Cooking and The Garden

God planted a garden in Eden which is in the east, and there he put the man he had fashioned. Genesis 2:8

Nigel Slater, the well- known British cook and author has written in 2009/2010 what I consider to be his best cookbook, a 2 volume set called Tender/ Volume I is about vegetables and Tender/Volume II is all about fruit. His enthusiasm and delight in cooking from the garden he grows for many months of the year is infectious.

This is how his cookbook on vegetables, Tender/Volume I begins: “As the church bells chimed on New Year’s Eve, and fireworks lit up the night sky, I vowed to dig up my lawn and grow at least some of my own vegetables and fruit. In a city garden barely larger than the average allotment I could only dream of self-sufficiency, but over the next few years I would go on to grow dark, smoky-leaved cabbages, violet carrots, eight varieties of potato, speckled climbing beans and gnarled and exquisitely flavoured heritage tomatoes. Vegetables that have now become the new backbone of my daily cooking and eating, and have signalled an important new order in the kitchen.”

I offer you today a simple but decidedly scrumptious carrot and tomato recipe from his book on vegetables. I am aware, and indeed for many many years refused to buy tomatoes from the supermarket as they are not exactly seasonal. However I have happily relented from this abstemious regime, and now use tomatoes throughout the year, customarily slow-roasting them [divine on a homemade pizza!].

A soup the colour of marigolds  from Nigel Slater, Tender I

An onion, roughly chopped, softened in a little olive oil, [I add a little butter to this as it mellows the acidity of the tomatoes and adds complexity], in a deep and heavy pan. An equal amount of carrots and tomatoes (450 g of each makes enough for four), chopped and stirred into the soft translucent onion. A litre of chicken stock, and some salt, pepper and a couple of bay leaves. Let it simmer for half an hour, and then you can either blitz it to a thick pulpy broth in the blender. It … looks as bright and cheerful as a jug of June flowers.

In conclusion I would like to encourage you to buy this 2 volume set of cookbooks. Each chapter features a vegetable or fruit and begins with fascinating historical details of say, the carrot, in the garden and the kitchen, and a section on appropriate herbs and spices for each fruit or vegetable, for example: Seasoning your carrots begins like this: “Carrots appreciate being matched with members of their own family, working well with a little caraway, chervil, cumin, parsley, coriander or dill. [or] Carrot fritters (see page 174), if not being eaten as a main dish, make a charming side dish for roast chicken.”

Bon appetit.

Ruth