Splendid Summer Solstice – red onion and rocket pizza

I have been so lucky with the wide variety of lettuce that have sprung up – most of them from saved or swapped seed.

Some overwintered and provided the first greens of the year despite the vicious cold spell we had in early March.

The others have thrived once they escaped the confines of the modules I sowed them in.

And now we’re reaping the benefits – picking just as many leaves as we need (the plant is allowed to stay in the ground to continue growing – a tip from no dig guru, Charles Dowding).

In the kitchen we’ve been making big bold salad bowls by adding at least three varieties of basil, garlic chives, fresh parsley and frothy fronds of fennel.

Purple star-like borage flowers and the yellow and white petals of Shungiku or chrysanthemum greens that have flowered have been the final touch – so beautiful that it seems a shame to eat it.

Elsewhere in garden

The beetroot are swelling, the peas are podding and the broad beans are almost big enough to coax out of their vivid green velvet jackets.

There are the first signs of fruit on the courgette/zucchini plants and the apple and pear trees have just had their “June drop” – that’s when they shed some early fruit giving the ones left on the tree a good chance of reaching maturity.

The early Florence fennel has produced crunchy white edible bulbs (mound up the earth around the bulb as it’s growing to encourage this).

I have served it raw in a salad with zingy, slightly sharp Valencia oranges from Spain!

I shall sow some more this weekend which should see us through to Christmas if protected from very cold conditions.

Mister Motivator

I’m sure Steve will hate being called that – but that’s the effect he had on a visit last weekend.

He’s a fellow gardener, cook, river swimmer and Sacred Harp singer from Bristol.

We accomplished a lot in the garden.

We planted out pumpkins and cabbage.

We weeded and heavily mulched the badly neglected raspberries with the last of my home made compost – and they seemed to perk up almost immediately.

We also built a new compost heap – combining and turning two smaller heaps to make a new mother heap in the bay we’d emptied.

Tiring but satisfying work.

This growing season has been wonderful so far because of the help and encouragement and advice I’ve had from friends.

I’ll leave you with a rough recipe for rocket, red onion and oregano pizza.

Another good combo is pre-wilted and chopped spinach or swiss chard with onion, tomato sauce, capers – baked then topped with fried crumbled sage leaves.

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Red onion, Rocket and Oregano pizza

Servings: 8

Author: Cath

Ingredients

Pizza dough enough for 2 x 26cm pizzas

• 1 tbsp instant dried yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 400 gr plain or strong bread flour
• 1 cup lukewarm water

Instructions

1. Mix dry ingredients together.

   
   

2. Add water and oil mixed together first.

3. Make a smooth dough and knead for between 8 and 10 minutes or until you can pull and stretch a section of dough so thin it makes a window you can almost look through (Steve Brett's top tip).

4. Grease or flour a large bowl and transfer the dough and cover. Leave until it's doubled in size in a draught free place.

5. Knock back and leave for 45 minutes.

6. Divide in half and roll out thinly. Leave to rest for 5 minutes.

7. Cover with thinly sliced red onion (mine were a gift from friend Dianne Chittock), rocket torn into small pieces, then a cup of tomato sauce, and 2 tbsp (yes that much!) oregano and then drizzle on 1/3 cup olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  

8. Bake for 15 minutes in a very hot oven or until edges are crisp. 

9. Slide onto an oven rack for a further five minutes to crisp the base.

Recipe courtesy Stephanie Alexander, The Cook’s Companion