Tapas-style tea

Chilli spiced potatoes

Scrub the skins of some baby new potatoes and cut into pieces a bit bigger than an inch. Heat some olive oil, chilli oil and paprika in a frying pan then toss the potatoes in and coat the potatoes thoroughly. Turn the heat down low and cook for 15 - 20 minutes until golden browned and softened.

Artichoke and asparagus salad

Snap and discard the woody ends from some asparagus spears. Boil the asparagus spears in salted water for about 3 minutes, drain and set aside. Quarter some globe artichoke hearts and mix with the asparagus spears,  Add some lemon zest, lemon juice and sesame oil into the artichoke and asparagus and season with pepper.

Comfrey, hop, courgette and chipotle tortilla

Slice up some baby courgettes and gently fry in a frying pan with olive oil and some chopped spring onions.  Chop up a chipotle chilli (a smoked halapeno chilli pepper) and add to the courgettes and spring onions. Add some chopped comprey leaves to salted boiling water and simmer for 2 minutes, throw in some hope shoots, simmer for a further 30 seconds then drain and add to the courgette mix.  Mix about 4 eggs with some cottage cheese and pour over the vegetable mix in the frying pan. If you like it, chop up some goats cheese and sprinkle that over the top with some mozzarella. Continue to warm over a low heat until most of the egg mixture has set, then put under a hot grill to finish off the top and brown the cheese.

Plate the asparagus and artichoke hearts onto a bed of mixed leaves and nasturtium flowers.  Make a mint and cucumber raita to take off the heat from the chilli potatoes, and serve with big wedges of tortilla and salad.

Pea, hop shoot and goat cheese mezzaluna

I love the golden hops round the greenhouse - but they are misbehaving, sending suckers inside and then revelling in the heat and abundant water and crowding out my tomatoes - so it was time for another chop this evening.  I cut down a large handful of hop shoots (the top six inches of each shoot) and then realised that I didn't want omelette or fritatta which is how I normally eat them - instead I was rather keen to have some pasta.

So, I made pasta  using Doves Farm pasta flour mixed with egg yolks, and a tiny bit of water to bind, then rolled it into strips and cut out circles to make mezzaluna (half-moon).

The stuffing was made from an approximately equal mix of peas, hop shoots, goat cheese and mozzarella - slightly pureed down and then put into the pasta circles which were folded over and sealed. I boiled them for about 3 minutes then tossed them in melted butter with lemon zest, basil leaves and freshly ground black pepper.

I'm not sure that I could taste the hop shoots in there at all - maybe they don't add to the flavour - or just have a very delicate contribution to make? I think I'll try hop fritters next, or maybe one of my favourites: battered halloumi (a la Terre a Terre) on a bed of buttered hops - whatever, the hops are already planning their next greenhouse takeover so it won't be long.

Hop Frittata

The golden hop growing up the side of the greenhouse (LHS of picture)

April and March see the re-introduction of hops into our diet as the hop inside and outside the greenhouse gets going again.  I leave all the tendrils growing on the outside of the greenhouse as they provide some temperature control over the summer to the tomato plants inside, but woe betide any tendrils that come up inside the greenhouse. They are far too aggressive and invasive and as they send runners up to ten feet in all directions, have to be kept under control.
Eating them is by far the best way. They have to be cooked as they tend to have lots of silica spikes along the stems (that help them climb and cover) but these can be incredibly sharps - plunging into boiling water deals with this problem.

Probably our favourite way to eat them is in a Frittata. I chuck fresh garlic, hop shoots, cubes of re-cooked potato (or some raw grated pink fir apple potato into a frying pan with some olive oil and cook for a few minutes. In the meantime I mix eggs with a dollop of natural yogurt (Yeo Valley is the best), and some chunks of goats cheese and then pour this all over the potato, garlic and hop mix. This is then cooked until all the egg has set, and often finished for a minute under the grill to brown the top a little.

I vary this recipe throughout the year - its a great way to use up our permanent glut of eggs and the occasional glut of courgettes, patty pans and cherry tomatoes.