In praise of PSB

One of the things I love about this time of year is Purple Sprouting Broccoli. I love it. Love it, love it, love it. For all the time it’s in season I buy bunches every time I shop and we eat it steamed with sausages, or in a risotto (yummy!) or in all manner of ways.

My newest PSB dish (inspired by this spinach recipe) is to make a tomatoey sauce, by frying some onions and leeks, adding some tinned tomatoes and some chickpeas or canellini beans and whatever herbs and spices appeal, simmering it until the beans are cooked through and the sauce has thickened a bit. Then pour it into an ovenproof dish, add blobs of creme fraiche, and lay stalks of steamed PSB over the top. Add a little bit of grated cheese and pop in the oven or under the grill. Easy peasy, yummy scrummy and healthy too.

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Photo Scavenger Hunt

Here are this week’s pictures for the photo scavenger hunt over on Ashley Sisk’s blog. No, I still haven’t managed to post on a Sunday, but Monday is an improvement. Baby steps…

Right, here goes.

Purple.

This beautiful orchid was a gift from some friends. They clearly didn’t know of my track record with orchids, but I am hoping that this will be the one I fail to kill.

Food.

I love the colours of these pulses, and really enjoyed swirling them round to get different combinations of colour and shape.

In disguise.

This is a mask I bought in Venice – not one from the touristy mask shops that are everywhere, but from one of the few proper mask makers who work in papier mache. (The Italian for papier mache is ‘cartapesta’, which I think is a very pleasing word.) I chose a mask style called ‘La Civetta‘ (The Flirt) which is the type worn by the female characters in the Commedia Dell’Arte.

Shapes.

This is a vintage ‘Double Wedding Rings’ quilt that I picked up for a song on Ebay. I love the shapes, both of the pieces (the circles are made of various trapeziod and diamond shapes) and the geometric patterns on some of the fabric prints – and then of course, there’s the swirling shapes of the quilting.

Photographer’s choice.

This is a picture I took this week by the river. I really like the way the autumn colour is just coming in – the yellows and oranges pushing inexorably against the green.

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