HOME GROWN TREATS...Stuffed Courgette flowers.

One of the joys of growing our own abundance of organic vegetables, is the opportunity to grow things that are difficult to find in the shops, and if you can, infinitely fresher.  Nothing beats freshly picked vegetables from the garden and that to me is a true luxury!

One of my absolute favourite examples of this is baby courgettes and more specifically, the beautiful flowers that are attached, which are perfect for stuffing with something delicious and then rolled in panko breadcrumbs and gently fried in olive oil.

The recipe I am sharing today is courtesy of my daughter Georgie (Instagram @georgies_kitchen) and is one of our absolute favourites!  Stuffed with a white crab meat mixture, it will surely be a hit for any seafood fans among you.

Ingredients:

(makes approx enough to stuff 10 courgette flowers)

10 courgette flowers (with or without baby courgette attached)

200g white crab meat

mayonnaise (enough to bind mixture)

tbsp capers

tbsp cornichons chopped

1 small red chilli, deseeded and chopped

herbs of choice (I like tarragon and mint) chopped

1 egg whisked

panko breadcrumbs

***

Mix above ingredients, minus the egg and breadcrumbs, together in a bowl.  Spoon mixture in to flower heads to fill, and twist the top to enclose.  Dip each flower in egg mixture and then roll in breadcrumbs.  Shallow fry flowers, and courgette if attached, in olive oil until crisp.  Lovely as a summer starter or as part of a main course with salad.

Sadly these were devoured before I had a chance to photograph the finished result!  Do try them, they are absolutely delicious!

Bon appétit!

Sophia xx

GETTING 'SPRING KITCHEN GARDEN' READY...

What glorious weather we have had over the last few days!  Cold admittedly, but with beautiful blue  skies and wall to wall sunshine, it has been absolutely stunning here in Kent. 

My daily dog walk has brought me home most days with a detour in to the kitchen garden for some pickings of the few winter veg I have this year....chard, spinach, kale, carrots, leeks and celeriac, and I have found myself daydreaming of Spring and this year's plans for hopefully an abundance of produce....

Daydreaming is no good though!

It happens each year at this time...I get lulled in to a false sense of security thinking 'it's winter' and 'I've got lazy weeks stretching out ahead of me'.....time for a reality check though and to start planning and thinking about all those jobs that need doing!

There is the greenhouse to clean and disinfect...

Raised beds and this pergola to mend...

 ...and the back breaking but oh so worth while task of spreading barrow loads of manure on all the beds.  (Perhaps I can sweet talk Mr. W in to that one?!)

Eighteen months ago we planted these tiny Portuguese Laurel trees in four small raised beds.  They were just wispy leftover hedging plants, but having already taken on some vigorous growth and by removing the lower branches, we are nurturing them in to 'standards' which will hopefully be spectacular 'lollypop' shaped trees in a few years time?  Worth a try!

I am not renowned for my patience when it comes to 'creating', but while creating this large garden and also keeping an eye on the budget, I have gradually learnt that it is well worth the wait for the rewards!  Smaller trees and hedging plants end up stronger in the long run and it is also so satisfying to nurture something so small in to something special.

Rhubarb is being forced under the terracotta forcer.  Not long now until those first precious and delicious stems...

Now for that planning.....the fun of choosing seeds, both new and heritage varieties is always exciting.  As mentioned before here, each year I vow to grow less but end up growing enough to feed the whole of Kent, but it is always so lovely to share with friends and family and I may look out for a good cause too to donate both seedlings and vegetables this year.   

Thankfully the choosing and ordering can all be done from the warmth and comfort of indoors!

  Keen veg gardeners out there, what are you planning to grow this year?  Are there any unusual or particularly successful crops or varieties that you can recommend?  

I would love to hear...

Happy garden planning!

Sophia xx

BEAUTIFUL BLACKCURRANTS

AND A DELICIOUS CORDIAL...

This is the first year that we are enjoying our own lovely fresh blackcurrants from the fruit cage that my husband lovingly built over last winter.  I say 'lovingly' built, because it really was a labour of love......what I think set out to be a modest sized enclosure, soon grew in to quite an impressive wooden structure measuring 9 m's/12m's! He is still adding the finishing touches to it, and I shall share a picture in due course, but it is well on its way to producing enough fruit to start a 'pick your own' farm!  The blackcurrants sit happily along side red and whitecurrants, both cultivated and wild strawberries, raspberries, goosberries, honeyberries, blueberries and wineberries and figs......he even has a Kiwi tree growing which will 

 be interesting to watch.....I gather they can grow well in our climate, which I was surprised to hear! 

This morning I harvested our first precious blackcurrant pickings and turned the one kilo of these little black beauties in to a delicious cordial.....

Having read up on them, I learnt that we have been cultivating these little vitamin C bombs in this country since the 17th Century, and that they grow extremely well in our climate.  During the second world war, when other sources of vitamin C were scarce, almost the entire crop were sequestered by the government, turned in to cordial and delivered free to Britain's children.

British blackcurrant growers now grow 5,000 acres of blackcurrants, producing up to 30,000 tonnes of the fruit per year.  However, 95% of that crop goes towards making a certain well-known blackcurrant cordial, which is one reason you don't often find fresh blackcurrants for sale in the shops.  Some pick-your-own farms sell them, and you can often buy them frozen at the supermarket.  Failing that.....have a go at growing your own!

Blackcurrant cordial:

500g blackcurrants
275g sugar
250ml water
1/2 tsp citric acid

In a heavy based pan, simmer the sugar, blackcurrants and water gently for 5 minutes.
Using a potato masher, break up the fruit to release as much juice as possible.  Add the citric acid and simmer for another 2 minutes.  Strain the mix through muslin and pour the extracted liquid into a sterilised bottle and keep in the fridge.

Drink it diluted with still or sparkling water......

Or add a little to a tall glass of bubbles ....champagne, prosecco or cava....

To create the perfect 'Kir Royale'.....

             

Cheers!

Hope you're having a lovely weekend.....

Sophia xx

A BRIGHT NEW WEEK!

 Happy Monday.....hasn't it been a gorgeous weekend!  Blue skies, sunny and very warm.  After a busy, hot day in London on Friday, I was pleased to step off the train in the evening and drive home to what to me is the sanctuary of 'home' and the clean, fresh rural beauty of our little corner of Kent.  Supper in the garden under the stars, was the perfect start to the weekend.   A weekend of bar-b-q's, gardening and a lovely visit to a French farmer's market at 'Sissinghurst Castle' which I shall tell you about later in the week.

It was the perfect relaxing two days, after what was a busy week.  Wednesday was particularly interesting, with Channel 4 filming here for the properly show 'Double Your House for Half the Money', presented by Sarah Beeny.  They contacted me after reading an article about our house build, and were particularly interested in the traditional oak construction and the interior.  It will be showcased hopefully during an episode in the upcoming new series starting later next month, as one of their 'Inspirational Homes'......we were naturally flattered that they wanted to showcase our home, and we shall look forward to catching a glimpse of it soon, even if the four hours of filming is edited down to a few minutes!

This morning I am enjoying a beautiful bunch of the first Sweetpeas from the garden.....their gorgeous scent filling the kitchen.

Photos: Sophia Home

This year I have planted them in the two tall square raised beds at the entrance to the kitchen garden, trained up bamboo wigwams.....with regular cutting, they should produce an abundance all summer long.  

We are also enjoying the first pickings of the Globe Artichokes....varieties 'Gros Vert de Laon'...

and the beautiful purple tinged variety 

'Violet de Provence'...

Wonderfully architectural....almost too beautiful to eat!  Although we shall be enjoying some tonight....

....simply cooked whole, enjoying each leaf dipped in French vinaigrette, with the delicious 'prize' of the heart at the end.

All photos: Sophia Home

 Wishing you a happy and sunny week!

Sophia xx

HOME SWEET HOME...

Home now, after a wonderful week exploring northern and central Portugal.  A week away with my husband......discovering Portugal's hidden gems, in the form of beautiful historical towns and villages, stunning architecture, mountains and valleys.....along with their overwhelmingly kind and welcoming hospitality and delicious food and wines.  It has been a truly fascinating 

and lovely week, which I plan to share with you over the coming week, when I have had a chance to sort through my abundance of photographs!

Photos: Sophia Home

 As much as it is always such a wonderful treat to travel.....there is nothing quite like coming back to the sanctuary of home....to be surrounded by your own comforts....especially to come back to 

ones own bed.....

Especially exciting was to see how in just one week, the garden had romped ahead!  The hedges and trees that we planted not so long ago, have grown immeasurably, due to the combination of a little sun and heavy rain that England had in our absence.  Thanks to the attentiveness of our wonderful 'green fingered' house sitter Anna, my greenhouse had been very well cared for.....with vegetable seedlings now three times the size in just a few days, and ready to 

plant out in the Kitchen Garden.  

Lilly of the Valley which I have underplanted beneath the plum trees has been very late this year, but I was thrilled to see this delicate, pretty and favourite flower of mine in full bloom now.  Picked and now smelling gorgeous 

next to my bed.......

Home Sweet Home!

Wishing you all a very happy weekend.....

Sophia xx

A STUNNING KENTISH GARDEN....

Good evening!

I do hope that you are all having a lovely week?

Photos: Sophia Home

Regular readers may remember that I started a little 'gardening club' a few weeks ago.....nothing too serious, but a nice excuse to get together with keen gardening girlfriends to visit each other's gardens, perhaps visit some of the selection of glorious local gardens open to the public in our pretty part of Kent/Sussex, swap seeds and plants, drink coffee and chat....yes, 

quite a bit of the latter! 

Having met up at my home last time, our friend Elizabeth suggested that for this get together, we visited a private house and garden called 'Old Place Farm' in nearby High Halden, Kent. This glorious private garden was open to the public today, in aid of the charity 'Gardening for the Disabled Trust', along with a plant sale, supported

by local garden growers and nurseries.

Four of us who were free, 

   set off for the morning.....

What a treat lay in store....

A four acre garden, mainly designed by Anthony du Gard Pasley around a pretty 

Elizabethan period house.  

All photos: Sophia Home

All photos: Sophia Home

A variety of beautifully arranged areas, including parterres, mixed borders, old shrub roses, ponds, a small lake, a wildflower meadow......

A paved herb garden, and decorative potager...

Gazebo next to lake.....

Back of house......

Beautiful lake...

Decorative wirework sheep....

Coffee and cake and delicious salad lunches awaited visitors to the stunning oak framed barn in the grounds.....

My absolute favourite part of the garden.....a magical topiary woodland garden.....

Cones, spheres, spirals, cubes....

.....even 'birds in a nest'...

....it was true inspiration to a topiary lover.

*****

We all came away with great admiration for this stunning, immaculate, masterpiece of a garden, which had so obviously been a great labour of love over the years to its owners.....and also with a few lovely ideas for our own gardens!

*****

Wishing you a very happy Tuesday evening....

Sophia xx