Queen of the field crops
Summer really is a bountiful time of year. Basil wafts through the tunnels. Every day, beans and cucumbers swell, tomatoes flush with colour, and the garden team bring crates upon crates of summer vegetables.
Every year there are always some vegetables that thrive more than others. This changes, depending on the weather - last year we had hauls of tomatoes, this year, they are more steady. The front runner for enthusiasm this year has to be the courgette. Five rows of bristling plants are enjoying soaking up the rain and sun that the summer season has offered so far. Give them one hot, sunny day and over night you can go from harvesting 35kg to 60kg. They need picking regularly or they like to grow monsters, often known as marrows. You could be forgiven for thinking that they sense you coming, hunkering a little further down behind a leaf just to avoid being seen.
How to celebrate this glorious glut? Eat it! It's here for a few short months and then the frosts set in. So eat it all and in anyway you can.
Shop manager, Jenny, cuts courgettes into half cm thick rounds, tosses them in a pan with butter (and some more butter) and sautés on a medium heat. Stir occasionally and cook until nice and brown. Only salt afterwards (or they go mushy) but when you do, be generous. A twist of pepper, a drizzle of oil and they go with anything. Meat, salad...anything.
