Rocket, radishes and recipes

I've been harvesting more stuff from the garden. I got some more radishes a couple of days ago, which I put into a ham hock and lentil salad. They weren't really big enough, but I needed 8 radishes, so I pulled the 8 largest ones.

Ham hock and lentil salad recipe:

Ingredients: 400g tin of Puy lentils, 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, 2 tsp of olive oil, 30 g of dried cranberries, 8 radishes (sliced into half moons), 2 tbsp chopped parsley, 100g of shredded ham hock, mixed salad leaves.

Method: Rinse and drain lentils then mix with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, then mix in all other ingredients.

They're very pretty and multi-coloured, but other than that, this radish growing thing isn't really going very well from a practical point of view, as I've only actually managed to harvest about three at the right size so far (of about 20 I've pulled up) and I reckon I could have bought the same overall number of radishes harvested at their ideal size for about £1 - £1.50.

I'm doing much better with the rocket. It's easier to harvest at the right time, as you just take off leaves to eat after it's got big enough to survive you doing this, but before it goes to seed, which is a much bigger window of opportunity than the radishes. And because rocket is pricey, I reckon I've already had almost a quid's worth with my first harvest and I'm expecting to be able to harvest more later this week.

It doesn't quite look like the rocket I buy from the supermarket. The leaves are bigger and coarser and some of them are positively bumpy like it's trying to grow spines, but it tastes the same and that's the main thing. 

It's also pretty much entirely unappealing to slugs and snails. They've largely left it alone. The only sign of pests I've found is that some leaves have small black spots on them which I assume to be some sort of insect or egg, but they're really tiny and practically invisible unless you look really hard for them, so I'm assuming it won't do me any harm. I read somewhere that plants that have been attacked by pests are actually better for you because they produce more antioxidants.

I made chorizo penne pasta with tomato and rocket out of it.

Chorizo penne pasta with tomato and rocket recipe:

Ingredients: 2 x 15 ml spoons of olive oil

150g of chorizo, chopped into smallish cubes

1 clove of garlic

2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes

400 g of penne pasta

50g rocket

10 g chopped flat leaf parsley

salt and black pepper

150g mozzarella

3 x 15 ml spoons of grated Parmesan

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the chorizo and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes.

2. Pour in the tomatoes and bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a saucepan of lightly salted water until cooked (8-10 mins). Drain well and set aside.

4. Meanwhile, dice the mozzarella, grate the Parmesan and chop the parsley..

5. Mix the rocket and half the parsley into the tomato sauce and season with salt and pepper.

6. Stir pasta into the sauce plus the mozzarella and half the Parmesan.

7. Serve sprinkled with the remaining parsley and Parmesan.