Planting out carrots in a bucket has been a huge success with a really high germination rate – something we were struggling with in the main bed. Now I’ve got such a healthy crop of seedlings I’m not sure whether I need to think them out – for the time being I’m going to leave them be and enjoy the frothy foliage. This photo is a couple of weeks old, they are bigger and much more exuberant now!

The rest of the allotment is racing into edible life now too. The strawberries have swollen and one or two have started to turn red. I cannot wait for my own fresh strawberries. The raspberries are looking healthy too – except for the ones planted at the edge which is the spot we’ve is a water trap. We think a drainage trench is required – not a job to be undertaken lightly.

Bee pollinating pea flowers

Broad beans are just ready to pick. If I can get down to the allotment today they’ll be on the menu tonight – with lamb chops, new potatoes and mint, I think. The peas are just starting to fill their pods too.

We’re enjoying radishes

First radishes

 and lettuces at the moment. The radishes are lovely and spicy and the lettuce has been almost completely free of slug damagae.

I’m not sure if this is because we’ve kept them covered with polytunnels, or the nematodes I watered in at the start of the season – whatever it is I’m grateful as I didn’t enjoy last year’s regular slug massacre.

This year I tried again, with pretty much the same results. Very few plants emerged and they disappeared very quickly.

We know our soil is one of the elements responsible for the carrots struggling, it’s clay-ey and heavy, so not ideal for carrots. so, we’ve tried a new approach. Yesterday we made a tangy mix of vegetable compost and sand in a large tub, sowed it with some freshly-bought seed (I hear carrot seed keep well one year to the next), and placed it in the ideal sunny spot. Fingers crossed we’ll finally have a crop of carrots. Look out for photos when (if?) the seedlings appear.

Overwintered Japanese onion

The glorious weather has meant that we’ve spent a lot of time down the allotment over the last couple of

My strawberries start to flower

weeks. Sometimes to work, sometimes to snooze on my favourite stripy blanket between the beds.

Just as I’ve been enjoying the sun,  so has the local wildlife. I spotted a green woodpecker and a pair of greenfinches yesterday (no photos I’m afraid, but we did have the binoculars so got a really good view of both).  Most importantly, the allotment plot is starting to come to life. Over-wintered onions have recovered from the February snowfall which flattened them,

 and they are now looking perky and strong. The garlic is also looking fabulous – I really hope it’s as good underground as it is above. Overwintered peas and beans are also growing strongly. I’m not sure if they will set flower because I planted them really late – but they’re trying so hard I think there’s a chance.

January planted broad beans starting to grow

Best news of all, the strawberries have started to flower. It seems a bit early to me as they aren’t due to start fruiting until June. They’re so pretty though!

Potato Dauphinoise

I am musing about spuds because as I sit here I am looking at 50 sprouting – I should say chitting – seed potatoes. they are rather beautiful, with purply-green shoots pushing through towards the light. It won’t be long before they can go in, 22 early potatoes (Red Duke of York) which can be eaten small and young, and 28 maincrop (Cara) which will come up later in the year and provide a large crop of all-purpose potatoes. (Fingers crossed that is, and assuming we don’t get blight again this year).

I started to think about all the wonderful ways of cooking potatoes, mash, roasties, chips, and, our favourite, Potatoes Dauphinoise. We tend to use a tried and tested recipe from Joanne Harris and Fran Warde’s book The French Kitchen, which is delicious. There are many other wonderful versions out there too, including recipes with onions, a herby version and with celeriacinstead of potato (OK, not really Dauphinoise, but a good alternative).

Of course, dauphinoise usually comes with a health warning, good ones are stuffed full of cream and butter, but are perfect for this cold snap. What’s your favourite potato dish – share your favourite recipes here!

If you’re a Masterchef addict like me try out The Guardian’s Interactive Masterchef Nonsense Generator and join in their Masterchef bingo game during next week’s final!

See you when it’s over!

Sesame pak choi

Have you already neglected your new year resolution? Maybe the New Year isn’t so much a fresh start as a fresh set of problems. Well, we’ve got a second chance. With Chinese New Year just around the corner, there’s a great excuse for a feast, and another chance at starting again. It’s also another chance to try my Chinese New Year feast (see the last post), and I thought I’d suggest a couple of other dishes to try too.

I got a great reaction when I cooked Salmon fishcakes with sweet and sour salad a few evenings ago – so good that if I’d only cooked enough for 2 there would’ve been real disappointment. Luckily I made almost the amount the recipe recommended for four. Nothing left!

I was really surprised at how well Night Slater’s Stir-fried lamb with broccoli turned out. I do normally like Nigel Slater’s recipes (even if it is hard to find one that isn’t saturated with cream or full-fat creme fraiche), but this one didn’t sound great. I only cooked it because I only had lamb mince, broccoli and rice in the house – so it was Hobson’s choice. Anyway, it was delicious and I really recommend giving it a go.

You’ll need some greens too. This recipe for Sesame Pak Choi is quick, easy, delicious and goes with any of the other dishes. Pak Choi was a vegetable we had a lot of success with last summer in the allotment. If I can do it I’m sure it will grow for anybody, and it doesn’t take too much room, so you could probably grow it in your garden with success.

Happy New Year

Photo of aubergine dish, shown here with lamb cutlets

January can be so gloomy. Night draws in early and the mornings are dark. I’m so stuffed from the Christmas celebrations that I don’t fancy the stodgy comfort food that the cold, dankness seems to call for. The answer is a New Year Chinese feast. I love the tangy sweetness of the Sticky-glazed spare ribs, the sour notes in the Stir-fry lamb and broccoli and the yielding salty flesh of the Aubergine in mirin, soy, garlic and ginger.  Serve with healthy Egg Fried Rice. I probably wouldn’t cook all of these at once but any one dish is delicious – two and you’re eating a New Year Feast.

Mince pies cooked this evening

I was trying to avoid joining the throngs and recommending Christmas dishes – god knows there is enough of that already. Except . . .  I love Christmas and today’s the day for mince pies!

And, unfortunately, my inspiration today is Nigella. I saw her Christmas special and thought her Cranberry mincemeat and orange juice pastry looks delicious. Despite my concerns about her sanity, I’m cooking these mince pies today.

Ginger Pudding Cakes by Mark Hix, photo by Jason Lowe

They can’t come out worse than my Christmas pud ginger cakes, which could be effective as cannonballs, or lead weights heavy enough to drown feathers. I’m including them here for two reasons, firstly because I think the errors were all mine and secondly because I still think they look lovely and wanted to have a nice Christmassy picture on the page.

Chicken Curry by Roopa Gulati

It’s been a while since I updated this page. My excuse is that  I’ve been away – 4 days in frosty north Yorkshire. Very christmassy! There were highs, such as walking through a twinkling pine forest, and lows, such as driving over a 3′ long log and locking the steering on my car. Thanks AA!

I have a big cook up the day before we go away and prepare suppers so that there’s little cooking left to be done. (It’s hard to wait long enough to cook good food after a 10mile walk over heath and mud). This time I cooked Spaghetti Bolognese (it’ll keep for ages in the fridge and get better and better) and Cumin-scented Chicken Curry, another dish that just gets better if you can leave it a day or two before eating.

I love Ross Dobson’s Red Curry of Autumn Roasted Vegetables, which always tastes great, especially if you add an aubergine in with the second lot of vegetables.

Of all the recipes for Chili con Carne, I think this one by Gordon Ramsay is the best. I think it’s the cinammon that does it.

I’ve overdone Nigel Slater’s Chicken with leeks and lemon, so I don’t cook it often now, but do try it as it is really tasty.

Chili con Carne