New beginnings…

Gardening plans; pumpkin soup; a little kitchen chemistry and a moment to yourself…

A warm welcome to this, the first issue of my newsletter, ‘The Kitchen Nutritionist’. This will be the place where I share the highs and lows of a new growing season as well as my knowledge about food, nutrition and well-being. So, whether you’re looking to start your own veggie plot, want to stay up to date with the latest health news or simply need some inspiring ideas to grow and eat, I hope you’ll find something for you right here. If you have a friend or know someone who might enjoy this content please feel free to share.

A little planning….

As the garden sleeps and the soil on my veggie patch sprinkles with frost I make myself a cuppa, settle by the fireside and put pen to paper to plan this season’s crops.

It’s true that winter takes on a different pace for the gardener to the heady speed of Spring and Summer but although January may seem like a quiet gardening month, there’s still much to be done, albeit from the warmth of a fireside or the shelter of a potting shed.

The first thing I like to do is plan out what will be planted and where - rotating heavy feeders, like potatoes and squash with the less hungry chard, salad and onions helps the soil replenish.

Two of the most popular crops on any kitchen gardener’s list have to be potatoes and tomatoes.

Potatoes are among the easiest crop to grow and even with limited space their yield is impressive. So much so that they’re being considered by NASA as a viable crop for future space missions, back down on planet Earth all you need is an old bin or a large pot - just make sure it has drainage holes.

There are two categories of potato - earlies and main crop. This year I am growing earlies - their prompt arrival will spur me on for the season ahead and their sweet, crisp flavour will work well in summer salads, just at the time when I still need a little ballast to my meals. This year I’ve chosen to grow Pentland Javelin - it’s a little later than the first earlies but promises a high yield.

When it comes to tomatoes I like to be a little more varied - yes, they’ll inevitably be ‘moneymaker’ and why not? This salad tomato has high yields, is very forgiving and even does well when our Summer weather doesn’t! I’ve also got the beef ‘Costoluto Florentino’ on my list and my favourite from last season, ‘Ananas’ - this heirloom variety looks spectacular sliced on a plate and drizzled with balsamic and olive oil. I also fancy the idea of ‘Tigerella’ - a tangy tomato that claims to fruit three weeks earlier than other similar varieties.

I grow my tomatoes under glass but if you need to grow outdoors such as on a balcony or small patch of ground consider ‘Tumbling Tom’ and ‘Gardener’s delight’- these cherry varieties are reliable and work in smaller spaces.

Others on my list include the classic Italian plum ‘San Mariano’, the vibrant ‘Green Zebra’ and a new one for me, that apparently dries well, ‘Black Cherry’.

From the kitchen ….

January is a month for using stored crops and this week I’ve been making soup with my remaining pumpkins. I grew the classic Halloween pumpkin, Jack-o-lantern which as well as doing its spookiest on Halloween, stores well. Nudged on by the crisp, cold weather I fancied some warming flavours to my soup so I created this Thai inspired version. This soup freezes well - I freeze in single portions so there’s always a tasty lunch or supper to hand.

Thai Pumpkin Soup (Serves 4)

Ingredients

2 small pumpkins (about 1.5kg), cut into wedges

2 tbsp olive oil

4 shallots, finely diced

1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated

1/2 lemongrass, bruised

2 tbsp tomato purée

2 tbsp Red Thai curry paste

Generous pinch of turmeric

400ml can coconut milk

600-800ml vegetable stock

2 garlic cloves

1 lime

Heat the oven to 200C / 180C fan.

Prepare the pumpkin - cut in half and remove the seeds - these can be washed, roasted and seasoned to make a tasty snack or dry them and save for seed for the coming season. Slice the pumpkin into wedges - I leave the skin on and peel later. Place on a baking tray and drizzle with some of the oil, roast for about 25 minutes or until soft. Remove from the oven to cool, then peel off the skin and chop into smaller chunks.

While the pumpkin cooks put the remaining oil in a pan and lightly sweat the shallots, ginger and lemongrass. Stir in the tomato purée, curry paste and a pinch of turmeric, stir to combine.

Add the pumpkin chunks to the pan, followed by the coconut milk and stock - bring to a simmer and cook for 10-12 minutes. Finally add the crushed garlic, stir to combine and gently heat through for no more than a minute.

Take off the heat and allow to cool before whizzing in a blender until super smooth.

Return to the pan, add more stock if needed, and heat through, taste and season and serve with lime wedges.

A little kitchen chemistry…

I’ve used garlic in my soup but the observant amongst you will have noticed I added it late in the cooking process. There’s good reason, read on for the science bit!

When we cut, chop, crush, slice or for the bravest amongst us bite garlic we trigger a chemical reaction. The damage to the flesh activates an enzyme called Alliinase which gets to work producing allicin, the good-for-you compound garlic is famed for. The problem is as soon as we add garlic to a hot pan the enzyme stops working - in fact just 30 seconds in the microwave is enough to deactivate 90% of the enzyme. The answer is to prepare garlic at least 10 minutes before you need it and add towards the end of the cooking process - this means you’ll get to enjoy more of its mellow flavours too.

Other Kitchen secrets..

Pumpkin and squash are rich sources of the plant pigment beta-carotene - this plant compound is often referred to as pro-vitamin A because, once eaten, we convert it to vitamin A in the gut. Eating orange fruit and veg makes a lot of sense at this time of year because vitamin A helps keep the lining of our nose and throat healthy, and that means we can fight off bugs and infections more efficiently.

There are a few tricks to get the most from beta-carotene. First off, include some fat in your recipe - beta-carotene, like vitamin A, is fat soluble so we absorb more in the presence of fat or oil - I’ve used olive oil and coconut milk in my soup.

Like many nutrients, preparing and cooking can affect levels of beta-carotene but by adding an acid, like lime juice, and protective spices and veg like turmeric and shallots or onions we can help minimise these losses.

Thank you for sharing a few moments of your time with me - please feel free to share what you’ve been cooking in the comments below and subscribe for future editions.

Until next time..

Kerry