So things have been very quiet on the blog for a few months, there has been a lot going on for me in the real world, Joel and I have bought and moved into our own house, we got married on a gorgeous sunny day surrounded by all our friends and family, Joel had a nasty bicycle vs car accident, which thankfully he has now recovered from.
We are spending time working on the house, making it ours and I have so many plans for the garden. Although with everything going on this summer the furthest I got with growing veggies was popping in the runner beans Joel’s parents gave us, and my usual salad leaves and herbs. Considering I literally stuck the small runner bean plants in the ground and stretched some string across the fence for support the runner bean plants did amazingly well, we have had a more beans than we could eat since the start of July. They are now coming to an end, the big chunky ones I have left on the plant till they dry out and I can harvest the beans to plant next year, the rest of them I have turned into chutney.
Our family friends Jenny and Peter make this chutney every year and it is always delicious – just the right balance of sweet and tangy so of course I had to get the recipe from them to make with my last batch of beans from the garden. The recipe came from the queen of reliable recipes – Delia, I should have known.
Spiced Pickled Runner Beans
Adapted from Delia’s recipe
- 900g of Runner Beans – trimmed and sliced
- 700g Onions – finely chopped
- 850ml Malt Vinegar
- 40g Cornflour
- 1 tbsp Mustard Powder
- 1 tbsp Turmeric
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 675g Demerara Sugar
Add the chopped onions and 300mls of the vinegar to a large pan and simmer until softened – around 20 mins.
Boil the sliced beans in a separate pan – Delia suggests 5 mins but I cooked mine for 10 due to now being a little tough, drain and add to the onion and vinegar mixture.
Mix the spices and corn flour with a little of the remaining vinegar to make a paste then add to the onion mix along with the rest of the vinegar.
Simmer for 10 mins, then add the sugar and simmer for a further 15 mins.
Pot the pickle into warm sterilized jars and leave to mature for at least a month.
Also here is a few pictures of our adventures over the past few months I’ve been away from the blog.
Fruits, Roots & Shoots 