One week in the Summer - Eating the harvest

This blog is part of a series, please read One week in the winter - Eating from the larder first as it provides a lot of background and general information about what and how we eat that I don't want to repeat here.

The vegetable plot, forest garden, polytunnel, woodland and hedgerows are full of food for us to gather, eat and preserve. We still eat a fair bit from the freezer as well as filling it up with lots of batch cooked summer meals. 

It's mid August and has been quite chilly in the mornings which is why we've been eating porridge!

Monday

I feed the sourdough starter when I get up today, around 6.30.

Breakfast is porridge with bottled pears, fresh blackberries, chia seeds, ground flax and maple syrup.

Lunch is a cheese and homemade pickle sandwich at the wood and homemade flapjacks.

Dinner takes three hours to prep as all the vegetables are from the garden and need washing, preparing and cooking. I make the following for the next few days:

Grated beetroot and orange salad (I never buy oranges in the summer but had a cold a few weeks ago and really felt they were what my body needed!)

Roast beetroot with garlic, lemon thyme and orange zest

Tzatziki with fennel tops and mint

Roasted chickpeas (tossed in curry powder and olive oil)

Roasted new potato salad with herbs

Salad - lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes and herbs

Tuesday

I feed the sourdough starter with double quantities to make bread.

Toast and homemade spiced marmalade for breakfast.

For lunch we have some wild garlic scones from the freezer, some of the leftover salads from last night and sauerkraut.

I make a big batch of pesto with our basil which has been wonderful this year. I use walnuts I've been storing, bought in France last year, plus some sunflower seeds, our garlic, olive oil and nutritional yeast instead of parmesan (to save money).

Dinner is beetroot and orange salad, roasted beetroot and potatoes from last night. I make extra tzatziki plus a field bean and fennel salad. We also have some wild garlic kimchi from the larder.

As I start the dinner I mix the bread dough and fold it 3-4 times over a few hours. I put it into a proving basket and into the fridge before we go to bed.

Wednesday

I take the sourdough out of the fridge and turn the oven on to bake the bread in a dutch oven.

Homemade museli for breakfast with freshly picked blackberries.

Lunch is leftovers from last night plus a hunk of today's fresh bread and salad leaves picked fresh at the wood.

I pick a load of fat hen leaves and dehydrate them to eventually grind to a powder. This will add nutrition to our winter meals.

For dinner, I make a vegetable stew/ratatouille with our courgettes, runner beans, fat hen, tomatoes and herbs and serve it with a rosemary farinata - an Italian chickpea pancake.

Thursday

I feed the sourdough starter when I get up today, around 6.30.

We are working at the caravan this morning so have a late breakfast/brunch of chard cooked with garlic and mixed into scrambled eggs, served on sourdough.

Dinner is a summer lasagne. I don't tend to buy cow's milk unless I'm making cheese but every now and then I'll acquire some, my friend was going on holiday and had a fridge full. What I normally do when I am given milk is make a lasagne as I prefer béchamel made with cow milk. I'm aware that milk is cheap and this makes me sound a bit bonkers but I hate waste and end up taking bits of milk home after events and freezing them just to make béchamel.

I use the leftovers from last nights stew, a jar of homemade ratatouille, some extra courgettes and some roasted squash from the freezer to make the sauce and layer it with pasta sheets and strips of courgette charred on a cast iron griddle. I use nutritional yeast in the béchamel to save on cheese (the cost, financial and environmental, not calories!) and also some local cheese in the sauce and on top. This makes an extra 6 portions for the freezer. Served with sauerkraut and a green salad.

Friday

Breakfast is a dutch iron pancake with blackberries and maple syrup.

Lunch is wild garlic and cheese egg muffins from the freezer with kimchi, sauerkraut and green salad.

I pick lots of nettle seeds for the dehydrator to add to winter soups and stews.

For dinner I make beetroot fritters with gram flour and Indian spices, I make these a lot in the summer with either beetroot, courgette or potatoes and have them cold for lunch the day after and put extras in the freezer. We have them with our new potatoes and green beans, a green salad, tomatoes with basil, kimchi and sauerkraut.

I make a oaty crumble with our rhubarb, foraged whortleberries and blackberries.

Saturday

I don't work at the weekends anymore, hooray! I feed the sourdough starter when I get up today, around 7.30.

Leftover fruit crumble for a late breakfast.

Eric makes pizza on Saturday nights. He uses the discard from the sourdough to make the dough and makes up enough for 6 pizzas so some can go in the freezer. The topping is some foraged birch bolete mushrooms, local blue cheese and homegrown basil.

Sunday

I feed the sourdough starter to make a loaf of bread later.

Breakfast is sourdough sandwiches with local organic bacon and homemade hawthorn ketchup.

I cook a big batch of dried chickpeas in the slow cooker all day for the curry later and for the freezer.

Leftover pizza for lunch, eaten at the wood.

I soak currants, raisins and sultanas in earl grey tea for a loaf of bara brith which I'll bake in the morning after the bread has come out. 

For dinner I make a big batch of courgette, tomato and chickpea curry (I like this recipe) and serve it with brown rice and sourdough flatbreads. Homemade mango chutney and yoghurt on the side.

I mix the bread for baking in the morning as before.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about how we eat during the summer in a way which nourishes us, supports local farming and does as little harm to the planet as we can currently manage.

A lot of my work is inspired by seasonal eating, pickling, preserving, foraging and filling the larder which you can find below:

Spring Kitchen

Summer Kitchen

Autumn Kitchen

Winter Kitchen