I wonder if I could ever have a kitchen as gorgeous as Nigel’s. It’s big and spacious, it’s sleek and streamlined and it’s really really tidy. OK maybe he had to do a bit of tidying up and chucking all the clutter in the cupboards before the film crew arrived – that’s how I like to imagine it in my head lol – but I’m pretty sure he’s probably tidy. I love the fact that the doors open onto the garden, I would love that. So inviting, the garden calling you, and you can just open up the doors and join it. *le sigh*
Interesting that he grows all his herbs in pots now. I always get a bit concerned about that and how they will survive the winter, but then I guess he’s safer in the London weatherwise. Every place I’ve ever lived I’ve always grown herbs, even if I don’t manage to plant anything else I always plant herbs, but then I *do* use them in my cooking but I don’t think a lot of other people use herbs so much.
Carrot and coriander fritters mmmmmm
Nigel visits another allotment – I’m getting the sense that he really likes them lol. He says that one of the reasons for growing your own veg is that you can pick them whenever you fancy, and that’s a big reason for me too. My neighbour and her kids have been munching peas straight from the garden this summer, and if my mum saw them doing that, her head would spin because they aren’t washing them, but really why do they need to wash them? There’s nothing bad on them, just water and rainwater, no pesticides or insecticides or anything else that’s probably on your supermarket veg, so why not just enjoy them au naturale. Fresh, as nature intended. The quality of the veg in the supermarkets lately has really gone downhill. I was starting to think I had a problem with my fridge as things were going off so quickly but it’s not the fridge, it just poor quality produce. As if I need more incentive for growing my own once the garden is sorted out.
The Gilmour family looks after six raised beds in their allotment and seem to be producing quite large quantities of veg. It was very organised and impressive. “The neatest allotment I’ve seen” said Nigel, and that’s definitely true, but then there seems to be a lot of them to keep it under control. Nigel cooks a “hearty allotment soup” with everything they have grown plus a little bacon.
I want that pestle and mortar he has, that’s a fantastic size!
Nigel also visits a large apple orchard in Devon which grows 98 different varieties of apple! There are over 7,500 varieties of apple worldwide. I loved how the guy (whose name I’ve forgotten) could just walk around and sample all the apples. I wonder if they do tours! He said one of his favourite apple desserts was a baked apple stuffed with raisins and brown sugar. This is a favourite of mine too though I don’t really think you need the sugar when you have the sweetness of the raisins (or sultanas) and I like to have them with custard.
Nigel also cooks pork and apples with cider, green beans with ham and cheese and sausages and mash.
Recipes are available on the BBC:
