Streamside News…New Year ‘22

Streamside News…New Year ‘22

Happy New Year to all of our members!

We will be reopening our doors for trading on Sunday 6th February, so please come along and renew your membership for the coming year. A reminder email will be sent to all members from 2021 closer to the time. We have some great things planned for Streamside in 2022 and hope to enhance your membership even more, so your annual subscription of £2.00 will continue to give you great value.

Please find a slightly shorter newsletter just for the next few weeks before we open, and then the spring newsletter will be sent end January/early February.

Seasonal Recipes

Breaded Chicken with Stir-Fried Cabbage and Sprouts – serves 4

Ingredients:

· 50g plain flour

· 100g fresh breadcrumbs

· 1 lemon

· Handful of flatleaf parsley

· 4 free-range chicken breasts

· 3 tbsp olive oil

· 200g red cabbage

· 250g brussels sprouts

· 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

· 1 free-range egg

Method:

1. Put flour in a bowl and season. In a separate bowl put the breadcrumbs and grated zest of the lemon, finely chop parsley and add half to the bowl. Beat the egg in a third bowl.

2. Flatten the chicken breasts by bashing them with a rolling pin between 2 sheets of clingfilm until they are about 2cm thick. Coat the flattened chicken in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs.

3. Heat 2 tbsp on oil in a large pan and when hot fry the coated chicken for 6-8 minutes each side until golden and cooked. Transfer to a warmed plate and cover with foil.

4. Finely slice the cabbage and sprouts to shred. Heat the remaining oil in a pan and stir-fry the vegetables for 5 minutes. Squeeze the juice of the lemon, then stir through the mustard. Serve the veg with the chicken.

Toffee Apple Pies with Dulce de Leche – makes 6

Ingredients:

· 225g plain flour sifted

· 1 tsp mixed spice

· 2 tbsp icing sugar sifted

· 200g chilled unsalted butter roughly chopped

· 600g Granny Smith apples peeled, cored and roughly chopped

· ½ cup dulce de leche plus extra to serve

· 1 egg lightly beaten

· 2tbsp caster sugar

· custard to serve

Method:

1. Place flour, mixed spice, icing sugar and 150g butter in a food processor, and whiz until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add 2-3 tablespoons chilled water and whiz until the mixture comes together to form a smooth ball. Enclose in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, place the apple in a pan with the remaining 50g butter and 3 tablespoons water. Place over low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes or until the apples are soft and the liquid has been absorbed. Cool slightly then stir in the dulce de leche.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 6-hole Texas (185ml) muffin pan, then line the holes with baking paper.

3. Roll out the pastry on lightly floured surface and cut out six 12cm circles. Bring the remaining pastry together and roll out again. Cut out six 6cm circles. Press larger pastry circles into the lined muffin holes. Fill with the apple mixture. Brush edges with egg, then top with the smaller pastry circles and gently press together the pastry edges to seal the pies. Use any leftover pastry to decorate the tops of the pies, then brush with egg. Sprinkle with caster sugar and bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden.

4. Stand for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out pies and serve with custard and extra dulce de leche.

Some things to do in your garden in January/February

Fruit and Veg

Sow winter salad leaves like mizuna to grow in a cold greenhouse.

Plant onion sets under glass.

Sow broad bean seeds (ensure you use a variety suitable for direct sowing this time of year).

Sow a crop of parsley now in seed trays, transferring to plugs for growing on in the greenhouse, before transferring outside under a cloche (or continue growing in the greenhouse until the weather is warmer)

Sow greenhouse tomato seeds in a propagator now, for plants that will produce an early crop.

Sow Brussels sprouts, spinach and summer cabbages under cover.

Sow globe artichokes in a heated propagator if you have space outside for large plants.

Prune autumn fruiting raspberries if you haven’t already.

Finish winter pruning apples.

Plant shallots now to harvest in the summer

Sow the first lettuce seeds to start a continuous supple of pickings through the year.

Plant some tubers of Jerusalem artichokes now for an autumn and winter harvest.

Flowers

Remove hellebore leaves showing black spots of fungal damage.

Trim winter heathers after they’ve finished flowering, top keep them neat and compact.

Prune winter flowering jasmine after it has finished flowering and tie in any long stems.

Keep deadheading pansies to keep them flowering.

Pot up dahlia tubers in deep pots of peat-free compost.

Prune back whippy growth on wisteria to two buds.

Cut back ivy and Virginia creeper before birds start nesting

Prune shrub roses before they burst into growth.

Repot citrus trees in need of revitalising before growth begins.

Scatter organic fertiliser around the base of herbaceous perennials.

Miscellaneous

Make up compost mixes ready to start spring propagation in March.

Clean glass in the greenhouse to ensure seedlings get maximum light levels.

Ventilate the greenhouse on warm days to reduce the risk of fungal disease affecting plants.

Ensure bird feeders are topped up and bird baths are not frozen.

Gardening Words of Wisdom – or not!

“I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself” – Peter Smithers

“Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died” – Erma Bombeck

“I like to tease my plants; I water them with ice cubes” – Steve Wright

“Nothing grows in our garden, only washing” – Dylan Thomas

“If you are not killing plants, you are not really stretching yourself as a gardener” – J.C Raulston

“The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies” –

Gertrude Jekyll

“The trouble with gardening is that it does not remain an avocation. It becomes an obsession” - Phyllis McGinley.

“Everyone makes mistakes, but no one gets arrested for killing their own plants” –

Nigel Colborn

Wishing you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2022. Keep safe and we look forward to welcoming you back to Streamside from February onwards. The spring newsletter will be sent to members end of January/beginning February.

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