summer dishes

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

Gillthepainter and strictlysalsaclare: How do people bear the smell of tomato plants, especially a greenhouse full? Nose peg? They are delicious though

We grow our ones outdoors behind our pale walled garage. It's the perfect place for them in our back garden because the garage wall retains a lot of heat at this time of the year as it gets the sun for half the day.

Mr Stricrtly used to be a professional gardener in a hotel many years ago and he loves the smell of tomato plants. I've got used to them now I've got older. I didn't like the smell much when I was a kid though!

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Sound like you've got a very pretty spot for them, Strictly. And may I congratulate you on your choice of OH, being a pro gardener. Very handy.
Ours isn't a working garden at all.

I even have my basil pot simply on my kitchen window in its wrapper.
As Tony has filled up all the pots with flowers!

Can't say as I remember a horrid smell in the tomato greenhouse however.

Now roses, when our neighbour got hold of some ripe muck ...............................

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

Sound like you've got a very pretty spot for them, Strictly. And may I congratulate you on your choice of OH, being a pro gardener. Very handy.
Ours isn't a working garden at all.

I even have my basil pot simply on my kitchen window in its wrapper.
As Tony has filled up all the pots with flowers!

Can't say as I remember a horrid smell in the tomato greenhouse however.

Now roses, when our neighbour got hold of some ripe muck ...............................

Ha Ha Gill, I thought that too when I found out that Mr Strictly was a gardener and good at DIY. Those are 2 skills that I still lack in considerably, apart from decorating with emulsion paint! It was far more important to me that he was better at those 2 activities rather than being academic.

[Lusciouslush Profile]

I lurve the smell of tomato plants & even better a greenhouse full of them - heaven - if I could bottle that smell I would!


I can't understand how anyone could not like that smell.

I also like the smell of sheds, turps & Jeyes fluid - I stop at glue tho'

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I used to find the smell of a hot damp greenhouse full of tomatoes nauseating, but I quite like the delicate whiff you get from outdoor plants

[Renée Profile]

I used to have a large greenhouse and grew four varieties of tomatoes every year. I just loved the smell first thing in the morning when I went in to open the vents and pinch out side shoots. I do miss those days.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

I've always wanted a potting shed. Not necessarily a greenhouse.
I'd have one built if I could.

My friend had one, and I rather envied her when in pottering mode in there.
Mind you, twas a beautiful house too in Poole.

Turps, Jeyes etc. I sort of smell like that on occasional days if I've been going at it with the products, Lush.
Tony used to gag at first, but now is used to it when I come home.

[Lusciouslush Profile]

I lust after a shed Gilly - we have a 'normal' one at the bottom of the garage which is small & crammed with stuff - so no chance of potting anything down there - still has a nice 'shed' smell tho' No, what I want is a big girl-cave where I can put a wooden spindle-back chair & read the paper if I want to & just poodle about (read escape).

I know a woman who makes jewellery in hers - every mod con in it & gravel just outside it so she can hear anyone approaching ( & pretend not to be in!).

A couple I used to know had Jack 'n Jill sheds, but they had a huge garden & anyway they were more summerhouses than sheds - TV's in both, sofas, curtains up the lot - still, I wouldn't say no......!

Remind me to give you a good sniff when next we meet.........

[Lusciouslush Profile]

we have a 'normal' one at the bottom of the garage

And no - we don't have a shed at the bottom of the garage! - should have been garden - but the garage is stuffed with stuff too so Freudian slip........!

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

We had a lovely lunch today, Tomato flatbreads similar to the following recipe, albeit ours was minus the sun dried variety! I used some leftover HM cracker dough from the freezer for the base. Some of our home-grown tomatoes were used in it as well. It was soooo scrummy and definitely a recipe to make again.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/tri ... -flatbread

[Renée Profile]

What a lovely recipe, Strictly! If I need sun-dried tomatoes, I often make my own, by very gently frying small tomatoes in olive oil with a few dried herbs until most of the moisture has been removed. They have quite an intense taste.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

I love those sorts of recipes, Strictly.
In fact, we had mediterranean oven roast vegetables yesterday = courgettes, assorted peppers, onion, various tomatoes.
Lemon and oo.

With flattened chicken.

Leftovers going into a couscous salad today for lunch.


Good call on making your own dried tommies, Renee.
I used to when I saw tomatoes on offer at our local veg shop. My kitchen used to be dripping in condensation during the process.

Lush
one of these fine days, we should meet up again!

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

Thank you Gill and Renee

And now we have a glut of lettuce (oakleaf in both red and green) plus runner beans. Guess who's been scouring her cookbooks to find interesting ways of using them (both separately and together)! Luckily I've found quite a few ideas to stop us getting bored of them. Mr Strictly picked loads of lettuce on Monday - approximately 370g in total. Don't be surprised if I ending up changing my name on here to either Bugs, Thumper, Flopsy or Jessica in the next couple of weeks

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Lettuce soup, mixed lettuce salads with fresh baby tomatoes, grilled lettuce with Venetian sweet/sour sauce ( I can assure you, it`s glorious), Vietamese Lettuce Wraps ( marvellous), Fried rice with lettuce....
and of course, that age-old classic, lettuce pray....

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Nice one, Clive.

We had the same, planted rows of rather lovely oakleaf and curly wurly lettuces in shallow long tubs.
As soon as they were clipped, they grew.

Great for chinese wraps too - which you can make whilst reading a book they are so simple.

Peas a la francais.


Can't get my head around charred lettuce though that I've seen done on griddle pans.
Can't be nice ................... can it?

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

Lettuce soup, mixed lettuce salads with fresh baby tomatoes, grilled lettuce with Venetian sweet/sour sauce ( I can assure you, it`s glorious), Vietamese Lettuce Wraps ( marvellous), Fried rice with lettuce....
and of course, that age-old classic, lettuce pray....

Thank you for your ideas KKA, I'll be making a lettuce, mushroom and runner bean risotto tonight. The texture of the lettuce is a bit tougher as it has bolted slightly, so it is possible to cook it briefly without getting any seaweed-like slime in your finished dish!

No doubt you are all praying for some let up in the horrendous post election troubles. It sounds awful.

[Renée Profile]

Good one KK, also all the ideas for using lettuce.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

That sounds very fresh and summery, Strictly.

[Renée Profile]

Venetian sweet sour sauce sounds interesting, KK! How do you make that?

[jeral Profile]

If the lettuce is tough, what about pretending it's vine leaves, so stuffed and rolled like canneloni, snuggled in a gratin dish and baked, either plain with OO drizzle to serve with sweet chilli sauce, or smothered pre-bake with sauce of choice, e.g. tom or tasty (enhanced) cheese sauce as suits the stuffing.

Normally, it's better to parboil vine leaves I find but probably not needed for your lettuce if baked for 30-35 mins to cook or the filling, maybe less time if filling already cooked.