Dodging weather on the allotment

This week we've had:

Frost
Hail
Torrential rain leading to localised flooding - mainly where my beans should be going
Gales
Brilliant sunshine.

I've tried to get up to the plot whenever the weather has been 'clement' whatever that means, and I've been rewarded with some gorgeous moments when the sun has emerged and the wallflowers have delivered a small amount of fragrance on the still chilly air.

I'm picking bushels (or at least bagfulls) of purple-sprouting broccoli and looking enviously at neighbours who still have leeks and cabbages. This week we had the last of our kale too and I made it into Stamppot a Dutch recipe that is hearty and easy

Kale Stamppot

500 grams potatoes
200 grams kale, washed and de-stemmed, then chopped
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
milk and butter

Wash and peel the potatoes, quarter them and put them in a really big saucepan, then lay the chopped kale and bay leaf on top. Put water in the pan until it just reaches the top of the potatoes and add a little salt.

Bring to the boil and then simmer gently for twenty minutes or so until the potatoes are just tender. Drain into a colander and let sit for about five minutes. Remove bay leaf.

Mash with some milk and butter and lots of pepper and serve with strongly flavoured sausages and onion gravy.

Delicious!

Labels: allotment-kale, allotment-recipes, stamppot recipe