Saturday 27 July 2013

My Garden: 27th July



After three full weeks of scorching sun, and temperatures which we are just not used to in this country, Ireland was officially in a drought for the first time I can remember in my adult life. And then the rain came, while the heat remained and the garden just loved it.
My sweetcorn which was stagnant in size for quite a while is coming on and has started to produce the grain.


Carrots looking good enough to eat. Note I have mixed sand into the soil - supposed to be good for carrots. Make sure not to plant in freshly manured ground as it will have the effect of fine foliage but not much root. The root only grows to find food for the plant, so if your soil is too fertile, it will happily sit there enjoying it, rather than working for it!


Onions are swelling:


The beetroot isn’t ready to eat but the leaves provide a very tasty and under-rated salad crop while we wait



The legumes have been my success this year and the pea hedge has been almost stripped bare by us over the last few weeks


But if you search among the jungle of leaves, some fat pods are still there for the taking


But with every success comes a failure and even though I had my hopes pinned on a bumper crop of beautiful tomatoes after last years bounty, I failed miserably with my seedlings and have only two small plants which, although flowering, aren’t filling me with great hope


I planted a range of brassicas including cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli and brussel sprouts but only the latter actually germinated


And last, but not least, some random flowers from around the garden. I had hoped to have alot more to encourage bee population [which is much better than last year] but the weather has been so mixed that they haven’t done as well as I’d hoped [although I suspect some of my seeds were poor quality]



Thursday 18 July 2013

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies




These intense and crumbly cookies will satisfy even the strongest chocolate craving.
Ingredients
  • 150g dark chocolate
  • 150g plain flour
  • 30g cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp bread soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 125g soft butter
  • 75g brown sugar
  • 50g white granulated sugar
  • 1 egg beaten
  • 125g chopped milk chocolate
Method
  • Pre-heat the oven to gas 3/170C/325F
  • Melt the dark chocolate over boiling water
  • Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl
  • Mix in the melted chocolate and beaten egg
  • In a separate bowl, sieve together the flour, cocoa, bread soda and salt
  • Combine both mixes and stir through the chopped chocolate




On baking trays covered with greaseproof paper, divide the mix into 18 rounds, allowing room to spread









Bake for twenty minutes, allow to cool and enjoy!





Monday 1 July 2013

10 Minute Chocolate Chip Cookies




These wonderful quick and easy cookies are a great impromptu treat. The recipe is slightly adapted from the original River Cottage one. They actually take twenty minutes if you take prep into account… :)
Ingredients
125g unsalted butter

Pinch sea salt
100g caster sugar
75g light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla essence
175g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g dark chocolate chopped up
Method
Preheat the oven to gas 5
Line baking trays with greaseproof paper
Melt the butter over a low heat

Remove from the heat
Mix in the sugars and dissolve
Add in the lightly beaten egg and the vanilla essence
Sift in the flour and baking powder

Add the salt
Mix in the chocolate
Make small circles of the mix on the baking paper, leaving plenty space for expansion
Bake for ten minutes, leave to cool and enjoy