By Lucy Corkhill
02nd September 2013
I have the Leith’s Vegetarian Bible which I’ve just discovered has now been reprinted as Leith’s Vegetable Bible, but it looks the new book is a similar sized tome of magnificence. There’s also the River Cottage Preserves Handbook which throws up further ideas of what to do with each season’s offerings. I read this one regularly, poring over the pictures and promising myself that next year I’ll actually get around to making some preserves!
In the meantime, I had a scoot around on the internet to see what delicious recipes I could find for the gluts at this time of year.
Abel and Cole have a few surprises up their sleeves for the humble courgette too – I like the sound of courgette pesto and the Asian salad. When in Thailand several years ago, I fell in love with their fantastically-flavoured salads and am always trying to reproduce the perfect one at home.
Sailu’s Kitchen is a tasty blog featuring Indian recipes, the aim being to preserve Indian culinary heritage and document traditional recipes. The sweetcorn curry recipe is absolutely delicious, a perfect combination of sweet and spicy – yum.
When I came across the British Tomato Growers Association’s recipe for Tomato and Fig Tarts, I was delighted as I make a version of these tartlets myself with goats cheese but had never thought to add figs. It really adds a new dimension to the flavours and makes the tarts a nice fancy addition to nibbles at dinner parties!
Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s courgette recipes for the Guardian are enough to get you salivating and there’s some ideas here that were exciting and new to me (always good when you’ve been making the same courgette dishes night after night!)
What if your tomatoes aren’t ripening? No need to panic, you can delight in the many green tomato recipes out there. Allotment Garden offer up this quick, simple but delicious green tomato chutney recipe which means even time-pressed people can have a go at preserving.
Quite apart from all that, did you know that you can make tomato wine?! I found this recipe on Wine Making Guides and I have to say I am a bit trepidatious about trying it out, I don’t even like tomato juice so tomato wine…hmmmm. If anyone else does, let me know!
The online home of the courgette is Courgette Recipes and here you’ll find a pretty extensive list of recipes, plus tips on growing, companion planting, harvesting, pickling and freezing. For a simple, nutritious and easy family meal, try their Aubergine and Courgette Bake.
Mmmmmm. The delicious recipes on Yorkshire-based cook Sarah’s blog A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate are enough to get you racing to the cupboard for baking ingredients! If you’re using up tomatoes, however, you can’t go wrong with the lip-smacking Smoked Mackerel, Tomato and Linguine recipe – a tasty family supper dish.
