Method
1.Add the oil and butter to a casserole dish over a low-medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender and very soft. Meanwhile, cut the leftover turkey, pigs in blankets or ham and root veg into bite-size chunks and set aside.
2. Add the garlic to the pan, cook for 1 minute, then stir in the flour and paprika, allowing it to toast a little. Increase the heat and pour in the wine, let it bubble and reduce for 5 minutes then tip in the tomatoes, crushing them with a wooden spoon.
3. Fill the tomato tin with filtered water and add this too. Leave to simmer for 5 minutes then add the chopped leftovers along with the mustard, thyme and chilli. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper, then leave to simmer over a low heat while you prepare the dumplings.
4. Heat the oven to 170°C fan/gas. Put the flour in a bowl then use your fingertips to rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the bread sauce and thyme leaves, adding enough of the milk to bring it together into a dough
5.Use floured hands to gently divide the mixture into 8 equal pieces and roll into balls. Sit the dumplings on top of the stew, then cover and bake for 12-15 minutes until puffed up. Remove the lid and return to the oven for about 10 minutes until golden.
Make #January the funnest month for planning your #growing year - have you decided what to grow? Let us know …
Did you
•See what your household likes to eat?
•Find out what your neighbours are growing?
•Seek out available space at home or in your neighbourhood?
•Plan a community garden with mates?
•Make new friends in the process?
•Start your own local gardening club?
FRONT AND BACK GARDENS
Lots of people who grow veggies probably use their back garden but what about all of that available space in the front?
A lawn can look lovely but wouldn’t lots of fruits and vegetables look even better? If you only have a small space in the front of your house you can utilize containers for growing veggies.
It can also be a lovely way to cultivate friendships with passers by….it could even be the start of a community growing group where you coordinate who grows what.
URBAN SPACES
If you have no outdoor space at all to grow veggies, that’s not the end of the matter.
It’s almost guaranteed that there is some unused space within your community that would make the ideal spot for a veggie patch and for bringing people together, it’s just a case of finding the area and talking to the right people.
⁃ @whitemoor_garden_project on Instagram are a great example of finding an urban space. Watch them transform it on their page.
Once you’ve decided what to grow, the next step is where are you going to grow it. If you’re fortunate, you’ll have a lovely garden with space to plant everything but sometimes you might need to get a bit creative and think outside the box.
SMALL SPACES
⁃ do you think your garden is too small for a veg patch? It is surprising how much you can grow in a 4 foot square area. Check out the square foot gardening page for lots of information. squarefootgardening.org
⁃ You can utilize the walls of your small garden by growing vertically, using containers and planting pockets. There are so many ingenious ways to maximize space, a quick google search is sure to have something that would work for you.