Autumn 2010
Kitchen Gardens
Autumn is a fast-paced time of change in the kitchen gardens as we see the end of traditional summer crops such as tomatoes, corn, zucchini, plums and figs being harvested and served alongside more typically autumnal favourites such as radish, turnip and foraged wild mushrooms.
After a slow start in summer, the orchard has been full of activity lately, with plums fruiting prolifically into late autumn and providing lots of work for gardeners who delivered box after box to the kitchen to be made into this year's breakfast jam. Quince trees are still laden and can't be harvested quickly enough to be turned into a sweet paste to accompany cheese plates. Figs came and went quickly this year, but were put to use in April in a delicious salad of fig, prosciutto, basil, mozzarella and 30 year old balsamic.
The new season has seen the introduction of root crops such as turnip, radish, parsnip, celeriac and salsify. Salsify is also known as oyster plant, due to its hints of iodine flavour and for this reason is served with ingredients that commonly accompany oysters, such as various seaweeds.
There is some experimentation going on in the hot house with turnip and radish seedlings grown in deep trays for extra nutrients, to a very immature stage at which the leaf and the just-developed root is edible. This allows the entire plant to be eaten whole. The very attractive little pieces are being served with calamari, aztec spinach, kohl rabi puré, hazelnut and wild slippery jack mushrooms, that are of such a high quality this season that they're being served raw, thinly sliced and with a light olive oil dressing.