Download - News and Features #2
Every month has much to recommend it, even November, although I
can’t imagine many people would declare it their favourite. The glorious
autumn colours now clog the drains and with the end of Daylight Saving
Time there’s suddenly no light after work. Despite this, there are still
reasons to be cheerful.
The rst hard frosts are something to look forward to: they nally draw a line
under the gardening year. The lawn stops growing and even the weeds slow right
down. Those rst cold, crisp days with clear blue skies are to my mind among the
most beautiful of the whole year. There’s real satisfaction from getting on with the
task of tidying the garden up for winter. Fallen leaves are collected and piled in
their own compost bin to rot down into leaf-mould, an excellent soil conditioner.
And yes, although I’m a grown adult, I do still kick the drifts of leaves about a bit
before picking them up. As for weeding, the goal is to get the lot done before
Christmas so as to hit the ground running next year.
Garlic can still be planted throughout November. I deliberately stagger mine
between mid-October and early December so that I can send the superior fresh
‘wet’ garlic to Fifteen Restaurant over the longest possible period. Hardy
overwintering peas (try ‘Meteor’ or ‘Feltham First’) and broad beans (‘Super
Aquadulce’, ‘The Sutton’), if sown this month, will be ready in late May/early
June, a welcome couple of weeks earlier than spring-sown crops. That’s ages away,
so it’s fortunate that there’s still plenty to eat in the vegetable garden right now,
with the following crops newly in season.
November in Jamie’s gardenBy Pete Wrapson | October 29, 2015 | In Grow your own, Seasonal
RECIPES
FAMILY FOOD
HEALTH
DISCOVER
MORE JAMIE
GOOGLE+
SIGN UP
MAIN INGREDIENT
DISH TYPE
MEALS & COURSES
OCCASIONS
SPECIAL DIETS
WORLD FOOD
BOOKS & TV
FAMILY FOOD
CHICKEN
VEGETABLES
PASTA
EGGS
TURKEY
VIEW MORE…
ROASTS
PASTAS
SOUPS
STEWS
VEGETABLE SIDES
VIEW MORE…
MAIN
BREAKFAST
SIDES
ONE-PAN RECIPES
HEALTHY MEALS
VIEW MORE…
THANKSGIVING
PARTY FOOD
SUNDAY ROAST
GORGEOUS WINTER SOUPS
CHRISTMAS
VIEW MORE…
VEGAN
VEGETARIAN
GLUTEN FREE
DAIRY FREE
ITALIAN
BRITISH
FRENCH
ASIAN
MEXICAN
VIEW MORE…
JAMIE’S EVERYDAY SUPER FOOD
JAMIE’S 15-MINUTE MEALS
JAMIE’S COMFORT FOOD
SAVE WITH JAMIE
JAMIE’S 30-MINUTE MEALS
VIEW MORE…
MEMBER RECIPESREAD
WATCH
GALLERIES
FORUMS
WIN
MEDIA
RESTAURANTS
HOME & KITCHEN
FOUNDATION
NEWS
OTHER
BOOKS
TV
MAGAZINE
APPS
FOOD TUBE
FAMILY FOOD TUBE
DRINKS TUBE
BARBECOA
FIFTEEN
JAMIE'S ITALIAN
RECIPEASE
UNION JACKS
JAMIE OLIVER'S DINER
HOMEWARE
FOOD
FIFTEEN APPRENTICE PROGRAMME
MINISTRY OF FOOD
KITCHEN GARDEN PROJECT
FOOD REVOLUTION DAY
JAMIE’S FOOD REVOLUTION: THE NEWS SO FAR
JAMIE AND TIME OUT TEAM UP TO CREATE FOOD TUBE MAGAZINE
SUPPER CLUBS BY THE JAMIE OLIVER FOOD FOUNDATION
DRINKS TUBE LAUNCH “SHOW US YOUR LOCAL” CAMPAIGN
ELLIE GOULDING IN ALL-SINGING, ALL-DANCING FRIDAY NIGHT FEAST
STREAM THE FOOD TANK SUMMIT LIVE
FRESH ONE PRODUCTIONS
FAT LEMON
Jerusalem artichokes are divine roasted or mashed
You can serve Jerusalem artichokes in all sorts of inventive and delicious ways –
mashing, roasting or sautéing them is a good place to start. If you’re unfamiliar
with them, I should start by saying that they have nothing to do with either globe
artichokes or Jerusalem. I imagine that when the British initially encountered
them – they were rst brought to Europe from Cape Cod in Massachusetts by
French explorers – artichoke was the nearest reference point they had taste-wise
and the name just stuck. The similarity is vague at best. Jerusalem is most
probably a corruption of the Italian girasole, sun ower, to which the plant is
closely related. The foliage and tiny owers are similar looking. This is an
example, I strongly suspect, of the British tendency to anglicise foreign names to
align with sounds or words they were more familiar with or found easier to
pronounce. I always think of naranja in Spanish, which we converted rst to
norange and eventually to orange. Ever a nation of linguists!
Under the tall, swaying leafy stems lurk many knobbly tubers, whose avour is
mild and nutty. It’s an easy crop to grow. Like potatoes, pop one tuber in the
ground and you get a dozen back. Be sure to remove every one at harvest time,
however, or the ‘volunteers’ will sprout repeatedly and destructively through
whichever crop you’ve followed on with. Unlike potatoes, however, they contain
inulin rather than starch, which is apparently good for gut ora, but indigestible.
This makes them low in calories, but beware – they can produce lively atulence
if eaten in large quantities.
Deliciously bitter chicory is perfect for tossing in a salad
Every vegetable garden should have some chicory. In terms of timing it follows on
nicely in the crop rotation after broad beans, garlic or early potatoes and provides
welcome winter salad leaves. The taste is bitter, it’s true, but less so after some
frost, and once mixed with other leaves and dressed it becomes rather refreshing
and really lifts the whole lot. There are many varieties out there, many of which
come from the Veneto. Some – ‘Treviso’, for example – are robust enough to grill
or braise. White veined, red-leaved cultivars such as this and the round ‘Palla
Rossa’ are also known as radicchio. I‘ve become a real fan of ‘Variegata di Lusia’
and ‘Variegata di Chioggia’, both round, dense, hardy and beautifully coloured, a
dazzling blend of pink and green. ‘Castelfranco’ is another favourite: looser leaved
with a yellow heart ecked with red. If left to bolt in spring, chicories produce
edible owers.
Endive is a very similar plant to chicory (both are species of Cichorium), but is
non-hearting and less tolerant of the cold. They should be eaten this side of
Christmas. Some cultivars have smooth leaves but the frizzy ones are more
commonly seen in the UK. The centre can be blanched a creamy yellow and
sweetened up by laying a plate over it in situ for a couple of weeks.
Braise endives for a simple dish where the veg is the star of the show
Turnip and swede have historically been important food crops for both humans
and livestock, growing well in the British climate. Turnips mature quickly and the
tops make good greens. I’d recommend picking them when small and nutty and
adding them to a lamb curry. Swedes (short for ‘Swedish turnip’ – they arrived
from Sweden around 1775) are closely related but larger, hardier and sweeter-
eshed. It’s a useful ingredient for winter soups and stews and famously makes a
hearty mash. Before pumpkins became widely grown in Britain, turnips and
swedes were used for lanterns instead. Both store well over winter in boxes of
spent compost.
Roasted parsnips make the perfect addition to a Sunday roast
TAGS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pete has looked after Jamie’s garden in Essex for the last six years, growing
organic fruit and vegetables for both the Oliver family and Fifteen Restaurant. A
traineeship at Cambridge University Botanic Garden was followed by a stint in
the organic kitchen garden at Audley End House before he landed the post at
Jamie’s.
Pete Wrapson's blog
NOVEMBER IN JAMIE’SGARDENBy Pete Wrapson
OCTOBER IN JAMIE’SGARDENBy Pete Wrapson
SEPTEMBER INJAMIE'S GARDENBy Pete Wrapson
As long as you can get them to germinate – seed only remains viable for a year, so
always use a fresh packet – parsnips can be relied on from November until March,
when they start to ower. Leave one sometime: it grows tall and sports impressive
ower heads (umbels, in the trade). Cold won’t kill a parsnip, but if the ground
freezes solid during a cold spell, they can become completely inaccessible. It’s a
good idea to dig a few up in advance of any such weather and store as you would
other root crops.
Shred savoy cabbage and cook with a little butter for a delicious and healthy
accompaniment
Savoy is the most nely textured and avoured of the cabbages. Its leaves have
that distinctive crinkled appearance and become progressively more blanched and
tender the nearer the centre you go. The smallest ones are very palatable raw as a
salad ingredient and also exible enough to be stu ed. It would be a culinary
crime to boil them to mush. The plant may not look as thuggish as other
cabbages, but it’s actually one of the very hardiest and will stand all winter. If
you’ve grown a good one, you can be justi ably proud – it’s not that easy!
artichoke, cabbage, chicory, turnip, vegetable
MORE NEWS