Struan Farm

Weekend Baking

With both farmstay guests (from France) and family visiting Struan Farm this past weekend I was pretty much in baking overdrive. Friday I baked two loaves of bread, chocolate chip cookies, two batches of seeded crackers, and two desserts, one for Friday night and the other for Saturday. 

For Friday night's dinner with John's sister Julia and brother-in-law Scott I made Nigel Slater's Blackcurrant Almond Tart. Julie and Scott grow blackcurrants on their property in Western Canada, so I figured they would be interested in this recipe. Yep, think it was a hit!

For the sibling reunion dinner I wanted something relatively light, so made Dish Magazine's Lemon, Lime and Almond Cake. 

Served with softly whipped cream and Piopio blueberries and raspberries think it was, yep, another hit! 

Gathering of the Famous Five

Appropriating the title of a series of children's books by Enid Blyton. But rather than Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the Dog it was Carrick, Anna, John, Louise and Julia gathering at Struan Farm after a number of years to catch up this past weekend, with spouses and partner in tow. Yes, there were adventures just like the Famous Five, with swims down at the sandy beach and a drive across a former part of the farm across the road, now owned by neighbours. There was also a fair amount of family memorabilia brought out for general discussion around the table. 

I was charged with a dinner party on the deck of the new(ish) house, so we moved up the new outside tables from the Homestead for the occasion to be able to seat ten. The menu started with champagne (toasts of course) and nibbles, followed by gazpacho, then rack of lamb served with a tian of freshly dug potatoes and zucchini from the gardens and green tomato salad with roasted walnuts. The salad also had fennel, zucchini, and cucumber with a creme fraiche dressing. (By now you will have figured out my cunning plan: to use as many tomatoes as possible without being too obvious?!) 

And a sprig of rosemary at each place, for remembrance.

 

Seriously Slack

I try to work on a rotating schedule around the gardens here at Struan Farm, moving between the Homestead, new(ish) house, and the veggie gardens weeding, cutting back, etc., etc. But I've been so veggie (ahem, tomato) focused of late that I must confess to dropping this routine. Yes, I've done a bit of deadheading at the Homestead, but not any major weeding. I've been seriously slack and I know it. These gardens are really a full time job-- they take all that you can throw at them and more. A structured work schedule is essential.

Nothing like visitors arriving to (re)focus the energies.

All of John's siblings will be here this weekend, with spouses/partners in tow, something that hasn't happened for a number of years. And to top that off, a local Rural Women's Group is coming to check out the farmstay early next week. Now I'm not saying either group will be looking for weeds (no pressure Karen?), but I do want the Homestead gardens in particular looking their best. This week I cracked into it, edging, deadheading and weeding.

This was yesterday morning's effort:

 

 

Poor nephew Mike kept wanting to help and empty at least one trailer, but I wouldn't let him do so until I had photographic evidence of both full! One more bed to deadhead before Mike can empty the trailers, and I can get back to slow roasting tomatoes and planning the weekend menus.

Emma's Echinacea, Almost

The echinacea seeds granddaughter Emma planted months ago on a visit to Struan Farm have grown into plants and are on the verge of bursting into flower, FINALLY!

They should look something similar to one we already have in the gardens:

My suspicion is that they're waiting for her next visit to show us their colours, so they can thank her in person.

Echinacea is also called "cone flower," and is part of the daisy family. The name is derived from the Greek word for "hedge hog," think you can see why? There are nine different species, one in particular is used for medicinal purposes. We plant them because they are perennial, and the bees love them.
 

Tomatoes, Up Close & Personal

Yes, just a wee bit obsessed and inundated with tomatoes right now at Struan Farm. And as regular readers of this blog might expect, it was only a matter of time before Karen and her camera closed in on them. The shapes and colours are interesting, they're actually quite beautiful.

 

This last one is my Georgia O'Keeffe moment:

 

In the Soup

Next in line for the surplus tomato experiments here at Struan Farm is (of course) tomato soup.  After searching my cookbook stash and reading various recipes on the internet, I settled upon this recipe, based on its five star rating and reader comments. I thought that it must be good--it's the BBC after all, and have christened it "BBC Tomato Soup." Readers did suggest using less water or adding a potato to make it somewhat thicker. After reading this I only threw in the stock cubes called for with no water for my first batch. However I found it was a bit too thick after I pureed it, so did add some vegetable stock to get the consistency I wanted before freezing (moral of the story: everyone's tomatoes are different).

It's a simple list of ingredients: 1.25kg quartered tomatoes, diced onion, celery and carrot, olive oil, vegetable stock or stock cubes with water, a few squirts of tomato paste, bay leaf, pinch of sugar and freshly ground black pepper.

Once everything is cooked down it's popped into the food processor/blender and pureed before freezing. This is a quick, easy soup recipe that tastes delicious, I'm glad I found it. I'll be making quite a bit of it while the tomatoes last! Thinking we will appreciate a taste (and thoughts) of summer for lunch on those cold winter days heading our way.