with a little oil, then season lightly. Roast for 35-40 min or until golden and caramelised.

2. Meanwhile, peel and roughly chop the onions and put in a large casserole dish with a lug of olive oil on a low heat. Finely slice the coriander stalks and add to the pan with the raisins and most of the cinnamon and chilli flakes. Cook covered for 20 mins, stirring occasionally and adding a splash of water if needed. When the squash is cooked, stir it into the casserole pan.

3. Bash the olives, then remove and discard the stones (why? I just bung them in whole!). Add the olives to the pan with the tomatoes and chickpeas (juice and all). Crumble in the stock cube, pour in 500ml (17 fl.oz.) boiling water, then turn the heat up to medium and simmer uncovered for 40 mins, or until lovely and thick, stirring occasionally.

4. (I didn't do this, what a faff) Meanwhile, toss the reserved squash seeds and strips of peel with the remaining cinnamon and chilli flakes and a pinch of salt and pepper. Spread out in the empty roasting tray and roast until crisp (about 15-20 mins), then set aside.

5. Around 15 mins before the stew is ready, pop the couscous into a bowl, just cover with boiling water, put a plate on top and leave to 10 mins to do its thing. Fluff it up, season to perfection and tip on to a large platter. Spoon over the stew and serve drizzled with yoghurt, then scatter with coriander and the scrunched up squash peel and seeds.

*I don't have couscous here so served with a 3 rice mix which includes wild rice and red Camargue rice, much tastier in my opinion. It could have done with a bit more chilli for bite, but that's up to individual taste.

Rubbish picture of mine stewing :-)
New Year's resolution - learn to take better food photos.

As for butternut squash, I don't like it in savoury dishes but like to grow it occasionally for making into puree to use in sweet things. Here's a recipe I haven't yet shared.

Easy Pumpkin Pie without pastry, or as I like to call it, "Pumpkin Pieless"

Pumpkin Pieless

Adapted from Betty Crocker’s Pumpkin Pie. This one is a bit different. Metric measures are my workings out.

FILLING
2 cups pumpkin puree (490g)
1 can evaporated milk (12oz) (I don’t know what this is in metric - I just use the whole can!)
1/2 cup egg whites whipped (I use 2 whole eggs- who’s dieting?!)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g)
1/2 cup flour (62.5g)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp orange peel grated
*tsp = teaspoon

TOPPING
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (my addition)
1 tablespoon marg or butter, melted

Preheat oven to 180C. Butter a pie/flan dish.

Combine pumpkin, milk and egg (or egg whites) in a mixing bowl.

In another mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour, spices, baking powder, salt and orange peel.

Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients until just moistened. Pour entire mixture into the prepared flan dish.

To prepare topping, combine brown sugar, oats, walnuts  and marg/butter in a small bowl until thoroughly blended. Sprinkle over filling.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes. Eat cold.

It is one of my favourite desserts and is absolutely delicious!

I usually pour cream over it.

You can make pumpkin muffins too which are delicious, but the following photo is actually banana walnut muffins, because I had to use up some overripe bananas. 

Banana Walnut Muffins

Recipe here and I add 50g chopped walnuts too - because I grow walnuts and bung them in all sorts of bread and cakes! 

With my second huge pumpkin I'm going to have a bash at pumpkin and rosemary jam, which I have a recipe for. Pumpkin jam is quite nice and I've had it at a French neighbour's house. I'll report back on that later.

Mincemeat Bakewell Tart

I found this recipe in an old Good Housekeeping magazine and fancied trying it for Christmas. It's every bit as good as it sounds and is worth making the effort!

I went to all the trouble of taking a photo of the recipe then discovered that it's online.... well that's a lot easier if anyone does fancy making it. But at least you can see from the photo below that mine is not too different, is it? Only mine has less than half of it left, as it's that good!

Recipe link:
http://www.goodhousekeeping.co.uk/food/recipes/mincemeat-bakewell-tart

I rather fancy the other recipe on this page too!

Recipe and Photo Credit: Good Housekeeping Magazine.

Now I'm off to peruse the GH site for other recipes!

Lemon polenta cake with rosemary syrup

I had forgotten about this recipe until I read about Miss Lady Bug's recipe for Rosemary Honey on her website, which sounds divine but I have not yet got around to trying. The rosemary syrup here is really easy to make and I'm sure could be used to top or drizzle over many different cakes, desserts, ice cream or pancakes.

I originally found this recipe on the Selfsufficientish forum but have no idea who to credit for it. I guess it's a recipe which has been doing the rounds for years.

LEMON POLENTA CAKE WITH ROSEMARY SYRUP

175g polenta (fine cornmeal)
50g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
5 tbsp plain yoghurt
5tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil (plus extra for greasing)
grated rind of 2 lemons
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 eggs, plus 2 egg whites
400g caster sugar
2 branches fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F/Gas Mark 4/Fan oven 160 C.

Sift the polenta, flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Place the yoghurt, oil, lemon rind and juice into a jug and stir until combined.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and egg whites with half of the sugar for a few minutes until creamy. Beat in the yoghurt mixture until smooth and then fold in the dry ingredients until just combined - do not over-mix.

Batter mixture into a 1.2 litre/2 pint lightly-oiled loaf tin lined with greaseproof paper. Bake for 40-45 minutes until a thin skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Meanwhile, place the remaining sugar (200g) in a pan with 200ml water and the rosemary branches. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Leave to cool completely and then strain through a sieve.

When the cake is cooked, place on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes, then invert and peel off the greasproof paper. Prick all over with a thin skewer or toothpick and drizzle over half of the rosemary syrup so that it completely soaks into the cake. Leave to cool completely. Keep the remaining syrup in the fridge until ready to use.

To serve, cut into slices and drizzle with some more of the syrup, add dollops of greek yoghurt.

In the cake tin after I had slathered
the syrup all over it. It soaks in quickly.
Yes I used a round cake tin, but same cooking time.

I'll never make a food photographer because the thought of faffing about with tripods and
lighting with this in front of me waiting to be eaten is too awful to contemplate :-)

Rosemary. It's been flowering for ages
but it would be nice to see it covered in bees!

So this is what we are eating this Easter in lieu of chocolate. I think it is fractionally more healthy and at least contains two ingredients from the garden, rosemary and eggs!

Veg patch update - October

This will be the last one of the season, that's for sure! I took these photos on Sunday when it was already rather soggy, but since then we've had an enormous amount of rain and yesterday morning our seasonal stream had started flowing into our lake and by the evening it was a raging torrent! This morning the lake level had filled to about 4" short of the overflow and very soon we will be hearing the sound of running water again as it flows over and feeds the stream which runs beside my orchard.

An overgrown jungle with plenty of flowers in it!

Possibly the only tidy(ish) area with my PSB and Purple Curly Kale.
The peaches this year were not very good and had a lot of rot, so although
I have picked and eaten some the rest the birds can have, which is why I have left
the non rotten ones in piles for them. They're not interested though!

Gardeners' Delight. These large cherry toms are always so loaded
in very long trusses it is impossible to get through them in a short
season without a greenhouse which would need to be heated both
early on and late in the season - which I don't have
and woudn't do anyway - toms are cheaper to buy than electricity!

My chillies are loaded and I've been picking and drying red Cayennes
for a month now. Not quite sure what is happening with the
Piment d'Espelette as I seem to have all shapes of chillies on those plants.
I feel I was sold a duff packet of seeds, and that cost me over €10
so I'm not entirely pleased. They also need to be red/ripe or they are no use.

Chinese Cabbage.
Full of slug holes but hopefully
the hearted bits when ready will be OK!

I do have other veg such as leeks, which are a bit small and pathetic this year and I hope they will swell up now that the soil is moist. There are still beetroot for harvesting, lots of spring onions, a few radishes and loads of rocket. I even have a few small cucumbers left even though the plants are finished. As for the courgettes, I had the grand total of 9 from 2 plants (should be more like 50!). The last two that were forming I waited about 5 days until they were big enough to pick because I wanted to make a last savoury cake, but when I went to harvest them they had pitted marks of rot all over them. Even waiting 5 days for a courgette to get big enough to pick as a smallish courgette is quite ridiculous.

My Sunflowers are a bit of a mess now but the Calendula is
still looking good and colourful, so long as I keep on deadheading!

By one of my gates. There were actually once some veg here -
now it's just a lovely flowering jungle of Nasturtiums (new ones as
the older ones have gone over) and self seeded Verbena b. and Dill.

There are still a few strawberries to harvest -
when I can be bothered!

Still tons of raspberries

I don't really like these orange ones as they lack flavour;
in fact I wasn't aware that I had transplanted one of these plants to my new raspberry bed.
However raspberries spread like crazy so there is no guarantee that what you dig up
will be the plant you thought it was!

Yesterday in the pouring rain I harvested all the remaining tomatoes; the cherry toms are now spread out on my living room floor and the big tomatoes spread out here in my cellar-come-mud room. This also is the sum total of my pumpkin harvest - 3 potimarrons from 2 plants! I shall be making green tomato chutney with some of the big green toms and the cherries should ripen up slowly indoors.

What's left of the tomatoes

Here's a recipe which I first made about 10 years ago and is incredibly tasty. As we've only really got rocket left as a salad green I remembered this recipe of 'Grilled Spanish onion salad with parmesan and rocket' from Delia Smith, who is a very well known English TV cook and cookery book writer. Ignore the salt, she's always heavy handed with it and there is absolutely no need with parmesan which is quite a salty cheese. I also use a frying pan or griddle rather than the grill in the oven.

Rocket, griddled onions and parmesan - delicious!

Sweet vegetable cakes

After pickling a fair bit of this year's beetroot harvest I had a sudden realisation that I could in fact be preserving my beetroot in another manner which can then be frozen for later consumption during winter. Cake form!

Beetroot Muffins

I came across this recipe last year and it sounded too good to be true. In fact, it is every bit as delicious, sticky and gorgeous as it sounds. Whilst I've given you the link (unfortunately only in metric and I don't see any way to change to even imperial measurements on the site), I do want to add some of my own notes to it.

Where it says 'Prep Time: 15 mins'. Ignore this. It's only 15 mins IF you have a minion who does all the prep for you. Just getting sticky golden syrup and treacle out of their respective tins, with a spoon, then needing another spoon to scrape the sticky stuff off, which then gets stuck on the 2nd spoon, and by this time all over your fingers, all the while you are actually trying to weigh out a particular weight of this sticky stuff, is 15 mins alone!

Do not bother with the liquidising the beetroot and ginger after you have gone to all the trouble of grating beetroot and chopping up the ginger! What on earth for? If you really want to have extra washing up of your food processor you may as well have liquidised the beetroot before grating. And the lumps of chopped ginger (I use crystalised) add an extra bit of zing.

The recipe says 'Makes: 12'. Now as far as I know, this is a UK site, not an American site. I know American sizings are huge, and I know the UK is rapidly catching on (after drinking a French cup of coffee (two sips) and then visiting the UK where you get about a gallon in a cup these days, I can see where the UK is heading...), but I used standard UK paper muffin cases and I made 22 of them out of this mixture!

There is absolutely no need to ice these muffins. That would be total overkill.

If you are reading this and have no idea what Golden Syrup is, I believe in the US the nearest equivalent is corn syrup, but according to an American foodie who I used to know in Brittany, it's not the same thing. Black treacle made by the same company is similar to molasses and that link takes you to Amazon who I didn't know were selling British food goodies to the US market. Oh well apparently you can buy it in the States after all though I feel that molasses would do equally well and is probably a lot cheaper! 

Beetroot Muffins

Chocolate Beetroot Brownies

Now this recipe comes from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of River Cottage TV fame (in the UK), and whilst I like these brownies, I don't think they are as good as the real thing. The real thing being without beetroot. However, it's fun to make once in a while but I did find these brownies were a bit on the crumbly cakey side and not as crispy outside, squidgy chewy inside as a proper brownie should be. Or it could just be me!

My annotations in italics.

"You can either grate or purée the cooked beetroot before adding to the mix - the latter gives a slightly more velvety texture. They work just as well with or without walnuts. Some people think that a brownie isn’t a brownie without walnuts, while others can’t stand them; it really depends on your personal preference. Makes 15 squares.

250g unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus a little more for greasing
250g plain chocolate (about 70% cocoa solids), broken into squares
250g caster sugar
3 eggs
150g self-raising flour (we use wholemeal self-raising) (I don't)
100g broken walnuts (optional)
250g cooked and peeled beetroot, grated or puréed (I grate)

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/ gas mark 3. Lightly grease a baking tin that’s roughly 20cm x 30cm in size and at least 2cm deep. Line the bottom with greaseproof paper and butter the paper, too.

Put the cubed butter and chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Place this on an oven tray lined with a baking sheet, and put in oven to warm up. After a few minutes, remove, stir, then return to the oven to melt completely. (Alternatively, melt the chocolate and butter in the conventional manner, in a bowl held over a pan of barely simmering water.) (Or even do it in a bain marie!)

In another bowl, whisk the sugar with the eggs until smooth and creamy. Stir in the chocolate mixture until well combined. Sift in the flour, stir, fold in the walnuts (if using) and beetroot. Pour into the prepared tin.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a knife or skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it - be careful not to overcook the brownies. Remove from the oven, then stand the tray on a wire rack until cool enough to cut into squares."

Chocolate Beetroot Brownies

I now have half the brownies and muffins in the freezer after scoffing the rest. Obviously it isn't the ideal way to preserve your veggie harvest, as they won't really last that long in the freezer!


Courgette Cake

I love this cake because it is has interesting green flecks in it. I made it for some French friends who still talk about my green cake. The recipe was posted on a forum many years ago but I think whoever posted it got their quantities wrong, as half the amount they suggested makes one huge cake, therefore I had to halve the amount.

90g sultanas (golden raisins)
375g courgettes
3 large eggs
187 ml vegetable oil
225g caster sugar
337g self-raising flour or plain flour plus 6 teaspoons of baking powder
0.38 tsp bicarbonate of soda (I’m not sure why this is necessary and the strange amount comes from halving 3/4 tsp)

Wipe courgettes and grate without peeling. Sieve to remove excess water.

Cream oil and sugar and add eggs one at a time.

Add flour, bicarbonate, baking powder (if using plain flour) and mix well.

Stir in the courgette & sultanas.

Pour the mixture into a round cake tin and bake Gas mark 4, C180°, F350° for about one hour. 


I feel this cake is better iced, but I make a simple icing with just icing sugar and lime or lemon juice. This one didn't go in the freezer so we are working our way through it. It's not hard! (By the way, I had run out of sunflower oil so had to use olive oil, and it hasn't made any noticeable difference - I thought it may have been too heavy but it seems fine!).

'Green Cake' - Courgette Cake with lime icing

Finally, and I can't believe I'm doing this, but someone remarked how tidy my kitchen was in my last post about cooking and I would like to dispel this myth. I'm an 'every pan in the house' type of cook (just ask my OH) and have to use every work surface including the table. So here are some shots of what it normally looks like when I am baking:-)

Perhaps this view doesn't look too bad

That's cos half the mess is here!

My orchard and a savoury courgette cake recipe

Totally unrelated of course! I thought I'd show some pics from my orchard taken about a week ago when I went over there to check how the elderberries were ripening. It just seemed fitting to show how green and lush my orchard looks after my last post showing my dried out grass in the main garden. The difference is quite remarkable but unlike our main garden on a slope, the orchard is flat and is the lowest point around here so closer to the water table.

My three walnut trees have plenty of nuts on, but then I'm barely halfway through last year's harvest, so I don't think I need them all!

There are some apples, but not a huge amount - and this is the sum total of my pear harvest, all from one tree. Actually they ripened and turned out fine once the scab was peeled off. It's better than expected. I also had two whole dessert plums out of 4 trees. I could hardly believe there were no grubs in them! So much nicer than bought plums which are always dry and floury (so I rarely buy them as I'm always disappointed).

Back in February I wrote a posting about clearing all the brambles and dead stuff from the stream. Why bother?!! Somewhere under this jungle of nettles, thistles, bindweed and no doubt, brambles, is a stream. Our new neighbour who has bought the wreck in the background suggested we have a weekend together clearing it. She must be ruddy joking. My OH says we are 'supposed' to keep it clear - yeah right. It's barely trickling and should really be completely dried up anyway; the only water trickling is that which leaks from my pond as the water level is now 2 foot below the overflow which feeds this stream. So in my book it doesn't count as a watercourse right now!

Just across the road is our entrance and you can see how dry the grass is just up a few metres. I think the difference is that there is clay in the soil in the orchard, whereas in our garden it's just sandy and gritty.

Right this was going to be a cooking post giving a recipe for savoury courgette cake. My two courgette plants have actually managed to produce a whopping great total of 9 courgettes so far and I finally had enough at one time to make this cake. When I started this blog I thought by now it'd be full of every courgette cake recipe, sweet or savoury, known to man. I guess there is still time but things have been a bit odd with the veggies this year.  Here's my kitchen looking relatively tidy whilst I was in the middle of making chilli jam (a sweet chilli relish) and courgette cake at the same time - that's about the limit of my multi-tasking abilities. (Note home grown tomatoes on the table!!)

COURGETTE SAVOURY CAKE

150 g flour (5 oz)
200 g bacon bits (7 oz)
400 g grated skinned courgette (14 oz)
1 sliced onion
3 eggs
2 tablespoons of oil
2 or 3 tablespoons of milk
100 g grated cheese (4 oz) (Cheddar, Gruyere or even goat cheese)

Fry the bacon in a little oil. Once they are well fried, dry them on some kitchen paper towel. Then fry the onion until golden brown. Leave to cool.

Put the flour in a large bowl with a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper. Make a well in the middle and put the oil and the eggs in. Mix slowly until you obtain a smooth mixture. Add the milk and mix again. Add the grated courgette gradually while you keep on mixing. Finally add the bacon, the onion followed by the cheese.

Grease a round cake tin, pour in the cake mixture and put in a hot oven.
Temperature: 180 °C, 350 °F. Cook for 1 hour.

Once the cake is cooked, turn it out on a dish. It is ready to serve hot or warm accompanied by a salad.

I forgot to take a photo until I was just dishing up and then my OH was getting grumpy at me so I didn't use the flash. This is the best you are going to get! It is really, seriously, yummy. I like it best luke warm or cold - it's perfect for picnics or buffet meals. Enjoy!