Abbie’s patch – all change in the garden!!

OK, I admit it… I was wrong (this does not happen often!) When Abbie said she wanted to plant a pink fur apple potato in her 4 inches of soil, I scoffed at the idea. And then we dig it up (upon her insistance as the flowers had died)… around the base of the plant were 15 beautiful and large salad potatoes. Then to add insult to injury, I think that my plants might be ready so we dig one up – these potatoes are about the size of my thumbnail. Abbie says… ‘Does this mean I win, Mummy?’ Had to admit that yes, yes it did!

Abbie bragging about the size of her potatoes

Once the potato plant was out and we had picked the last of the pea pods, it was time to rejuvinate the patch. So in have gone, 2 climbing French bean plants up the third leg of the wigwam, 4 bok choi and 4 kale plants. These were ravaged by slugs on day 1 (after the photo) so now I have put slug pellets down. I have previously avoided doing this as Abbie tends to pick and eat, but now we have talked about washing everything first. I have used beer traps in previous years and these are great, but had no cheap beer to hand and was desperate to protect what the slugs had left.

Book choi at front, kale and French beans on left

Now to the peas – I cooked the last of our peas and a few small broad beans for 1 min in salted water and added them to garden salad leaves. A quick balsamic/olive oil/chopped mint dressing and we had a great salad to celebrate the end of a fabulous crop! If anyone has any ideas about how/if I can grow another crop now, please let me know!

Summer minted pea salad

Chicken noodle for my soul… and ‘magic soup’!

I have felt quite poorly today… frankly I have been ‘sponsored by unbranded cold and flu tablets’! So this soup was a must! There are only two soups which cut the mustard with me when I am feeling coldy…. Nigella Lawson’s ‘Sunday Night Chicken Noodle’ from ‘How to Eat’ and also what we call ‘Magic Soup’ in my home – this recipe (also Nigella’s from ‘Nigella Express’ – actually called ‘Noodle soup for Needy People – here is the link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/noodle-soup-for-needy-people-recipe/index.html )

‘Magic soup’ is reserved for when you don’t have enough energy to cook (you literally open packets), but you need something nutritious and comforting – it should be on prescription as always cures my family quicker than any medicine – I add a bit of garlic puree to mine as in old ‘remedies’ garlic was supposed to help colds.

I made the ‘Sunday Night Chicken Noodle’ slightly differently as I used cooked chicken left over from our roast, added some sugar snaps and left out the dried chilli pepper for a child-friendly version – Jon and I then added chilli flakes to ours at the end – see later pic. So here is my version:

Feeds 2 plus at least one child (prob 2)

Marinade: 8 tblspns sake, 6 tablspns mirin, 2 tblspns Tamari soy sauce, 2 cloves sized squirts of garlic puree

3 handfuls of shredded cooked chicken

2 heads of bok/pak choi, sliced into mouth sized pieces

Small handful of sugar snap peas

Splash sesame oil

1 packet ‘ready-to’wok’ udon noodles – there are 2 bags of noodles in one packet

800ml chicken stock – I make mine from cubes and boiling water

small hanful of corriander (cilantro) chopped, chilli flakes (opt)

• Mix up the marinade ingredients and stir in the cooked chicken – leave for 10 mins
• Boil water and add the bok choi for 3 mins and then the noodles for an extra minute – drain
• Add sesame oil to a deep pan, heat and then stir fry the sugar snap peas for a minute
• Take out the chicken from the marinade with a slotted spoon and add to the peas – stir fry for a min and then add the marinade, let it bubble down until everything looks golden and sticky
• Add noodles and bok choi, stir and then add chicken stock – bring to the boil and then turn off heat
• Serve topped with a little chopped corriander and chilli flakes (if you want it to clear the nasal passages!)

The child's version...

..... and the adult's version

Slurping is a must!