Grow Cook Eat

Far from humble, the potato is a great source of nutrition, and surely the most versatile vegetable in terms of how it can be cooked. Presenter Karen O’Donohoe joins the crew of a Thornton’s Recycling bin lorry as it collects brown bins from an estate in Dublin and finds out exactly what happens to the vegetable peelings and grass cuttings we throw into the bins.

Unfortunately, most of the imported supermarket tomatoes we buy taste of absolutely nothing at all. It is not until you grow your own that you realise this! The homegrown tomato is a delectable treat, and while a little TLC is required to grow them, it’s worth the effort.

This week Michael and Karen are growing a more ambitious vegetable – sweetcorn. Michael visits a friend’s garden to share slug stories and to compare non toxic ways of dealing with this garden pest. Michael and Karen install a water butt in the garden before Karen heads to Kilbarrack Fire Station in Dublin, to look at water harvesting on a whole other scale that has helped the Fire Service save over a million euros. Chef Katie Sanderson makes Sweetcorn Fritters with Tamarind and Chipotle Yoghurt.

Halfway through the series and it’s time to introduce the courgette or as Michael Kelly calls it, The Vegetable of Mass Production! Easy to grow in beds and containers so long as it is given plenty of milk, one plant can produce up to 40 courgettes. No wonder growers love to give them as presents at harvest time!

Once a vegetable grown to feed cattle, but now a staple ingredient for juicers everywhere, Kale is the fifth vegetable to feature in this series of GROW COOK EAT. This highly nutritious vegetable thrives in both the raised bed and container – despite a pigeon attack that prompts Michael Kelly to cover each of the three varieties sown.

Who knew French Beans were so easy to grow? Michael Kelly says French Beans are one of the most straight forward vegetables to grow – both the climbing green, and dwarf purple varieties, do really well in the glasshouse, raised bed and container. This week Michael shows viewers how to grow their own.

Peas are almost never available in the shops fresh, always frozen. As soon as a pea is picked from the plant the sugars inside it start to turn to starch which means the flavour starts to deteriorate immediately.