Glanbrydan’s Weblog

The pea shoots have survived a day in their beds without being decimated by the slugs or birds and I am keeping an eye on the weather for-cast for late frosts! We’ve gone back to trying to empty the freezer and use up things from the fridge. This morning I grabbed a pack of frozen lamb mince. Another of those bargains in the reduced fridge £1 for a pound. Good value but only if we eat it.

So what have we got to go with it? A few carrots, the last few spoon fulls of frozen peas, lots of potatoes, a mozzarella and some mushrooms.  There seems to be only one choice – shepherds pie of course.

You need:

2 or 3 table spoons or a glug of olive oil

1 onion diced

1 clove garlic, crushed and chopped

454 grams (or a pound) of lamb mince

50 ml of red wine – optional

2 teaspoons tomato puree

4 small or 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

a few table spoons of peas

a few mushrooms, peeled and chopped

salt & pepper

2 good quality beef stock cubes 

4/5 large potatoes, peeled and chopped up for boiling

Cooking it:

Put the olive oil in a medium saucepan and heat on medium

Add the onion & garlic and fry gently for a few minutes.

Turn up the heat and stir in the mince.

Stir regularly and turn down a bit if catching until browned.

Add the tomato puree, red wine and veg.

Stir in the stock and a good pinch of salt and pepper.

Add a wine glass of water stir and allow it to gently bubble away. It may need a bit more water so keep an eye on it.

Now bring the potatoes to boil in a pan of salted water poking a couple of potatoes with a Sharp knife every 5 minutes until the knife goes through them easily.

Put the lamb mixture in the bottom of an oven proof bowl.

Mash the potato with a knob of butter if you have it and add a little pepper.

Spread the mash over the top.

Cut the motzerela into slices and arrange over the spud mash.

Alternatives

Healthy options -

              Use a mixed carrot and swede mash.

               Add other veg to the mince

other ideas:

Put slices of tomarto on top as well as the cheese.

Use a bit of hard chedder, grated and sprinkled over the top

a couple of spring oniond chopped and mixed with the mash

The kitchen has been smelling nice all afternoon, we are roasting some chops for our Sunday dinner. I know a roast on Sunday is old hat but we love it! We had some big chops so we have tied them together back into the loin they once were and roasted them for the time it would take to cook a loin joint of the same size. We follow the 20 minutes a pound plus 20 minutes extra. I find chops can be very dry and this helps to keeps the moisture in. The crackling has crackled – not good for you but then what is these days.

Whilst the cooking was going on I spent an afternoon at work in the garden and greenhouse. I have put the peas out while I have time and they have a twiggy pea house to stop the birds, both the visiting kind and the live in chicken kind from enjoying a feast of young shoots. The bean posts are in with a row of bean seeds in.

Finally a snapshot across the garden to give you some idea of the work that’s been going on and the new parking area we will be using very soon.

The sun was shinning as I walked the length of the garden to reach the field. The air filled with the cool edge of a spring day which pretended to be summer. The sky a hazy blue, with the birds chirping their evening song all around me but unseen. I lent on the new gate amazed at the progress. The parking area is now dug out and covered in stone, there are two field sized gates from the garden to the road and one field sized gate from the garden to the field.

The new drains are working overtime and small areas of the field are a bit dryer. Walking the soggy clay track that remains in place until the foundations for the extension are dug out and that soil fills the void we walk up to the pond. Our wellies sticking to the ground dragging up splashes of muddy water. Our fruit trees look like sticks in a sea of soil.

We discuss the need to get some grass seed and if we should buy more trees now or wait until autumn. The next big discussion topic is where should the chickens live?. A dryish grassed area is found so we do that almost jumping up & down movement to establish if the ground is spongy.

Having established an area close to the fence for a bit of shade I wander off to the veg beds and T-W-O returns to the house. The veg seeds, with the exception of the carrots are all making a show. I am reminded that tomorrow I must plant further seeds and beans. I never did plant the parsnips so they are top of my ‘To Do’  list.

Is it really a weed

In the greenhouse the spinach seeds have popped a few leaves above the soil, the cabbages are coming through and we have pots of tiny cherry tomato plants.  In the beds the first row of broad beans and peas are creeping through the protective barrier I laid. Garlic and onions are well on their way and I think we have some Brussels spouts sprouting (I hope they are not weeds but not 100 percent sure yet).

I added a few things to greenhouse this afternoon leaving behind my laptop with a headache and a bit of a saw throat I hoped a bit of fresh air would do me a bit of good. I’ve added courgette and pickling cucumbers to my pots along with some sun flower seeds.

I must go and put my two apple trees as well as a plum tree  in situ along with my early potatoes. It would appear rain is forecast for tonight so it would seem a good time for a little planting. The poor fruit trees have been waiting to go in since they should have been planted so we hope they will settle into the new orchard, three lonely twigs until the autumn when we will add to their numbers.

The Brecon farmers market was packed with locals and tourists yesterday. We premiered three new dishes yesterday; Chickpea Italiano (vegan), stake and ale pies and picnic pie.

Chickpea Italiano uses our rich tomato sauce mixed with chickpea and served up as a pasty.

Steak & Ale pies in single size and a large family pie using a local ale.

Picnic pie is pork pie with a boiled egg in the middle making extra large pork pies.

We decorated the stall with little tiny toy chicks and mini eggs. The pasties sold and sold, we were so busy that when Iain and Lisa arrived (daughter& son in law) we weren’t able to stop and say hello. T-W-O went off to the shops to buy a few things mid morning (red wine) and came back with a lovely teddy for me. He is such a surprise sometimes!

Whilst everything else has been going on our house & garden improvements have been dragging. It seems that most of the trades people we ask for quotes are very slow in returning them. The structural engineer has disappeared off with our plans and we have no idea when he will return the beam sizes and roof layout we need.

However one exiting thing has happened! The man with the digger has started this week. On Sunday evening he delivered an enormous digger and he has been working away lifting the earth for the last two days. It’s extraordinary to see the speed with which the giant machine eats up the ground around it. Our quiet and skilled landscaper has removed all the topsoil from the parking area to be and put it safely in the field. The opening between the garden and field is now a big space and I know he has been up in the field all day possibly working on drianage or maybe the pond.

The digger man is a tall, slender, quiet individual with a wry smile. When I originally asked about the pond he asked how big I wanted it to be. I said ‘not just a tiny pond, something proper.’  With a smile on his face he enquired if I intended to row boats on it?

Having just been to look at his progress we may have a boat yet.

After the Llanwrtyd Wells food festival yesterday we are having a catch up day in the house. It seems the cleaning of our home as well as the animals won’t wait for us to have a day off so we’ve knuckled down and now the house at least looks a bit more welcoming.

When we arrived at the festival to unload there was a mass of producers all jostling for the unloading spaces needed. We were lucky though as we like to get there with a little time to spare, once we had finished and moved the car to the parking area more and more vehicles piled in to the limited space. Eventually it became a car park, those at the front hemmed in by those at the rear. It all goes off in good humour and everyone makes the starting time.

The day was a warm day all the food producers were in a marquee while the craft producers occupied the hall. The warm day brought the shoppers out to enjoy a pleasant stroll round the wonderful mixture of delicacies on offer. Next to us was a fascinating couple who import and roast coffee beans. They then sell hot drinks, some home bakes and of course the beans. A good choice of neighbour! On our other side a lady selling spices all bagged up in tiny amounts lovingly labeled and displayed in exotic looking baskets.

Love spoon ice cream http://lovespoon.wordpress.com/ were opposite us and we were able  to sample their wonderful vanilla ice cream. Other stall holders such as the chili stall, the pickles man, the couple who make bread  and the french patisserie lady we recognised from Brecon farmers market. There was another spices lady we know from Llangynidr farmers market and a couple of  nice looking cakes stalls. This year we noted the huge array of beer, cider, whisky and other alcoholic beverages produced by micro breweries . Our Brecon neighbour who makes cheese was on the other side of the room and lastly there were some meat stalls, a veg stall and a few others dotted about the place. 

Soon after setting up we munched on a fantastic sausage sandwich each and this kept up going through quite a busy day until we stopped for a kitkat mid afternoon. Exhausted but happy we had only a couple of things left at the end of the day so we treated ourselves to a fish and chip supper.

So it’s a thumbs up for our first ever food festival

I’ve planted up a box of spinach in the greenhouse today & a few more broad beans