Kitchen Garden June 2022

GET COOKING If garlic is your thing, you will love these 1. Soak the bread in the milk for 10 Slow roasting a cauliflower in heaps of garlic extra-garlicky meatballs in garlic sauce! minutes, then break it up and add to a butter results in a tender and delicious treat. large bowl. SERVES 4 SERVES 4 2. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas Preparation time: 30 minutes 4-5. Preparation time: 5 minutes Cooking time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 1 hr 30 minutes 3. Break the egg into the bread bowl and ■ 500g (17oz) lean turkey mince add all the remaining ingredients to the ■ 100g (3½oz) softened salted butter ■ 1 red onion, very finely diced bowl. Mix well until well combined. ■ 4 garlic cloves, minced ■ 6 garlic cloves, minced ■ 1 tsp thyme, chopped ■ 1 large egg 4. Using a tablespoon and your hands, form ■ 1 tbsp parsley, chopped ■ 1 slice of wholemeal bread 21 meatballs and place them on a cutting ■ 1 medium cauliflower, outer leaves removed ■ 2 tbsp milk board with parchment paper. (tender inner leaves are fine to leave on) ■ 2-3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped ■ 50g (1¾oz) Parmesan cheese, grated 5. Add a dash of oil to a large frying pan 1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Mix the ■ 2 tsp oregano and place the meatballs in the pan. If softened butter with the minced garlic and ■ 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes your pan is too small to fit 21 meatballs chopped thyme. ■ ½ tsp fine salt comfortably, do it in two batches. Cook for ■ Olive oil for frying five minutes on one side, then turn over 2. Lay a large sheet of foil in a baking dish and and cook for an additional five minutes on put the cauliflower in the centre. Spread the GARLIC PARMESAN SAUCE the other side. butter all over it. Draw up the sides of the foil ■ 150ml (5fl oz) chicken stock to make a parcel . ■ 50ml (1½fl oz) dry white wine 6. Once cooked, transfer the meatballs ■ 200ml (6¾fl oz) double cream to an ovenproof dish. Whisk the sauce 3. Bake in the oven for one hour and 30 ■ 2 cloves of garlic, minced ingredients together and pour it all over minutes. When cooked, sprinkle the parsley ■ 50g (1¾oz) Parmesan cheese, grated the meatballs. Transfer the dish into the over and carve wedges to serve. ■ ■ 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped oven and bake for 15-18 minutes, until the ■ 1½ tbsp cornflour sauce is nice and bubbling. ■ ½ tsp salt ■ Fresh cracked black pepper 7. Remove the meatballs from the oven and garnish with extra Parmesan cheese and parsley. www.youtube.com/kitchengardenmagazine www.kitchengarden.co.uk | 101

LAST WORD Hear the full podcast at www. kitchengarden. co.uk/ podcast-117 Garden designer, author and TV presenter Joe Swift talks to On the Grapevine podcast presenter Daniel Heighes about all things gardening, including his new set of guidebooks It has been a while since you last had a book a city setting, how to layer planting schemes And it really is so easy to do too, from leaving out, a good 12-13 years! And now you’re so the view from the kitchen almost brings the leaves down a bit longer to having a small area treating us to a fantastic new set of five outside in and makes you want to investigate it. of water. I just love to see my garden full of expert guidebooks. But our gardens need to be a versatile space that life – it’s their garden as much as it is mine. If I know, it’s a bit like a renaissance, but these we can share with all creatures. the pandemic taught us anything it was to books are very different from books I have Now Monty Don is known for his dogs, appreciate those around us and just sit back, previously done. I have done an allotment Adam Frost has Ash the cat and Joe you are slow down and appreciate the natural world book and some designer coffee table-type synonymous with fantastic Panama hats. around us. The planet is a living, breathing books before. I’ve never been much of a sun lover – my thing, and we are all connected to it. delicate pale English skin isn’t a fan of it. But these are more inspirational and I much prefer a bit of dappled shade if I Cut-and-come-again lettuce is one of Joe’s practical, hopefully at the same time. More can, hence why I started wearing the hats. favourite veg like, okay I’ve just got into gardening, or I Although when I first started out the people started out a few years ago growing veg or would say you can’t wear a hat on TV, it hides filling my house with indoor plants; maybe your eyes. And nowadays I’m not blessed with wanting to encourage more wildlife into my much hair on top and I’ve actually had some garden. They’re written to be accessible and pre-cancerous cells cut out, so the hat stays, easy to read for all levels, and the publisher and we all need to start thinking about the asked me to inspire people and share effects the sun can have on us, good and bad. with them some of the practical skills and Rewilding, or making our gardens more information that I have learned and wanted to nature-friendly, has really taken off in the pass on to them. last few years. I see one of your books even has pictures of Our gardens are such important habitats and your own back garden in it, so it truly is a are such incredible resources for all types personal account in that sense. of nature and wildlife. I see it as a win/win Yes, the pictures are a few years old now and situation because if you make your garden my garden is constantly changing, but it shows come alive with bees, butterflies and birds how my garden has changed and in many and all creatures, it becomes an immersive ways charts how my life evolved from having a experience with sounds, scents and movement. gardener’s garden to having kids. So it became a more practical space, dealing with privacy in 102 | www.kitchengarden.co.uk www.youtube.com/kitchengardenmagazine

You can’t beat a freshly picked carrot Gardens need to be a versatile space Children can learn so much from gardening that we can share with all creatures The mental health benefits to be gained patio, balcony, or your front doorstep. exciting approach to our gardens. Encouraging from gardening and growing and enjoying When I was young and starting out you wildlife into our gardens is massive now and nature have really come to the forefront it’s not a trend, it’s essential. The sustainability over these past few years. were either an ornamental gardener or edible aspect is very important to people now, and I think we gardeners have always known how gardener – never to be mixed – but that has we are much more interested in creating an good it is for your well-being and mental health. changed immensely now. But all have something environment where plants thrive and don’t I’m so happy that it has widened out and been in common – they just want to grow. And it need copious amounts of water etc. generally recognised and accepted by the likes doesn’t matter really what fruit and vegetables of the NHS that it brings such a positive impact look like, they just taste so much better when Gardens are evolving so that people who on your life. And they even prescribe growing you have grown them yourself. The variety you wouldn’t see themselves as a gardener per se and gardening now as a form of treatment. The can get from growing your own from seed is are getting interested in growing fruit and veg, beauty of it is you don’t even need a garden, staggering. The lessons and enjoyment kids get learning about plants and just enjoying the little you can have indoor plants, have an allotment from growing their own is immeasurable too as it patch of heaven a lot more. People are engaging or join a community garden, volunteer for the teaches them about healthy eating, sustainability with their gardens much more, and it’s more National Trust. Whatever it is, there is a way for and the enjoyment and satisfaction of growing a of a process we are involved in; the seasons, everyone to enjoy gardening and growing. carrot, for instance, from that tiny seed. the life of plants and insects, the decaying tree Do you grow much fruit and veg? As a designer, have you noticed how the that sustains so much life. And it’s a wonderful Well, I love a cut-and-come-again lettuce, and trends for what people are wanting from thing to be involved in and incorporating all you can’t beat a freshly picked carrot. Also, their gardens has changed? the aspects of nature in one place. fresh herbs win hands down over dried ones Yes, I think people are really starting to value for me. And that’s the beauty of veg, you don’t their gardens and outdoor spaces, and we are You can read much more from need a big allotment, you can incorporate finally, I feel, breaking away from the lawn in Dan by visiting his website: it into your garden or grow in pots on your the middle with borders round the outside. http://thevillagegrapevine.co.uk And we are trying a new, different, more JOE’S SERIES OF GARDENING GUIDES Joe’s Expert Gardening Guides (Collins, £9.99) are available from all good bookshops. www.youtube.com/kitchengardenmagazine www.kitchengarden.co.uk | 103

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