Leek, Tomato, and Two-Cheese Tart

Wondering what to do with the last of your leeks? This is a really quick and easy recipe - it takes less than 10 minutes to make and just 30 minutes or so to cook. It is also very yummy!

 Ingredients needed to make 4 individual or 1 large tart:

• Puff pastry (homemade if you like, but much quicker if you cheat and buy ready made);
• A leek;
• 2 large or 4 small tomatoes;
• 2 types of cheese - I use Feta and Double Gloucester because I like the contrasting tastes (tangy Feta and creamy Double Gloucester);
• 1 egg (for glazing);
• Fresh basil to garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 190C and oil and line a baking tray.
2. Roll out your puff pastry to size - I like making individual tarts approximately 10 cm x 20 cm.
3. Place your pastry on the baking tray and score an edge all the way round the pastry (about 0.5 cm from the edge).
4. Arrange 3 or 4 thin slices of your 1st cheese (in my case Double Gloucester) on top of the pastry.
5. Slice the leek, separate the ring of leek and arrange on top of the cheese.
6. Slice the tomatoes and add several slices per tart.
7. Cut your 2nd cheese (Feta for me) into small cubes and arrange on top of all the other ingredients (or fill in any little gaps).
8. Brush a little egg over the top.
9. Pop into the oven for approximately 30 minutes (keep a close eye on it after the first 20 minutes).
10. If you want to add a little shredded fresh basil as a garnish.

I like eating this with a green salad.

Tomatoes That I Will Hopefully Grow in 2013

Tomatoes are my favourite food. Every since I was little I have eaten lots and lots of tomatoes. In our first season on the allotment back in 2011 we attempted to grow greenhouse and outdoor tomatoes. It appeared the outdoor ones were not too fond of our lovely Lake District weather, so last year we didn't even bother with any outdoor tomatoes and just stuck to growing well-known varieties (Gardener's Delight, Sungold, Ailsa Craig) in the greenhouse. 

This year I wanted to try growing a few new varieties, but I hadn't really thought much about it. I visited Wilkinson's on a quest to see if I could find some Lebanese courgette seeds, which I did. My prized Lebanese courgette seeds were only available in a multipack and there was 3-for-2 offer on seed packs so I decided to also get a tomato multipack and a sunflower multipack. So, this year I will hopefully be growing:

• Orange Berry
• Costoluto Fiorentino
• Red Pear
• San Marzano
• Lldi
• Tigerella

I've had San Marzano tomatoes before, and they are very tasty, however I am particularly looking forward to growing the tigerella. I'm not quite sure how I will manage to fit all of these into our little greenhouse. They are all suitable for growing both outside and in the greenhouse. So if the weather cooperates this year and provides us with a lovely hot and long summer I could maybe make use of all my seeds!

Two Days of Sunshine and Two Tomatoes

We have been very lucky recently here in the South Lakes. On Thursday it was sunny and I was able to weed around the raspberries and harvest the shallots, and yesterday it was also sunny and we were able to harvest our first tomatoes. All two of them. Which, were promptly eaten by Theo (kindly modelling them above).

The sunshine seems to have given the fruit plants a bit of a boost. We have been awash with raspberries and gooseberries, the loganberries are beginning to ripen, as are the blueberries (at last). Unfortunately, the strawberries have not faired well this year, there are loads of them but because of the excess rain they seem to have either gone yucky or been devoured by slugs :-( I am a bit upset at this because I was really hoping to make some strawberry jam this year.

This is one of my Lebanese courgettes. Like most things, they have been slow growing this year. I grew these for the first time last year and they are the best courgettes to grow, ever! Last year I had tons and tons of courgettes off one plant, and they are so tasty. This year I sowed seeds for three plants, three weeks apart, in a hope to extend my harvesting season. Fingers crossed they are going to undergo a growing spurt soon.

It was even sunny enough on Thursday for the Livingstone Daisy's (Mesembryanthemum - meaning "midday flowering") to bother opening up! 

This is about 50% of our shallot harvest this year. I dug these up on Thursday and they are currently drying. At least these seem to have avoided any rain-issues. Unfortunately the potatoes look like being a different story. The Sharpe's Express first early's were pretty successful but we dug up some Arran Pilot yesterday and the yield was really disappointing - about 5 potatoes per plant. I don't think we'll be growing them next year.