Gardening and Food

I've been making slow progress in the garden. I have done a bit more weeding of the patio and planted some more flowers in pots for outside the patio doors.

I pulled the last of the celery and barrowed round some more soil to top that bed up. Then I went inside for lunch.

What do you mean this is a bed for vegetables?
It is quite clearly a sunbed for me,
says Whiskey

Once he moved away, I planted a load of pea seeds, covered them over and put up a wire trellis around the bed.  This should keep Whiskey at bay, possibly also the birds who would enjoy small pea seedlings, and will act as a support for the peas.  In theory at least.

Not the prettiest bit of fencing I have ever done,
but it works

Next, I plan to tackle the warrigal greens, then the runner bean bed which is presently growing a magnificent crop of grass. Plus, there is stuff to do out the front.  Should keep me busy for a while.

I recently bought a Christmas food magazine. One of the recipes is for a deconstructed beef wellington. In principle I should love beef wellington. In practice, I often find it a disappointment. By the time everything else is properly cooked, the beef is, to my taste, very overcooked. If I am spending a lot of money on a nice piece of steak, I do not want it to be overcooked.  This recipe makes an open tart, with the pâté, onions and mushrooms cooked with the pastry. The steak is cooked separately then sliced and placed over the top of the tart.  I thought it looked rather nice and put it on my tentative menu for around Christmas and New Year. Then I wondered how it would work with Yorkshire puddings rather than pastry and gave it a go. I cooked everything separately and combined it all when the Yorkies were ready.

The fillet steak is definitely not overcooked :)

The dishes that I use to make large Yorkshire puddings make LARGE Yorkshire puddings which fill the whole plate. So I had to put the potatoes and accompanying vegetables on top.

They looked and tasted lovely
but really were a bit big
for one person 

Even Jim struggled to eat all of his. I need to get some smaller pie/cake tins. And add this to my entertaining menu. 

It's supposed to rain today. This may curtail my garden plans.  I am most definitely a fair weather gardener!