The Participaction Newsletter

It’s a long time since this website was behaving itself properly so I’m going to try a very short post (because it’s very frustrating to write a lot and then have it disappear!)

I’m sure you’re wondering “What to do with a glut of tomatoes?”

Well, one thing you could try is tomato tart. You need tomatoes, puff pastry and cheese, mostly

Put your tomatoes in a frying pan with a dash of olive oil, a teaspoon of sugar, black pepper, some herbs if you want. Cherry tomatoes can be left whole ( and look best) but any tomatoes will do, cut to an apprpriate size. Cook over a highish heat for a few minutes to caramelize then set aside.

Roll out a rectangle of puff pastry for your flan base and cut some strips to raise the edges- stick them on with water- you know what I mean, I’m sure. Prick the bottom with a fork and leave in a cool place till you’re ready.

Pre-heat oven  220C/425F/Gas 7

Spread the base of the tart with soft sheese, eg Boursin or a creamy goats cheese, and top with the tomatoes. Bake for about 20 mins or so, until it looks fabulous, sprinkling some parmesan over half way through.

Best served hot with salad.

Lovely .

Now I wanted to include some artistic pictures of tomatoes but the website wouldn’t let me. You could click on the link below to see some if you want. It’s the best I can manage.

TTFN

http://www.flickr.com/photos/endlessdrones/3832557705/in/set-72157620484252031/

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Last week I took home some spinach without really knowing what I wanted to do with it. After a bit of research in books and on the internet I decided to try spinach pesto, and I wasn’t disappointed. I whizzed up washed spinach leaves, grated parmesan cheese, garlic and olive oil in the food processor (no pine nuts as I didn’t have any). The result was delicious and I was able to freeze most of it, spreading it quite flat across a cake tin and breaking it into usable chunks when it was firm. These I just put in a freezer bag till I needed them.

Today I decided to cook a spaghetti squash that’s been lurking in the vegetable rack for a week or two- the beauty of the hard skinned squashes is that they generally store very well. Spaghetti squash can apparently be cooked in almost any way you like- baked, boiled, microwaved etc The aim is to soften the pale flesh sufficiently to be able to scrape out the strands with a fork. It has a mild, buttery taste which goes well with almost anything such as cheese or  tomato/bolognaise type sauces. Today I cut my squash in half, removed the seeds and put a small chunk of the still frozen pesto into the middle. I then  baked it at 180C for about 50 minutes until the flesh was soft enough to fork out. Lovely. We had sausages, runner beans and new potatoes, but with some crusty bread you could easily turn it into a meal by itself.

Other news from Stainsacre…. Well, the giant pumpkins are struggling a bit in the wet weather, but we are still picking plenty of tomatoes, courgettes and runner beans. The sunflower competion was judged last week and Huw won the prize for the tallest plant, whilst Paul won the prize for the biggest flower. But mostly, it just rains and rains….

Don’t forget- next committee meeting Friday September 12th at 1pm

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According to the Met Office this August is in the Top 10 Wettest Months since the 1920s. As a result, plants that like rain are growing very nicely and we have plenty of spinach, onions, beans and courgettes ready, sweetcorn and celeriac on their way and in the poly tunnel there are still lots of tomatoes, the odd cucumber and peppers still to come. Sunflowers are growing tall and being measured (height and diameter) and the giant pumpkins are beginning to spread out.

The  tomato glut has produced one or two new recipes. Pauline has taken some to make chutney (She will be busy because she has also picked blackcurrants and promised to bring jam!) I tried this idea for oven dried tomatoes.

• Cut the tomatoes into quarters or halves, depending on their size
• Roughly remove most of the pips and throw them away (this stops the tomatoes being too wet)
• Drain the tomatoes in a colander, if you have time, for the same reason.
• Toss the tomatoes in a little olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch of sugar and salt, and oregano if you like. I guess a little garlic added here might be nice.
• Place tomatoes skin side down on a baking tray and place in cool oven (Gas mark2, 150C ) for as long as it takes. This could be between two and three hours if the tomatoes are quite big.
• You will know when they are done because they will look and smell scrummy!

These tomatoes would then be delicious added to a tomato sauce, in risotto or any way that you might use sun dried tomatoes.

I used mine in a salad with couscous, mint feta cheese and a little squeeze of lemon, and it was very good

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