Camel Community Supported Agriculture

It’s time to… plant out calabrese and sow French beans

We’ve also been planting out leaf beet, cauliflower and cabbage, with spring onions, salad leaves and beetroot to follow. Other outdoor sowings include parsnips, peas, carrots and three varieties of leek.

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Seasonal local food recipe No.187 – Jane’s rhubarb and custard cake

I tried this out on Camel CSA’s growing team (they’re always hungry) and they gave it the thumbs up. It’s from Jane Hornby at BBC GoodFood and caught my eye because it’s had over 100 enthusiastic reviews.

Our growers suggest it would taste even better served lukewarm as a pudding with lots of Cornish clotted cream.

Serves: 16 (or eight hungry vegetable growers)

Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 1 hour (plus rhubarb cooking and cooling)

Ingredients

1 quantity Barney’s roasted rhubarb (see recipe, below Method)
250g pack butter, softened, plus extra for greasing (I used Flora)
150g pot ready-made custard, not chilled kind (I used Ambrosia)
250g self-raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g golden caster sugar
icing sugar , for dusting

Method
Make the roasted rhubarb first, carefully draining off the juices before you let it cool. Butter and line a 23cm loose-bottomed or springform cake tin. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.

Reserve 3 tbsp of the custard in a bowl. Beat the rest of the custard together with the butter, flour, baking powder, eggs, vanilla and sugar until creamy and smooth.

Spoon one-third of the mix into the tin, add some of the rhubarb, then dot with one-third more cake mix and spread it out as well as you can. Top with some more rhubarb, then spoon over the remaining cake mix, leaving it in rough mounds and dips rather than being too neat about it.

Scatter the rest of the rhubarb over the batter, then dot the remaining custard over.

Bake for 40 mins until risen and golden, then cover with foil and bake for 15-20 mins more. It’s ready when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean, so it may take a little longer. Cool in the tin, then dredge with icing sugar when cool.

Barney’s roasted rhubarb
Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Rinse 400g rhubarb and shake off excess water. Trim the ends, then cut into little-finger-size pieces. Put in a shallow dish or a baking tray, tip over 50g caster sugar, toss together, then shuffle rhubarb so it’s in a single layer. Cover with foil, then roast for 15 mins. Remove foil. Give everything a little shake, roast for 5 mins more or until tender and the juices are syrupy.

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Tasty turnips in our vegetable boxes this week

This week small and standard boxes will have:
* turnips (Camel CSA)
* radishes (Camel CSA)
* parsley (Camel CSA)
* salad leaves (Camel CSA)
potatoes (Newquay Fruit Sales)
cauliflower (Newquay Fruit Sales)
leeks (Newquay Fruit Sales)
rhubarb (Mitchell Fruit Garden)

Standard boxes will also get:
* broad beans or peas (Camel CSA)
* chard (Camel CSA)
* spring greens (Camel CSA)
extra potatoes
extra rhubarb

* = grown to organic principles

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It’s time to… prepare more vegetable beds

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Seasonal local food recipe No.186 – Parsley soup

You will need a lot of parsley for this delicious deep green soup, so don’t be put off by the quantity. If you haven’t got quite enough parsley, add some baby spinach, chard or spring cabbage leaves at the final blanching stage before you purée it. Take care not to overcook the parsley so the flavour remains fresh.

Serves: 4-6
Preparation/cooking time: 30-35 minutes

Ingredients
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil and/or butter
1 large bunch (125-150g) parsley, washed
750ml chicken or vegetable stock
300g potatoes, peeled and chopped
salt, pepperand a squeeze of lemon juice

Method
Start by cutting off the parsley stalks and chopping them roughly. Heat the oil or butter gently in a large pan and tip in the onion and parsley stalks. Soften on a low heat for about 10 minutes without browning, then add the garlic and potato and stir for a minute or so. Pour in the stock and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until potato just cooked.

Meanwhile, divide the parsley into two. Roughly chop one half and put it to one side. Once the potato is cooked, add the chopped parsley and cook for just one minute longer. Take off the heat immediately and pour the soup into a large bowl to stop it cooking any further.

Blanch the remaining parsley – pour boiling water over it, leave it for barely 30 seconds, then put it into a sieve and cool under the cold tap. Add the blanched parsley to the soup then blend it to a smooth purée.

Pour the soup back into the saucepan, add a squeeze of lemon, check the seasoning and reheat it gently. If you like a creamier texture, swirl in some cream or crême fraiche before serving.

• Try Lemon cashew parsley dip

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Lots of home-grown parsley in our vegetable boxes

All the boxes have: -
*parsley (Camel CSA)
*spring onions (Camel CSA)
rhubarb (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
potatoes (Newquay Fruit Sales)
cauliflower (Newquay Fruit Sales)
spring greens (Newquay Fruit Sales)
swede (Newquay Fruit Sales)

Standard boxes also have:-
*mixed salad leaves – lettuce/curly endive (Camel CSA)
*Swiss chard (Camel CSA)
extra potatoes
extra rhubarb

* = grown to organic principles

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It’s time to… crop the spring veg in our polytunnels

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Seasonal local food recipe No.185: Wild garlic pesto

I foraged the wild garlic in Camel CSA’s standard boxes this week from woods near our veg-growing site. This invasive plant makes a delicious, if slightly pungent, pesto. I recommend you serve it warm: stir it through freshly-cooked pasta or mash, swirl it into soups and casseroles or use it as a topping on pizzas*.

Preparation / cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients
100g wild garlic leaves OR 50g wild garlic leaves and 50g parsley
50g lightly toasted pinenuts or cashews or walnuts
50g grated parmesan cheese
150ml olive or rapeseed oil
squeeze of lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Pick the leaves over. Make sure you discard any flowers, coarse stalks, stray pieces of grass, dirty or damaged leaves. Blitz the garlic leaves (plus parsley if used), lemon juice and toasted nuts in a food processor or liquidiser for a minute or two. Then gradually blend in 100ml of the olive oil. Lastly, mix in the grated cheese, salt and pepper. 

This will keep up to three weeks in the fridge in a clean sterilised screwtop jar. Press the pesto down firmly to remove any air pockets. Seal the surface with the remaining olive oil to help it keep well.

* Thanks to the Red Lion, St Kew Highway for the pizza suggestion

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Local and seasonal produce in this week’s boxes

This week everyone will have: -
*  mixed salad – lettuce, curly endive (Camel CSA)
* spinach and swiss chard (Camel CSA)
* sprouted mung beans (Mark Norman/Camel CSA)
potatoes (St Lawrence Farm, Bodmin)
rhubarb (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
spring greens (Newquay Fruit Sales)
cauliflower (Newquay Fruit Sales)

Standard boxes will have extra potatoes and rhubarb plus:
wild garlic (foraged by Charlotte Barry)
bay leaves (Bridget Gould)
purple sprouting broccoli (Tom Corbishley)

* = grown to organic principles

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It’s time to… hoe the broad beans and sow more peas

Camel CSA’s growing team are hard at work keeping the weeds at bay. We’re also busy getting more seeds sown outdoors.

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