The end of the season ...

Tiny little peppers like these, that turn up at the end of the season when the parent plant is about to head into death or dormancy, don’t seem to be good for a lot – in fact I see gardeners and allotment holders tear up pepper plants at this time of year and throw them away, baby peppers and all, and it’s such a waste! My favourite recipe for using up miniature peppers is this hearty Italian soup.


500 g minced beef
1 clove fresh garlic
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
2 large or a good handful of little green peppers, chopped
1 large chopped red onion
A good handful of green beans, cut into short lengths
1 really good stock beef stock cube in 600 ml water or home-made stock
200 g cooked rice (preferably wholegrain)
Freshly ground pepper, fresh basil leaves if you’ve got them, dried mixed Mediterranean herbs if not, a bay leaf and whatever other fresh herbs particularly appeal to you …

Brown the beef in a frying pan with the (minced) garlic and onion. Now simply add the remaining ingredients, except the rice. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for around minutes, or until peppers and onions are tender - you might feel you need to add some more water towards the end of the cooking time. Add rice. Heat thoroughly and serve.

Labels: allotment-crops, allotment-recipes