Cornish strawberries in the veg boxes

All this week’s boxes will have:
*baby carrots (Mark Norman)
*lettuce (Camel CSA / Jeremy Brown, St Kew Harvest)
*new potatoes (St Kew Harvest)
*chard (St Kew Harvest)
Cornish strawberries (Celtic Produce)

Standard boxes will also contain:
*bag of spicy greens (St Kew Harvest)
*mixed basil – Sweet Genovese, purple, Thai, cinnamon and lemon varieties (St Kew Harvest)
*extra potatoes and *extra chard

* = grown to organic principles

Veg box regulars probably noticed that last week’s bag of mixed basil contained an unexpected cornucopia of flavours - quite a shock to the tastebuds!

There are many different varieties of basil and Jeremy Brown of St Kew Harvest is growing a selection.  Some can also be distinguished by their thinner leaves.

Sweet Genovese is similar to the basil we’re all familiar with.  Purple basil, which is also fat-leaved, has a deeper flavour and a richer colour.

Lemon or “hoary” basil is delicious in a green salad. Cinnamon basil is from Mexico. Thai basil, used in oriental cooking, has a distinctive liquorice taste.

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Visit us on Open Farm Sunday

Come and see what we do to promote local food this Sunday 13 June.  Join us in lots of food-related fun and games - including a hog roast – on our site at St Kew Highway.

Camel Community Supported Agriculture members are holding this Open Farm Sunday event jointly with our neighbours Jeremy and Antonina Brown who run St Kew Harvest Farm Shop & Tea Rooms.

We rent our two acres of land from the Brown family and Jeremy is one of Camel CSA’s three expert growers.

Do come along any time between 12.30 and 5pm.  You’ll find us behind St Kew Harvest Farm Shop beside the A39 at St Kew Highway near Wadebridge.  

There’ll be family activities, guided tours, nature quiz and vegetable box raffle.  Delicious refreshments include a St Kew Harvest free-range hog roast, veggie barbeque, home-made cakes plus hot and cold drinks.

Join in the fun & games
12:30 Guided tour / lettuce planting, make bee nests & bird scarers
13:30 Tai Chi for kids / tomato toss, bull’s eye, Mr Potato Heads
14:30 Guided tour / lettuce planting, make bee nests & bird scarers
15:30 Tai Chi for kids / tomato toss, bull’s eye, Mr Potato Heads
16.30 Guided tour / lettuce planting, make bee nests & bird scarers

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Seasonal recipe No 47: Borlotti bean tagliatelle

This is a perfect creamy pasta dish that uses some of the fresh basil we have in the veg boxes this week.  It comes from the first River Cafe Cook Book Easy, whose authors are the late-lamented Rose Gray and her fellow River Cafe founder Ruth Rogers. 

Serves 4

Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 30 minutes

Ingredients
350g dried egg tagliatelle
100g pancetta
500g cooked borlotti beans (or tinned)
1 red onion
2 garlic cloves,
1 x 400g tin of peeled plum tomatoes, drained
3 tbs double cream
3 tbs torn basil leaves
50g Parmesan, freshly grated
extra-virgin olive oil

Method
Peel and chop the onion and the garlic.  Cut the pancetta into 1cm pieces.  Rinse the beans if tinned.

Heat 2 tbs of olive oil in a thick-bottomed pan. Add the onion and cook until soft, then add the garlic and pancetta and cook until the pancetta is translucent. This should take about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, chopping them up to make a sauce, and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Season, then stir in the borlotti beans and cream. Cook for 5-10 minutes, until the sauce is thick. Add the basil and 2 tbs of olive oil. Cook the tagliatelle in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain, retaining 3-4 tbs of the pasta water. Add the tagliatelle to the beans, adding the retained pasta water if the sauce is too thick. Toss together, drizzle with olive oil and serve with the Parmesan.

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Fresh basil in the veg boxes

The delicious smell of new season basil is wafting around the veg boxes.  We’ve got a wonderful selection of spring vegetables this week, which suggests we’re almost over the “hungry gap“.

All the box contents – except for the last of the Cornish asparagus crop – come from two of Camel CSA’s three expert growers, Jeremy Brown of St Kew Harvest and Mark Norman in Bodmin.

Small and standard boxes have: -
*new potatoes (Mark Norman)
*mixed basil (St Kew Harvest)
*radish (St Kew Harvest)
*rocket (St Kew Harvest)
*lettuce (St Kew Harvest)
asparagus (Lower Croan, Sladesbridge)

Standard boxes also have: -
*extra potatoes (Mark Norman)
*beetroot (Mark Norman)
*green onions (Mark Norman)
*green garlic (St Kew Harvest)

* = grown to organic principles

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Lovewadebridge steps up out-of-town supermarket fight

The campaign group lovewadebridge.com is holding another public meeting this Thursday 3 June at 6pm in Wadebridge Town Hall.

Its 500+ members, representing local households and businesses, are opposing three out-of-town supermarket developments. 

Both Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s now want to build brand new superstores on the east side of Wadebridge.  Tesco has applied to expand its existing store at the top of West Hill.

Lovewadebridge.com was set up by local residents concerned that these out-of-town developments would damage the heart of Wadebridge - its character, economy and quality of life.  

It’s proposing alternative ideas to maintain the health and well-being of this historic market town.

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