Journal Monday 1st September

Well it’s September, how on earth has that happened? We have had monsoon levels of rain and I have so much to do in the garden, but as some of it needs electricity, and I am in no need of a perm, it’ll just have to wait. Jesus Christ, the hornets though! We have a quince tree and they are going mad for the fallen fruit. I don’t want to spray them on the ground because I keep capturing the foxes on the trail cam having a good old snack and I don’t want to do them a mischief. We also seem to have quite the crop of grapes for the first time ever, and because the birds with their little beaks have got the party started, the hornets are not far behind. I’m going to have to put on my big girl pants and cut all of them to avoid a full blown hornet invasion, but what the hell do you do with a load of grapes. I think grape jelly might be the plan, I have the home winemaking equipment but I need some yeast and sterilising stuff and I just can’t be arsed this year. Its amazing when you first move here you want to preserve everything, and then it just becomes too much and there are times when you just don’t have it in you to spend hours stirring a pot of scalding fruit treacle. It’s not like we use a load of jam anyway, my witching cupboard is already groaning with the ghosts of confiture past.

Today feels like a home made tomato soup day, I seem to have bought more tomatoes when there was already some lurking at the back of the fridge. As ever my recipes are vague but it’ll go a little something like this.

750g of ripe vine tomatoes (although this recipe can rescue even the mealiest of supermarket toms my UK friends).

Halve them and put them on a baking sheet with a good glug of olive oil, salt, pepper and (this is important) a sprinkling of sugar. This will counteract the acidity of the tomatoes, help them get a bit of char and bring out the sweetness. I might stick some sprigs of fresh rosemary in there, but as I have some fresh basil I’ll lob a handful in right at the end before I blitz everything.

I favour a slow roast here, so pop the oven at 160 degrees C and leave them alone until you get to a point where they have collapsed and have a slight char. It’s all about flavour this one.

When they’re done, tip them into a pan and add chicken stock to just cover. Remember you can always add more if it’s too thick, but it’s very difficult to take it out. If you over reduce it to try and thicken it up, you’ll end up with a really good pasta sauce, but not a soup, which is what we want here. Simmer for about 20 minutes or so.

You can leave it at that and just blitz everything with a dollop of creme fraiche, you can add a tin of white beans, or some tinned lentils. Roast the toms with chilli and garlic, also good. Add curry paste to your stock and a couple of handfuls of spinach if you like for Indian vibes. Use half stock, half coconut milk. Whatevs.

That’s the thing with soup, it’s a thing you make to use up your leftovers, and you know what you like better than me.

I’m conscious this is my second soup recipe in as many weeks, but it’s soup weather, so what’s a girl to do.

TTFN,

V x

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