A Year in the Garden - How To Grow Your Own - March

I've really been enjoying making this series of gardening/food programmes. It's great to see how the whole garden is coming along over the months and we're trying so many new things this year that it's great to record our experiences and to share them with our audience. Of course the latest episode was a week late, but the weather at the end of March here was just awful, snow blizzards for days, something quite unusual for Northern Ireland! It didn't really damage the garden much, it just delayed everything. But growing and producing your food is like that, it's quite unpredictable, that's why it's always good to have a few options when growing your own.

This month's episode gives an update on our seedling situation. The seedlings from January were quite slow and they didn't germinate that well, however we did manage to get around 60 pea plants, a lot of spring onions, spinach, lettuce and lamb's lettuce from that sowing. The indoor february sowing was more succesful, we got another load of healthy peas, which we put into the polytunnel at the community garden. Then there's more spinach, more lettuce, spring onions, turnips, broccoli raab and kailaan that has been planted, and beetroot, celery, cauliflower and calabrese broccoli still have to go into the ground. So all in all not too bad!

Then we also looked at Asparagus. I really love fresh asparagus, and the fresh stuff is so different to most asparagus you can buy. It's incredibly sweet and you can easily eat it raw, whereas the shop-bought stuff is nice, but it mostly only has that strong asparagus flavour. However, it will take two more years for us until we can eat our planted asparagus! That might seem like a long wait and a waste of a good raised bed, but we're also growing other crops alongside our asparagus, such as lettuce, peas, spring onions, bush beans, anything shallow rooting basically that won't disturb the root system of the asparagus. Now asparagus can be quite a tricky crop to get right, and we've tried to produce the perfect conditions as described in the video. Also, asparagus really doesn't like weeds, that's why weed-free raised beds are particularly suited to this crop. And during high summer it's alsways good to put a layer of grass cuttings or straw over the asparagus so that it keeps dry, later in the year you can then mulch with compost or manure to provide your plants with additional nutrients. 

At this time of the year it's quite good to look at compost and mulching. Compost is an invaluable resource to the gardener, it does so much for the soil and your plants and you can make it for free! Compost is very easy to make and as long as you use raw biodegradable material such as fruit and veg peelings, paper, grass cuttings etc you will create compost. But a lot of people have a compost bin without actually having in mind to create compost! It's just another bin to them! However, getting it right makes all the difference with compost, it will be less stinky, sticky and wet. I try to put in half and half of 'greens' and 'browns', greens meaning veg peelings, kitchen and gardening waste, and browns meaning carbon materials such as cardboard, paper, tree leaves, wood shavings, ash etc. Most people make the mistake of only using 'greens', which makes compost very wet and stinky and attracts loads of flies! If you use half and half of greens and browns and mix these from time to time you will get a perfect mixture, moist and crumbly compost. It's almost like cooking! I tend to leave my compost for six months after I've finished feeding it, which generally makes very good mulching compost. I mostly use my homemade compost for mulching, but if you would like yours to be finer either sieve it or leave it to ferment longer. 

I tend to have compost ready twice a year when I need it for mulching, in early spring and autumn. Mulching is very important for fruit bushes and trees, it will really make a difference in your crop production. It suppresses weeds, it improves the soil by adding organic matter and nutrients and it keeps your soil most. So many things can be used for mulching, compost, manure, sea weed, grass cuttings, ash, wood shavings, or a mixture of all these. I tend to use whatever I've got lying around! And of course whatever each plant species prefers. So do give mulching a try, it's really very straightforward and inexpensive but it makes such a difference. 

Finally our epsiode looks at a field to fork recipe, by using our fresh lamb's lettuce, also known as corn salad, to make a scrumptious salad bar recipe. We love salads with lots of different ingredients, they're not at all like the boring stuff you get in most restaurants. Salads can have real character by chosing some fantastic ingredients. We like a mixture of grains like couscous, lentils, quinoa or pearl barley to give body and provide that delicious carb-comfort; we then like to add some toasted nuts or seeds, which add great texture and bold flavours. Then we really like adding different type of veg, sometimes roasted, sometimes raw, depending on what's seasonal. And finally we like adding something creamy and salty, maybe a bit of goat's cheese or sheep's cheese, or a nice creamy dressing. We like a nice mayo dressing, which basically consists of homemade mayo with the zest and juice of half a lemon, half a clove of crushed garlic and some fresh herbs (we used ground rosemary). Absoluetly delicious! When you try this salad you'll soon forget the boring iceberg alternative!

As always, thanks for watching and we hope our advice is helpful :)

500 Subscribers+100.000 Video Views! Thank You! St Patrick's Day in Dublin!

Thanks to all our subscribers and viewers for your support! We are so excited that we've reached 500 subscribers 100.000 video views, we know it's not that much compared to some YouTube people but it really means a lot to us. We remember the days whenever we got a new subscriber every two weeks or so, and now it's up to 50 a week. It can obviously change really quickly on YouTube, so we are enjoying the fact that more people are watching our videos and are trying our recipes. The feedback is also really great, we are so happy that all of your comments are really nice and that the recipes really work for you, that's our main goal after all! 

And we also love the fact that so many of you are from far away countries, where we have never been to and quite honestly didn't even know that YouTube existed there. Shows how much we know about the rest of the world...but we truly love this international aspect of YouTube, to be in touch with so many different cultures and people that speak different languages is something that is close to our hearts because we ourselves are from an international background. So please spread the word and we hope that our cooking videos can help you experience the amazing world of homemade food :)

We also hope you enjoy our St Patrick's Day footage! A big thank you to Claude, Marie and Ryan who came along and supported us during the parade, we couldn't have done it without you guys! It was really so much fun, as you can probably tell from all the nonsense on camera, and we will never forget that experience! 

As always, thanks for watching!

Italian Ciabatta with Olives and Pine Nuts

This episode was so much fun to make! Ciabatta is such an amazing bread and this particular version with olives, pine nuts and semolina, really reminds us of Italy and the great holidays we had there. Hence also our Italian intro, and our bad attempts at Italian gestures and body language! It was also great to have our friend Claude over for a visit and to do some filming with him, and to hear his very discerning taste critique. But in the end, what made this episode so much fun was the bread itself!

Ciabatta is a really easy bread to make as long as you remember a few steps. Your dough has to rise a lot longer to create those air bubbles. You also don't want to properly deflate your dough as you would with other breads. Ciabatta dough is also a lot wetter than most breads, and wet doughs usually tend to make a lighter bread with more air holes and they also tend to have a better crust. Although it's obviously great to have those nice air bubbles for looks and texture, too many recipes tend to focus on that aspect of Ciabatta only, whereas we think it is vital not to forget flavour! That is what makes this recipe different, because the ingredients we use are just great and work so well with each other and just give loads of flavour to the bread, making it a feast of classic Italian ingredients! 

Pretty much all of the ingredients used in this recipe have something to do with Italy. White Spelt flour is not the most obvious one, especially when it's not grown in Italy, but Spelt was actually one of the most important grain crops in the Roman empire. Also, the bread that the Romans made with spelt flour was very similar to a Ciabatta, quite flat and either round or oval shaped. I truly love Spelt flour for breadmaking, it makes the lightest and stretchiest dough, even when using wholemeal flour. And the taste is also outstanding. So if you can, get some Spelt flour for this recipe. In the UK and Ireland it's available in a few supermarkets, but you can also find it in many health food and organic food stores. Otherwise just use 'strong' white bread flour. 

Then we have semolina which is a classic Italian ingredient for baking and pasta. Semolina juts gives the bread a rustic texture and flavour, making it taste proper Italian. We didn't do this in the video, but often we also coat our Ciabatta in semolina before baking and it gives the bread an even more rustic flavour and texture. 

The combination of olives and pine nuts works so well in bread, and many other foods! In Liguria so many dishes are made with pine nuts and olives, which are two main crops of the region. And this version of Ciabatta really reminds us of our holidays on the Ligurian coast. Also, using good quality extra virgin olive oil adds to that Ligurian feel and again just makes such a difference flavour-wise.

The bread itself is very simple to make, it's an almost no-knead, no-shape bread, it requires very little work especially if you're using a food mixer. If you're kneading by hand we suggest you use a fork for the initial mixing, and then a spatula to fold the dough as shown in the video. And use lots of oil, that makes it less sticky!

And do try this bread as suggested in the video, by rubbing a clove of garlic on the bread and eating it with a selection of nice cheeses and Italian antipasti. Simply delicious! And it's such a good example of how bread can be the main star of a meal. Obviously other savoury foods such a prosciutto, salamis and even patés and terrines are great with this bread. If you're having an Italian dinner party this bread is a must for a starter, but it's also great for those midweek meals when you don't want to cook much but simply eat some bread and something nice on the side. That's what we like :)

Thanks for reading and good luck! 

A Year in the Garden - How to grow your own - February

In our new program we are giving tips and advice on how to grow your own fruit and veg at home by showing you what we are doing in our garden. Timing is quite important in gardening and we hope that our epsiodes give you a feel for when you need to sow, plant and harvest in your garden. Our episodes are especially relevant to people who live in the UK and Ireland, because we live in Northern Ireland and the climate here is quite cool and not always that easy for gardening.

The February episode looks at indoor sowings, either because it's still too cold outside or because you want to give your plants an early start. Also, some crops like tomatoes, peppers and aubergines really need to be sown indoors, especially in cooler climates. February and March are great times to sow these crops and keeping them indoors until May ensures that you will have a healthy and early crop.

Preparing your ground is also important and February is a great time for this. The soil is warming up but everything's still slow, so digging a bit of compost or manure into your growing soil is perfect at this time of the year and guarantees a fertile soil for the following season.

Then we're also looking at strawberries and garlic. Normally we would have liked to plant them earlier, but planting them now is still very good and should give us a good enough crop. Strawberries and garlic are a great example of companion planting too, the garlic repels aphids and other pests and apparently gives the strawberries a better taste. We'll have to see! And it saves lots of space and both plants like the same soil conditions, deep and light fertile soil. We urge you to try it!

And finally we are showing you how to make a kiwi compte using unripened local kiwis from the walled garden in Helen's Bay. In the UK and Ireland it's really best to grow kiwis undercover, so in a polytunnel or greenhouse. The plants will be fine outside but the kiwis won't ripen properly, and taking them inside to ripen doesn't make them as sweet as their shop-bought cousins. So the answer is to cook them with sugar, and a compote is great for this. It keeps the kiwis tangy flavour but sweetens the fruit, it's absolutely delicious! And it makes for a great pie filling! But it works well with anything, scones, pancakes, yoghurt, whatever! You really need to try this recipe!

Valentine's Day means Chocolate Day

Love is in the air, or rather chocolate is! And lots of it! Whether you're single or in a relationship it doesn't matter, as long as you like chocolate! This year we have two great chocolate recipes for you that are not only good for Valentine's Day but throughout the year as they lend themselves well to seasonal ingredients and adaptations. 

Our first recipe is Chocolate Truffles with chilli and orange. They are absolutely delicious, rich and creamy and incredibly intense with the orange and chilli. Making chocolate truffles from scratch ensures that you get exactly the flavour that you like: you can choose the quality and intensity of the chocolate, you can add more or less salt, some extra sugar if need be and additional flavourings which make these chocolate truffles unique. They're very easy to make and take no time at all, so please watch our recipe and have a go yourself!

Our second recipe has proved exceptionally popular with guests. Everybody loves chocolate brownies, but what makes ours so special is the twist of adding beetroot and blackcurrant. Adding special ingredients like these to classic recipes surprises people and their tastebuds. It's that 'wow' factor because it is unexpected and simply delicious. Beetroot and blackcurrant are just our suggestions but you could also add carrot, banana, rasperries, blueberries, orange zest, lemon zest...the culinary possiblities are endless. You have to think of chocolate as a vehicle for flavour, it holds and even intensifies flavours really well and makes for great flavour combinations. Of course you could also just make plain chocolate brownies, just increase the amount of chocolate to 300g and leave out the beetroot and blackcurrant. But we really urge you to try our recipe. Not a single person so far has not loved these brownies. They are that good! 

Chocolate is just an amazing ingredient and by itself quite healthy, and just delicious and addictive! We hope that you have a great day of making and baking this Valentine's Day! Thanks for watching!

A Year in the Garden - How to grow your own - January

We're really excited about our latest project. A-C and I are keen gardeners, but really only when it comes to edible plants :) We do love beautiful gardens and really believe that edible gardens, i.e. gardens where most plants produce something edible, are not only delicious but also beautiful. Indeed veg and fruit plants come in all shapes and sizes, and colours. The colours are just amazing and the flowers and smells you get from many plants are just divine. But of course growing fruit and veg at home  isn't only about beauty; it's also about productivity. You would be surprised how much food can be grown in a bit of soil. Apart from the quantity, the quality and diversity you get from growing your own is astounding.

Honestly, once you've got the bug and experienced some true growing successes and what real food tastes like you're never going back. Fresh sun-ripened strawberries off the plant, still warm from the sun, are so incredibly different to anything you can buy, except if you're at a pick-your-own farm on a nice sunny day. The experience of the freshness and the quality and the sheer delight of flavour and aromas is simply so different because you can get hold of something that simply isn't available in the shops. It only makes sense for supermarkets and most shops to stock a limited variety of fruit and veg, so you as a grower have the chance to discover new types of fruit and veg varieties that you've never tasted before. Even when you take different varieties of the same plant makes a huge difference. This year I grew a quick-growing variety of Italian bulbed fennel. and wow, was that stuff good, so refreshing and juicy and that amazing flavour of anis seed. I've never grown such good fennel before.

I know I'm rambling a bit here, but then again that shows how fascinating it is, even after years now of growing, I still get so excited about this stuff. If you're really into food, then I believe growing your own and really experimenting with what you're growing is the next level. You learn to appreciate fruit and veg for the incredible diversity of flavours and tastes that they produce, and also how they make you feel. Even though I'm somebody who tries to steer away from the typical mantra of 'eat healthy, be healthy', I really do find that eating your own homegrown food makes you feel a lot better. And if that's just because it makes you happy and proud because you've achieved something like growing deliciously sweet peas, well then that's great.

There really are so many reasons for growing your own, especially for foodies, and in our new program we'll touch upon those reasons and show you what we are growing at home and at the community garden in Helen's Bay. Each month we'll be showing you what we're doing in the garden, what projects there are, what we're sowing and harvesting and cooking as well. Hopefully our videos will either give you the inspiration and knowledge you need to start growing your own or if you already grow fruit and veg we hope that you may pick up some helpful hints and ideas :)

Thanks for watching!

Juicing, glorious juicing...

 A-C and I have recently discovered juicing; of course we knew about it before and we have tried those juices that you get in juice bars and healthy places. But nowhere does homemade juice taste so good as when freshly made with quality ingredients and with your own juicer at home. It's unbelievable, especially in the morning before you have your breakfast. It gives you such an incredible boost, it's like the non-alcoholic version of getting tipsy. And I'm not just saying this because I am one of those people advocating healthy eating. Of course I know what a difference it makes to me to eat healthy foods and lots of fruit and veg, but the experience of your own homemade juice is quite different alltogether. It's that good. The only experience that comes close is when you have your own homegrown fruit, especially berries, and you pick them off the plant on a sunny day and you get so many vitamins and antioxidants into your body you literally feel your face is glowing. Yup, fruit can do that. 

Our favourite juice mix normally consists of 1-2 carrots, 1-2 beetroot, and then whatever acidic fruit we have, like apples or oranges. Using the beetroot and the carrots gives the juice a real earthy flavour, but in a good way. It makes it very sweet and has an amazing depth to it. The beetroot especially is essential for that boost you're looking for. If we would only use fruit, especially acidic fruit, there just wouldn't be that balance of sweet and sour and it would lack that creaminess that comes from the veg. 

Once you've got that balance in mind, you can really go crazy and just experiment with whatever you want to. We've tried variations with green tomatoes, pears, bananas, kiwis (very nice), kale (not so nice), ginger, etc. Anything goes, as long as it suits your taste buds and it is so much fun to try out all kinds of combinations. Maybe for kids this would be a very cool idea to get them to eat/drink fruit and veg. The only downside to this experimentation is the cleaning. It does take a few minutes to clean your machine after its use and to get rid of all the fruit pulp.

Hang on a minute? Getting rid of the fruit pulp? It does seem like a bit of a waste when you're using all this top-quality produce and you're throwing out so much of it. Of course, if you have a compost bin, then at least throwing it onto the compost heap means that it will make for lovely and fast working compost. It really is great stuff. But still it seems like a shame, especially because fruit and veg pulp is actually quite handy to use in the kitchen. Depending on what you're using  your juice for, you can make loads of stuff with your pulp. It is very good in pasta sauces and especially in curries to give it body and sweetness. It can also be used for cakes, muffins and brownies, as you do in carrot cake. And finally, the pulp can be used for a very quick and unusual vegetable stock for any soups you're making. Here's a variation on our Japanese Ramen Noodle Soup with a stock made with pulp from our juicer. It was incredibly tasty! And very funky looking too! 

So whenever you're using your juicer, do try to make something with your fruit and veg pulp. Don't just throw it in the bin, at least put it into a compost bin, and if you want to have a bit of culinary fun then try experimenting with it. 

I hope this wee blog post has shown you how great juicers are and how endless the possibilities are, even with the waste pulp. Sure they're not cheap but they are a great investment, for your happiness and your well-being.