As we get ready for a glut of apples and blackberries, not to mention courgettes and green beans, make sure you read our top recipes for later summer which use all the fruit and vegetables you’re about to have most of from the garden and the hedgerow.
1. Courgette and apple soup
Serves 4. Ingredients: 2 cups courgette (diced), ¼ cup uncooked rice, 4 cups chicken stock, 1 large onion (chopped), 1 green apple (peeled, cored and chopped), 2tbsp butter, 2tsp curry powder (to taste), 1 cup milk, chives (or other herbs) to garnish
Melt the butter in a saucepan and sauté the onion and apple until just soft. Add curry powder and stir, then pour in stock and bring to the boil. Add the courgette and rice and season. Cover and simmer until tender (about 30 minutes). Puree soup in a blender until smooth. Reheat gently, add the milk and season to taste. Serve garnished with yogurt/sour cream and chives.
2. Mixed-berry cake
Ingredients: 3 cups self-raising flour, 2 cups mixed berries (raspberries or strawberries mixed with more autumnal berries such as blackberries), 2 cups caster sugar, 3 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 cup yoghurt, 5tbsp butter, 1tsp cinnamon, zest of 1 orange
Grease and line a 23cm cake tin with baking paper. Combine the flour and berries in a bowl, add all the other ingredients and stir through. Pour mixture into tin and bake at 180C for about an hour. Remove, leave to cool, then remove from tin.
3. Stir-fried green beans with pork
Serves 4. Ingredients: 1¼lb green beans (trimmed), 12 garlic cloves (peeled and chopped finely), 6 fresh hot green or red chillies (cut thinly crosswise), 5tbsp vegetable oil, 10oz ground pork, ½tsp paprika, 1tsp dark brown sugar, 3tbsp fish sauce or salt to taste, 1¼ cup water
Heat oil in a wok over a medium heat. When hot, add garlic and chillies and stir until golden. Add the pork, cook for a few minutes, then add the beans, paprika, sugar, fish sauce and water. Cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes or until the beans and tender and most of the water has been absorbed.
4. Berry and apple crisp
Ingredients: 4 large apples (peeled and sliced), 3 cups berries (try raspberries, blackberries and blueberries), 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1tbsp butter (cut in small pieces), ¼ cup melted butter, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2/3 cup sifted flour, ¼tsp baking soda, 2/3 cup rolled oats
Combine apples, berries and sugar and toss. Place in a baking dish and dot with cold butter. Combine melted butter, sugar, flour, baking soda and oats. Sprinkle mixture over fruit. Back at 325F for about 45 minutes, until browned.
5. Three-bean salad
Serves 8. 15oz cut green beans, 16oz cut yellow beans, 16oz red-kidney beans (you can substitute any of these for whatever is thriving in your garden), 1 cup purple onion (sliced in thin rings), ½ cup cider vinegar, 1/3 cup vegetable oil, ½ cup granulated sugar, salt and pepper
Drain and rinse the beans, and combine with the onion. Mix together the vinegar, oil and sugar, season to taste and pour over the beans and onions. Toss well. Refrigerate before serving.
6. Stewed apples with cobnuts and ricotta
Serves 2. Ingredients: 4 large apples (peeled, cored and chopped into large chunks), 6tbsp caster sugar, 1 cinnamon stick, handful of cobnuts (roughly chopped), 20g ricotta cheese, 2tbsp lavender honey
Put apples, 3tbsp sugar and cinnamon in a saucepan, cover with boiling water and leave to simmer until apples are soft. Heat a frying pan and toast nuts until crunchy. Whisk the ricotta and remaining sugar until fluffy. Cover the base of two places with the apple sauce, soon the ricotta on top, sprinkle on cobnuts and drizzle honey over top.
7. Stuffed courgettes
Serves 4. Ingredients: 12 medium courgettes or marrows. For the stuffing: 1 cup short-grain rice, 2 tomatoes (finely chopped), 1 small onion (finely chopped), 1 cup parsley (chopped), 10 mint leaves (chopped), ½tsp allspice, 80g toasted pine nuts, 60ml olive oil, juice of 1 lemon. For the pot: 1kg tomatoes, 1 onion (cut into thick rings), 1tbsp tomato puree (diluted in 1 cup water), 10 mint leaves, 6 garlic cloves, juice of 1 lemon
Trim off ends of courgettes and carve out pulp without breaking them. Mix the stuffing ingredients and stuff the courgettes about three-quarters full. Drizzle the pan with olive oil, layer with tomato and onion rings and arrange courgettes on top, in layers. Add in tomato paste and place a plate on top to compress. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Turn heat down to simmer and reduce for about an hour. Pound the garlic and mint into a thick paste and add lemon juice. Add this to the pot after about 45 minutes. Once cooked (when courgettes are tender and rice is cooked), leave to cool and serve with Greek-style yogurt.
8. Sweetcorn chowder
Serves 8. About 24 fresh ears corn (shucked), 1 potato, ¼tsp vanilla extract, 2 pounds beans (try green, fava or lima), 2tsbp water, ½ cup shredded spinach, 1tbsp lemon zest, 1tbsp lemon juice
Place 2 ears of corn on oven rack and roast until golden-brown, about 20 minutes. Remove and cool. Cut of roasted kernels (should yield about 1½ cups). Boil potato until tender, drain and cool. Slip off skin and cut into ¼-inch pieces. Cut the kernels off remaining ears of corn and run through a juicer to make about 4 cups of juice. Combine the juice and vanilla in a saucepan and simmer, stirring so it doesn’t curdle, until it thickens. Remove from heat. Blend until smooth and return to saucepan. Put roasted kernels, beans and potato in pan, add water and simmer until vegetables are hot. Pour off the water and add vegetables to soup. Stir in the shredded spinach and lemon zest and juice, and season to taste.
9. Blackberry and apple chutney
Ingredients: 1½lb apples (cored and peeled), 1½lb blackberries, 10fl oz cider vinegar, ½lb raw sugar, 1tsp sea salt, 4oz raisins, 4oz sultanas, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1tsp ground ginger
Crush blackberries in a pan with vinegar. Simmer for 20 minutes and then sieve. Add the other ingredients and cook gently until thick (about 45 minutes). Pour into hot jars and seal.
10. Apple, bacon and green bean salad
Serves 4. Ingredients: 1 large apple (chopped), 16oz green beans, 4tbsp brown sugar, 3tbsp cider vinegar, 2tbsp parsley (chopped), 1 small onion (diced), 6 bacon strips (diced)
Cook bacon and onion over medium heat until bacon is crisp. Stir in the other ingredients. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until apple and beans are tender. Season to taste.
Follow Country Life on Twitter
