British garden kitchen « Penny Golightly

Seasonal foods in June

June 2nd, 2010 by Penny Golightly

I’ve had a few meals out of the garden already, including lots of different salads, and am looking forward to getting the rest of June’s seasonal foods down on the market.

What’s in season this month?

Fruit: blackberries, cherries, elderflowers, gooseberries, raspberries, redcurrants, rhubarb, strawberries, tayberries. Imported figs, and some mangoes.

Vegetables: asparagus, baby carrots, broad beans, broccoli, chervil, chives, courgettes and flowers, cucumbers, fennel, globe artichokes, green beans, horseradish, lettuce, mangetout, new potatoes, peas, peppers, radishes, rocket and other salad leaves, samphire, spinach, sorrel, spring onions, tomatoes, watercress. Imported aubergines.

Fish and shellfish: black bream, brown and rainbow trout, brown shrimp, cuttlefish, first fresh kippers (run until Oct), grey mullet, haddock, hake, john dory, lobster, mackerel, pollack, prawns, sardines, sea bass, sea trout, signal crayfish, spider crab, whitebait, wild salmon.

Meat, poultry and game: hogget lamb (aged half way between a lamb and a sheep), Welsh lamb.

Cheeses: ewe’s milk cheeses, Stinking Bishop, British goats’ cheese, Farmhouse Cheddar. Bouille, Crottin de Chavignol, Saint Marcellin, Sancerre.

Tonight I’m cooking spicy prawns with stir fried home grown green beans, spring onions, spinach and mustard greens. That’ll be served up with lemon couscous with fresh coriander, mint and parsley. I’m starving now just thinking about it…

What are you going to cook?

Tags: British garden kitchen, British seasonal food, cheap fruit and veg, fish in season, fruits in season, ingredients in season, vegetables in season
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Seasonal foods in March

March 1st, 2010 by Penny Golightly

Seasonal food in March is pretty strange – there isn’t a lot of it, for a start. Much of March is traditionally known as the ‘hungry gap’, where stored foods are running out, most overwintering veggies are past their best, and the first Spring crops won’t be ready for a few more weeks.

Things are improving in the UK as growers extend growing seasons with polytunnels, coldframes and greenhouses, and try out new varieties of plants. Keep an eye out for any of the fresh homegrown foods you can get hold of, including:

Fruit: early/forced rhubarb, apples and pears from store.

Vegetables: asian greens, cabbage (green), chicory, endive, kale, leeks, nettle tops, parsley, parsnips, purple sprouting broccoli, sea kale, sorrel, spring greens, spring onions, swedes, wild garlic, winter varieties of lettuce.

Fish and shellfish: bass, brown crab, clams, cockles, pollack, young mackerel, mussels, rock oysters, sardines, scallops, sea trout, wild salmon.

Meat, poultry and game: not the top season for any meats in particular.

Cheeses: Cotherstone, Stilton. Comté, Roquefort.

I think I’ll be cooking up some bashed neeps (swedes) and wilted curly kale to serve with burgers or sausages, some noodle soup with Asian greens and shellfish, and some sprouting broccoli baked with eggs and garlic.

What are you going to cook? Do you have any favourite recipes?

Tags: British garden kitchen, British seasonal food, cheap fruit and veg, in season in March, March fruit and vegetables, UK food in season, UK seasonal food, vegetables in season
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Seasonal foods in September

September 4th, 2009 by Penny Golightly

September foods are gorgeous, with the end of all the summer goodies, plus the start of everything that does better in the cooler weather. It’s a very good month for fans of seafood and game.

What’s in season in September?

Fruit: apples, bilberries, blackberries, blueberries, damsons, elderberries, figs, grapes, greengages, juniper berries, Kentish cobnuts, loganberries, pears, plums, raspberries, sloes. Imported melons, nectarines, peaches.

Vegetables: all salad leaves, asian greens, aubergines, broccoli, celery, chillies, chives, courgettes, cucumbers, fennel, globe artichokes, green beans, green and red cabbage, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, marrows, peppers, pumpkins and squashes, radishes, red onions, rocket, salsify and scorzonera, samphire, sorrel, spinach, spring onions, swedes, sweetcorn, summer squash, tomatoes, watercress, wild mushrooms (ceps, chanterelles, oyster, puffball, shaggy ink cap and more).

Fish and shellfish: black bream, brown and rainbow trout, brown hen crabs, brown shrimp, clams, Dover sole, eels, lobster, mussels, native oysters, pilchards, plaice, prawns, scallops, sea bass, signal crayfish, skate, sprats, squid, turbot.

Meat, poultry and game: Michaelmas goose, Autumn lamb, grouse, partridge, venison at its best, wild duck.

Cheeses: Double Gloucester, Farmhouse Cheshire. Brie de Meaux.

What are you going to cook?

I feel an apple and blackberry crumble coming on, and maybe some spicy crab cakes.

Tags: British garden kitchen, British seasonal food, game season, mushroom season, seafood season, seasonal food, September fruit and vegetables, UK food in season
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