Christine's column

Something that Christine wrote for the site back in July:

By Christine:

Now that the veggies have started harvesting I have fervently embarked on the quality control part of the project. Melanie has gone to a lot of trouble preparing wonderful dishes from the fruits (and veggies) of her labours. Here are some of her tasty offerings - some of them I make too!

The plump yellow courgettes work best slightly grilled, then marinated in orange zest, oil and pepper. This was delicious, surprisingly, as courgette can be quite bland, a little hit and miss. And we did get rather a lot of the things with our veggie order this year. But these fabulous yellow courgettes are sweeter than the green ones and make any dish look quite dramatic. Perfect with pine nuts, citrus juices, even served with other roast vegetables and pasta especially tagliatelle and chicken. Yum!

I have been raving about the sugar snaps for a while now and taking them in my lunchbox, sometimes on their own, or with nuts, cheese or even slices of ham. They are really sweet and moist, absolutely perfect as a healthy snack. I much prefer them raw to cooked, but if we cook them we just lightly steam them. They will go with anything really, but perfect in salads. Maybe serve with some pancetta and new potatoes too.

The tatties have real flavour but Mel did complain that some of them were a bit on the bitter side. I didnt agree, they are perfect with a little butter and parsley, or tossed in some grainy mustard with black pepper. We have eaten them with meat, fish or in salads. Or bacon. Or one of my faves - on their own with butter and black pepper!!

The lettuce is really tasty and delicate, not too chewy, stringy or peppery - nothing worse than overpowering lettuce! They have worked perfectly with different salads of cheese, bacon, even Mel's speciality of poached egg and trout on a bed of lettuce is delicious with this garden lettuce.

Im keen to try the gooseberries next especially in a crumble. I must admit at first I didnt think they tasted of very much but now they are picked, a box of them are soaking up the sunshine to "bring them on". Hope that wont take too long, and we can put some recipes up here soon!