Savoury Fennel Cakes

My fennel has produced long abundant feathery fronds. I never knew what to do with them as I only had ever eaten the bulb and thought the top growth was used just as a herb or garnish. But then I bought the Kitchen Sisters (a fantastic radio programme on NPR in the USA) Hidden Kitchens book after listening to the series online. In it was a recipe for Wild Fennel Cakes from a guy in San Francisco called Angelo Garro. I use my cultivated fennel instead and it is a revelation and absolutely my favourite thing. Sometimes I brush the cakes with olive oil and bake or grill them instead of frying them as the recipe suggests. (Sorry about the poor quality of the photo!)

I also play the quantities by ear but you do need a lot of the fronds to make this.

1.5 lbs of wild fennel fronds
3 eggs
1 cup high-quality parmesan cheese
1 cup coarse bread crumbs (made from day-old bread ground up in a food processor or blender)
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Salt and black pepper to taste
Extra virgin olive oil
Peanut 0il

Directions for gathering and cooking:
Gather young fennel fronds –-- about 1 1/2 pounds. Fennel hearts are the bright green, furry piece that is in the center of the stalk of fennel. When you're gathering them, pick only the fronds and lay them in a paper bag horizontally -- all the tops should be pointing in the same direction. Keep them laying horizontally as you wash them gently in a bucket of water, holding them in your hands to avoid bruising.
Wash and parboil for 15-20 minutes. Make sure to wash fronds very well. Lay the stalks on the cutting board and chop finely. Taste to make sure they are tender. Drain and dry in own steam -- you can stir a little with a wooden spoon to help the cooling process. When the fronds are cold, place in a bowl.
Mix all the dry ingredients together. Form into patties. Heat cast iron or non-sticking frying pan with a very little bit of olive oil cut with a very small amount of peanut oil. Fry fennel cakes on both sides until golden brown. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drain again on a paper towel. Best when served warm.
NB I don't use the really big stalks but strip the thinner ones of the main one.






Here a two of the three zucchini I planted with seeds given to me by my friend Darren. They were just about to go into the ground that has been mulched with mushroom compost. It keeps the moisture in and that's important I think for gross feeders like zucchini.

I have also planted my uchiki japanese onion squash which were a great success last year and saw me through the winter because they stored very well (I handled them very carefully to avoid bruising and rot setting in).

I have also planted out almost all of my borlotti beans which I persevered with even though many of the first sowing rotted in the ground and didn't germinate.

New sowings of endive and lettuce are also ready to go while a couple of my first lettuce planted from modules a couple of months ago are already running to seed!

The onions are looking great - I have been told to pick off the seed heads as soon as they form. I will harvest them and
the garlic soon.

Strawberries are also producing beautiful tasty fruit. I have to get them before the slugs and blackbirds do - so far not doing too badly.

I made a great lasagne the other day. Sheets of pasta layered alternately with homemade tomato sauce, ricotta (2 x 250g tubs) mixed with cooked swiss chard chopped, peas and a tablespoon or two of pesto mixed in. Finish off with grated cheddar and parmesan.

Green Tsunami

Last night when I was having a drink in the local pub we were talking about how busy we all were in the garden and I said it was like a green tidal wave of plants ...it makes you feel you are always behind schedule. But yesterday and a couple of weeks ago I have had some help for a couple of hours on a Saturday from my friend Di.

Here's the cucumber frame we built for the plants to grow up!

We also built another pea and bean frame - I have mangetout that grow to more than 6ft tall and I am hoping despite germination problems to have a decent crop of borlotti beans that are also a climbing variety.

I harvested my first early potatoes today and cooked them with swiss chard (the recipe said spinach) onion, garlic, cayenne pepper and garam masala - oooh and nearly forgot some black mustard seeds - forgot to take a photo but the spuds were absolutely wonderful and almost sweet (variety SWIFT).

I also transplanted from modules some spinach, scorzonera, endive and leek seedlings.

We did a lot of weeding yesterday and the red cabbages are breathing a sigh of relief as they were becoming throttled by bindweed and thistles.

My pumpkin and zucchini plants are coming on and I am now acclimatising them to outdoor life by transferring them to my outdoor potting table where they are fairly sheltered from the wind. Hopefully they will transplant successfully sometime in the next week.

I am going on holiday in 3 weeks time so the countdown really has begun to get all the seeds and seedlings in!

The tomatoes (Oxheart Italian variety) have their first flower buds on which is very exciting and have flourished since they were planted in their big containers in the glasshouse/shed.

Seedlings galore!

This is one of about ten outdoor cucumber seeds (Marketmore) I have successfully germinated. I shall have to give some to allotment neighbours as I have too many. I now have to think up a way of making a frame for them to grow up.One possibility is an old wooden frame (that had glass in it but it smashed) which is about 4ft x 3ft. But it may not be big enough.

My greenhouse shelving is groaning with seedlings. I tend to sow in modules and then plant out once the little things have a chance against the bugs and slugs.

It seems to work well. Today I planted out some red cabbage seedlings next to the potatoes that are looking very good. Here is a picture of their cousins the Savoys that are ready to go out to. Just have to decide where now. I have to remember not to plant them where there were cabbages last year (I had loads so that doen't leave much option!)

I also have leeks, more mangetout (the second or third sowing to make sure of consistent crop and not too many gluts), Borlotti beans (not up yet) climbing french bean (yellow and called Meraviglia di Venezia or Marvel of Venice) ordinary french bean.

I also have tomatoes (Cuor di Bue or Oxheart) that look good and coriander. With other herbs like basil I don't sow I just buy a big pot from a supermarket and spilt the plants up into separate pots - you can make 12 out of 1 that way and it lasts all summer - then I freeze as pesto.

I will plant more radish this week. And continue the digging frenzy which has been made very hard (literally) by the lack of rain for almost 2 weeks. The ground is like concrete. I held off watering till today but finally succumbed because everything was looking SO dry.

I weeded my asparagus patch - the spears are now two feet tall. I haven't harvested any as there is only one spear per plant and I don't want to wreck my chances of a bumper crop next year.

I will go up again this afternoon later on and sow courgette seed. I have sent off for more uchiki pumpkin seeds as the seed I saved from last year may be a result of cross pollination and not come true and I may end up with some mutant day of the triffid type squash.

Mangetout and Fennel

I shall be interested to see if the fennel seedlings bolt again like last year. I found they did much better at the mid to end of the growing season and I was harvesting them up until Christmas. But despite that I have tried a few again at the beginning of the vegetable year. Along side them are about twenty mangetout pea seedlings all brought on in modules in the glass house until ready to plant out. I've put long canes in for them to grow up.
I have also put in Meraviglia di Venezia - a yellow butter climbing bean - good dressed with umeboshi vinegar and some french beans which did well last year - they're both in modules and will be planted out when they are strong enough to fend off the slugs.

Some parsley (flat leaf) has germinated but my celery is very poor - I'm still waiting for them.
Today I hoed onions and garlic - some I did earlier in the week have benefited hugely from the experience and seem to have double in size in a very short time. They like the air and as well as the removal of the weeds.
The rapsberry bed had a good airing too! It was terribly weedy and the new raspberry shoots (Autumn Bliss variety) were competing with nettle, thistle creeping buttercup and dandelion as well as other baddies!
I will hoe the broad beans tomorrow and give them a boost. My routine is always to fit in at least twenty minutes to half an hour of weeding every time I go up to the allotment - Otherwise it gets ridiculous and they take over. Little and often really is a good adage.
And when it rains, which we're hoping it will in the next couple of days, the water won't run off the clay pan but will be absorbed much more by the broken-up top layer of soil and penetrate more deeply.




This year will be a good year for fruit I'm told. The late frosts have held off so far and the blossom has remained unblemished and should produce good apples,tayberries, raspberries (not sure about quince! I had to water the tree today as the leaves looked as if they were droopy and lacking in vitality!).

The rhubarb is now vigorous and growing well without any need for forcing.

My strawbs are a bit sorry for themselves. Some of them have died and others have spread. I planted them through plastic to keep perennial weeds under control on ridges. But it doesn't seem to have worked. Oh Well.

In the picture you can kind of see the beautiful pink and white apple blossom on my striped biffin.
Maybe this will be the first year it fruits.

First Asparagus

Wow! My first asparagus. Planted the crowns that have the wierdest long roots that you have to settle gently on a mound in a trench last year. This is technically the second year. And you can only pick and eat a few spears so as not to deprive the plant of energy. The third year you can, I believe, pick to your heart's content! A long wait but it should be worth it.

I also planted fifty or so lettuce. Little Gem. Drunken woman - a lollo rosso type. A frisee. Winter Density. Little Gem and Salad Bowl. The last three were given to me by P, my neighbour (the 87 year old who can touch his toes).
I have sprinkled organic slug pellets round them - just a few five or six per plant. I also planted some swiss chard and Greyhound cabbage. It comes up with a pointed tight head apparently. Name indicates fast growth.
My mange tout peas (Carouby de Mausanne seeds saved from last year) are doing well and I will plant them outside next week. They have germinated very well and I am succession sowing so that they produce over a longer period. I had rather a glut last year.
My tomatoes have been transferred from my windowsill at home to the greenhouse up at the allotment. They now have their first true set of leaves. The stalks look thick and healthy and not spindly like some I've grown before.
Today I made a beancurd, sprouting white broccoli and carrot Sichuanese dish. Based on the recipe for Ma Po Tofu in Fuschia Dunlop's book. Chilli Bean paste, fermented black beans, soy sauce and a little sugar and stock. Very good and nearly blew my head off.

Great Downpour

There was a great downpour in the afternoon that was like a tropical monsoon; huge drops of rain that at times turned to hail. It was a short lived but copious amount of H2O. Good for the garden that had become a little parched. The earth this morning has turned a rich dark chocolate brown colour - a change from the slightly cracked grey clay of the day before.

I did a lot of digging yesterday. I was surprised at the good condition of the soil in one bed - hardly any pernennial weeds; so a tickle with a fork and a gentle feed of organic chicken manure is all I thought was needed. The other new bed I dug over I covered with mushroom compost and some more of the chicken manure and then I laid carpet paths to avoid walking on the bed and compacting the soil.

This isn't very good photo - it's my bed of broad beans which I must say I'm very pleased with. They have nearly all come up. The recent warm humid spring has suited them just fine.


The very helpful P on one of the neighbouring allotments (he who is 87 and can touch his toes) has given me some fine green mesh to put on my glasshouse roof to cut out some of the harsh sunlight so my seedlings don't get scorched. Difficult to believe they could in English weather - but they do. You can paint also paint the glass with special green or white paint.


I don't know if this photo does it justice but it shows the fine green
mesh I've put up with the help of my friend Di. It took us a while to work out. Di also helped me fix the roof with an old shower door a while ago when winter winds blew out one of the massive panes of glass on the roof!




This is the sorrel I planted about a month ago. I love it cooked with potato in a soup.

Forced Rhubarb

The blossom on the wild plum tree at the gates to the allotments is just beginning to fall. I think it may have escaped the frosts and we could have many mirabellum plums in the summer - they make lovely jam.

It's been another stunning spring day and I followed up on yesterday's efforts to dig over some new beds - but found I was waning fast. My back just wasn't up to it so I weeded instead.

Then I planted some corn, cucumbers and kabocha squash which is called uchiki; a Japanese variety that keeps incredibly well and are not too big.

I have quite a few seeds in trays in my glasshouse/shed.

And then just before I left to come home I gingerly lifted the large bucket I'd put over my rhubarb a couple of weeks ago and Yes! It had some fine stems of the palest pink.

So I made a rhubarb coffee cake using a recipe from an Amish Cookbook I got out of the library - it is delicious and not too sweet. It has a crunchy cinnamon topping.

New Shoots

This morning was one of those still, damp grey days that are actually quite pleasant. Sound seems to be intensified; the birdsong was crystal clear over the hum of traffic from the southern bypass which is the other side of the embankment next to the allotment.I dug over a section of ground to make a new bed - I am changing the way the beds face and digging up the compacted earth under the carpet that I used as paths to give it a breather. I spread mushroom compost over the area and then sprinkled some chicken manure on top of that.I checked my seedlings in the cold frame - they seem to be doing quite well.

But nowhere near as well as P's. He's 87 and can touch his toes! He lives near the allotments and has been coming up here for 40 odd years. He has a greenhouse and shed at home and I popped in for a chat and a cup of tea on the way back to my place. He has more than 1,500 seedlings in plugs ready to go - mostly brassicas and lettuce of various types. Amazing! We all benefit as he is very generous and gives some of them away. Anyway his are benefiting from the warm weather and high humidity in his glasshouse and have come on at a terrific rate.
P gave me some early white sprouting broccoli.

I blanched a handful, cooked it with crispy pancetta a small glug (approx 1tbsp) of red wine vinegar to deglaze the pan. And then mixed it in with spaghetti and fried breadcrumbs. I used about a desertspoon of olive oil with a little chilli oil added. It was fantastic.

Mushroom Trip

Today my friend and neighbour Darren and I went to a mushroom farm in South Norfolk at Flordon and collected 5 trays of mushroom compost. We did the same last year and the muck spread on the garden seemed to benefit the soil and the veg enormously. It took us a whole morning.

We went in his truck which is former motorway maintenance vehicle that can tip up and so we used that function once we got the compost up the allotment to make the job easier.

We barrowed it off and had some surplus to requirements so we gave some to neighbours who were up there this morning.

I made a recording on my minidisc but as yet have not set up a host site from which to feed to the blog so you'll have to wait for the little audio blog of our trip.

Tonight I made Mr Xue's Sea-Flavoured Noodles from Fuschia Dunlop's book listed on my blog.

It had belly pork, dried shrimp, bamboo shoots, dried and fresh mushrooms, stock and shaoxing wine in it.

Absolutely zilch from the allotment in it though!

Warm spring days continue

The warm spring days continue in sharp contrast to the dull, damp weather last week. The construction you can see in the foreground of the photo above is a cold frame made by my friend Jim McKinney who also helped me build my shed cum greenhouse. That's at the other end of the allotment and I will post a pic of that soon.
Anyway, in the cold frame are seedlings, sown in modules, of lettuce (Drunken Woman - an Italian variety!), swiss chard (Bright Lights - stems are various bright colours), savoy cabbage, parsley, and Galician cabbage given to me by French friends when I was staying with them in February. There is no sign of the last two but the rest look very healthy. I have also not seen any signs of peas sown in guttering under cover so have given up on them and put in some mangetout seed saved from last year (Carouby de Maussane). My neighbour who's been on these allotments for 40 years reckons they were nabbed by mice. He recommends covering pea seed with holly leaves to deter the little blighters.
Other sowings include red cabbage, fennel, self-blanching celery, radish, carrot and sorrel (sorrel and potato soup...mmmm!) which is a perennial and should self seed every year to provide lovely lemony flavoured leaves. I have had no success with my carrots and I have such a bad record with beetroot that I've given up on that too.


This is some radicchio that has overwintered. It's a chicory and has a very bitter flavour which becomes less intense and for me more delicious when cooked. I find it takes me some time to get used to certain flavours. Mostly it's just a question of finding the right recipe and then experimenting. I made a radicchio and jerusalem risotto the other day and I've also varied it substituting leek for the artichokes which also worked well. It's become a regular and I take the leftovers to work and heat them up.

Here's how I did it:
2 radicchio cut lengthways and washed very well and then dried (I spin mine in salad spinner)
2 or 3 rashers of bacon (omit if vegetarian of course) chopped
1 finely chopped medium sized onion (omit if using leek)
2 large or 6 small jerusalem artichokes or 1 leek peeled and cut into small dice about 3 or 4mm
250g arborio (risotto rice)
40g butter
1 litre HOT stock (chicken or vegetable)
Parmesan cheese grated (about 2 tablespoons or more if you want)

Fry bacon in the butter until it starts to get crisp.
Then add the onion if using and the radicchio sliced at 2 cm intervals then the diced jerusalem artichokes or leek.
Fry for a couple of minutes on a medium heat.
Then add rice and coat with the butter and vegetables for anther 2 minutes.
Add the stock a little at a time adding more as the rice absorbs the liquid.
After about 20 minutes the rice should be creamy NOT soupy and will still retain a little bite.
Stir in the cheese and serve.

I've been growing my own veg on my allotment for two years. It's about a five minute walk from my house up the hill - or what passes for a hill in Norfolk.When I first took it on I had to pay a £60 deposit and I pay about £15 a year for the use of it. It is 100 ft (30m) long and about 25ft ( 8m) wide. It's come a long way from a bramble infested patch of ground to a garden that is producing vegetables and fruit all year round.

Today was a fantastic example of how good the weather can be here in Norfolk. A cerulean blue sky, pale pink plum blossom and the new green growth on the trees and shrubs.I have the week off work and the forecasters say it's going to continue like this for the rest of the week! Yipee!

I planted 36 potatoes that I chitted for about a month on my window sill at home - they looked pretty healthy. I had to get the ground ready which was still very uneven. But because I dug it over last autumn the winter frosts have broken it down into fine tilth which was fairly easy to rake level.One of my fellow allotmenteers lent me a huge pointed post with a handle and a foot bar that acted like a big dibber and I made holes about 10cm deep or so and popped the spuds in with the shoots pointing up and gently backfilled - hoping none of them would break off.

The variety is Swift which is one of the earliest you can find and I planted them about 18ins (45cm) apart or so. I didn't use a line to keep the rows straight; I tend to do everything by eye which can lead to some interesting results when the plants do eventually show.

I recorded some audio on the allotment today but unfortunately my techie skills aren't up to scratch

and I have to find a host for my "podcast". I waxed lyrical about my radicchio, cavolo nero, leeks and jersualem artichokes that I'm harvesting eating at the moment. Anyway I will try and post some audio in future once I've worked it out.