We came back from our holiday 11th August and just about the first thing we did after unloading the car was heading to our allotment. Visiting your vegetable garden after more than four weeks absence, can be a little scary,…
Edible garden in August
Categorie: Vegetables
Gutsy lettuce salad
There has been a lack of vegetable recipes on this site lately, the reason is that we were on holiday in the Czech Republic and while we had access to lots of seasonal, wonderfully ripe fruit from my parents’ garden,…
Broad bean frittata
Broad beans (or lima beans) are some of the most reliable, easiest to grow vegetables, at least in our climate. The large seeds are easy to handle and undeterred by cold, they can be sown very early. They’ll do well…
Edible garden in July
The problem with July is that the summer holiday starts. Because who wants to leave the garden behind right after the first tomatoes started ripening? I don’t, not really, but being bound by holidays scheduled by the Dutch ministry of…
Baby vegetable risotto
It’s funny how the core of who you are and what you like to do is set at an early age. When I was about 8 or 10, I loved playing with plasticine. Together with my older cousin, we used…
Chickpeas with garden greens
The thing you should know about the Netherlands is, that most of the country is bellow sea level. Which means it would be under water, were it not for the ingenious dams holding the sea back. Therefore, if you live…
Baby spinach salad with pita croutons, dates and almonds
Since rabbits continue to ignore the spinach on our allotment and there’s also a raised square bed full of spinach (3 different varieties) in our community garden, we harvest and eat spinach all the time. I have by now two…
Spinach and spring herb torta in a potato crust
What’s eating your crops? Do you have a slug problem? Do you hate cabbage worms making holes in the leaves of your brassica? Carrot fly? Birds? In our organic, very diverse garden, pests are usually not a huge problem. But…
Kale salad with orange vinaigrette & community gardening
One of the most fun and most rewarding projects I did last year was initiating a community garden. Every year we organize a neighborhood plant swap and plant sale, which is great, but I thought it would be nice to…
Nettle lovage spring soup
On our new allotment, there are no nettles. I am sure I will be grateful for that in the long run, but right now, after the long winter largely devoid of fresh greens, nettles are my favorite vegetable. Luckily our…
Spinach quiche with buckwheat crust
On Saturday I sowed the first seeds directly in the ground – finally!- and spinach was the very first vegetable I sowed. So no, this quiche was not homegrown, but hopefully will be in about six weeks. Because I am…
Leek and potato pizza
I teach Norwegian. Most of my students learn Norwegian because they want to move to Norway. Away from the overpopulated and completely man-landscaped Netherlands into Europe’s last wilderness. They ask me why I don’t move there, too, since I already…
Vinegar slaw with cucumber and dill
Thanks to my father, I have knife skills. Thanks to him, I also know how to sharpen a kitchen knife. He’s always kept his kitchen knives perfectly sharp and I still remember the first time I encountered a blunt knife…
Wild rice and winter squash salad
My sister has a horse and a pony. I don’t envy her the horse-riding (she hardly ever has time for that anyway). I envy her all that manure. The manure that she composted, then spread out a little, and planted…
Fennel and celery slaw with pomegranate
Cheers to New Year’s resolutions! Cheers to cabbage salad EVERY SINGLE DAY! Or was this not one of your resolutions? Well, to tell the truth, it wasn’t mine either. But after all the Christmas cookies, something green and crunchy is…