Green salad - allotment recipes

Today, I'm sharing a simple yet special recipe straight from my allotment. While this green salad may appear typical at first glance, it holds a special place in my heart. Using freshly picked vegetables and herbs from my own organic garden elevates the flavour to a whole new level, surpassing anything store-bought. 

For this salad, I incorporated the following allotment treasures:

mild green chillies

mint leaves

fresh thyme

parsley

cucumber

The only store-bought ingredients were olive oil, tomato, and iceberg lettuce. To add a tangy twist, I included  some Italian salad seasoning and a drizzle of pomegranate molasses. 

This salad was delightful on its own, but my hunger led me to create a side of my hubby's yummy humus. He simply jazz up all ingredients in a food processor: a can of chickpeas, 3 tbsp tahini, 1 tbsp Greek yogurt, paprika powder, garlic powder, salt, and olive oil. Served with flatbread. 

As I savored each bite, I couldn't help but appreciate the sweat, tears, and effort that went into fixing and growing my allotment, where I spend countless hours nurturing these greens to perfection. We enjoyed this vibrant spread with flatbread and olives, a testament to the love and dedication poured into our homegrown delights. 

Enjoy!

Herbs and vegetables from our allotment

A big dream my hubby and I share is to grow our own herbs and vegetables in our own garden someday. Since that dream seems somewhat far away at the moment, we've decided to take a step towards it by getting an allotment!

We cherish every day spent in our allotment, despite the hard work and long hours it demands. It's a wonderful way to spend our lovely summer together,  and it brings great joy to our kids too.

Recently, I harvested some vegetables from our allotment, and I can't wait to use them in various dishes and recipes. The lovely chard will be perfect for making dolma (iprax) along with vine leaves. We usually chop off the leaf stalks and fry them with onions and eggs for a delightful breakfast. I also like to layer them at the bottom of the pot when I cook the dolma; it prevents it from burning and adds a delicious flavor.

Next, I harvested some mint, which is versatile and works well in salads. Likewise, the cucumbers from our allotment are wonderfully crunchy and leave that refreshing taste in your mouth. To me, that's the sign of a great cucumber! I've also added the very mild chilies to my salad and used them in various stews, chilies, and soups I've recently prepared.

As for the plant on the left, we call it Tolik in Kurdish, but I'm still trying to figure out its English name. It has pink and purple flowers and beautifully shaped leaves. We usually chop it up and fry it with onions and eggs for breakfast. I'm excited to create all these lovely dishes using our homegrown produce.