We’re so fortunate to have cavolo nero on our field and extra supplies available from our neighbours at Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick. This quick and easy supper dish comes from BBC Food.
Preparation time: less than 30 mins
Cooking time: less than 10 mins
Serves 4
Ingredients
large handful cavolo nero, or kale
100ml olive oil
2 lemons, zest only
½ lemon, juice only
200g cooked chickpeas
500g fresh tagliatelle pasta, or similar
salt
freshly ground black pepper
100g pecorino or other hard cheese, finely grated
Method
Bring a deep saucepan of water to a rolling boil and blanch the cavolo nero for one minute. Drain, and when cool enough to handle, chop finely.
Heat the olive oil in a wide pan and fry the cavolo nero in it for a few minutes, over a moderately high heat, stirring constantly.At the same time, bring a pot of water to a boil and drop in the pasta to cook for two or three minutes until just tender.
Drain the pasta and stir it into the kale with the lemon zest and juice, the chickpeas and half of the grated pecorino. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Serve the pasta in deep bowls with more cheese scattered over.
We had this tasty stew for tea on Friday, using the Savoy cabbage in this week’s veg boxes. It’s from TV chef Tom Kerridge’s Dopamine Diet. As I am not a fan of smoked food we used ordinary cheddar cheese for the crust. It has a lovely liquor, delicious spooned over mashed potato.
Serves 4-6
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 3 hours 30 minutes
Ingredients
vegetable oil
1kg shoulder of pork, skin removed and cut into 3 cm cubes
200g pancetta, diced
2 onions, halved and sliced
10 garlic cloves, grated
2 chicken stock cubes
200ml white wine
2 tsp cracked black pepper
A bunch of rosemary (about 6-8 sprigs), tied together with kitchen string
400ml chicken stock
3 tbsp medium-hot German mustard
1 Savoy cabbage, cored and finely sliced
2 x 70g packets of pork scratchings, packets bashed to coarsely crush
6 tbsp dried onion flakes
3 tbsp thyme leaves
250g smoked cheese, grated
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Set a large, lidded heavy flameproof casserole over a medium heat. Add a little oil and saute the pork in batches until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon; drain on kitchen paper.
Add the pancetta to the casserole and fry until it has rendered plenty of its fat and is lightly browned. Reduce the heat slightly and add the onions and garlic. Sweat gently, stirring occasionally for about 10-15 minutes until softened. Crumble in the stock cubes, then add the wine and cracked black pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer until the liquor is reduced down to a rich glaze.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 150°C/Gas mark 2. Return the pork to the casserole, add the herb bundle and pour on the stock. Bring to the boil, put the lid on and cook in the oven for 2 hours.
Stir in the mustard and some salt and pepper. Spread the sliced cabbage over the pork. Cover and cook in the oven for a further 45 minutes. Remove the lid and return to the oven for a further 15-20 minutes to reduce the liquor.
In a small bowl, mix the pork scratchings with the onion flakes and thyme leaves. Scatter the cheese over the casserole, followed by the crunchy pork mixture. Return to the oven for a further 25-30 minutes. Leave to stand for 5 minutes before serving.
If we hadn’t already used our beetroot I’d be tempted by this recipe featured in today’s Observer magazine.
Serves 4 as a side dish
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
4 medium-sized beetroot
12 sprigs thyme
4 sprigs rosemary
4 bay leaves
3 tbsp olive oil
200g ricotta cheese
1 small orange
1 tbsp hemp seeds
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
3 tbsp parsley, chopped
Method
Bring a large, deep saucepan of water to the boil and salt it generously. Scrub and trim the beetroots, taking care not to pierce the skin. Boil them whole and unpeeled for 40-45 minutes until they are fully tender. You should be able to pierce them effortlessly with a skewer.
Heat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Put the ricotta in a mixing bowl. Finely grate the zest ot the orange and add to the ricotta with the hemp and pumpkin seeds and the chopped parsley. Season with a little salt and a few twists of black pepper.
Place a large piece of kitchen foil in a roasting tin. When the beetroots are tender, remove them from the water, peel off the skins – they should come away easily – then place the beetroots on the foil. Put the sprigs of thyme and rosemary and the bay in a mixing bowl. Add a little salt and black pepper, then pour in the olive oil. Toss the seasonings and oil together then spoon over the beetroots.
Loosely scrunch the edges of the foil together to make a parcel around the beetroots, then bake for about 45 minutes. Remove the roasting tin from the oven, unwrap the foil, then put the beetroots on a serving plate. Slice them open and place generous spoonfuls of the seeded ricotta mixture on each one.
This classic French salad is absolutely yummy. The bacon and poached egg offset the slightly bitter taste of the frisee (curly green endive) leaves in our weekly veg boxes.
Serves 4
Preparation and cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
250g chopped lardons (small chunks of diced bacon)
4 eggs
4 handfuls of frisee torn in bite-size chunks
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
Method
Whisk or shake together the oil, vinegar, mustard and sugar to make a vinaigrette. Pour it over the frisee in a large bowl, mix gently then divide between four large plates.
Fry the lardons over a medium heat until they are crisp. Drain and set aside to keep warm. Poach the eggs. Sprinkle each plate of salad with lardons and place a poached egg on top. Serve immediately.
Bridget, one of our professional growers, came up with this recipe for the frisee (also known as curly green endive) in our veg boxes this week. It got a big thumbs-up from her son.
Serves 2
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
100g panchetta, chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 head frisee
2 egg yolks
100 ml double cream
60g Parmigiano cheese, finely grated
freshly ground black pepper
Method
On a medium to high heat, fry off the pancetta to release the fat and brown lightly. Add the onions, reduce the heat and sweat until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 5 minutes.
Start cooking the spaghetti. Remove the tougher stems from the frisee and wash the remaining leaves. Tear the leaves into the pancetta mix, add the pepper and reduce the heat to low.
In a separate bowl, mix together the cream, egg yolks and Parmigiano. Once the spaghetti is cooked, drain and return to the pan. Mix in the pancetta and frisee and take off the heat before adding the cream and egg mixture. Mix well so that all the spaghetti is coated with the sauce and serve.
This recipe is taken from Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey. If you miss out the shrimp paste, you have got a pleasing vegetarian curry. The kaffir lime leaves can also be replaced with grated lime zest.
Kecap manis is a thick, sweet Indonesian soy sauce which Rick Stein says is not interchangeable with ordinary soy sauce but we just put in a little extra dark soy sauce. The use of fresh tomatoes gave the curry a nice fresh taste.
Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
2 medium-sized aubergines
7 tbsp vegetable oil
200g shallots, thinly sliced
25g garlic, thinly sliced
25g peeled ginger, finely chopped
2 medium-hot red chillies, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp shrimp paste
200g chopped tomatoes
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 tbsp kecap manis
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp palm sugar
juice of 1/2 lime
Method
Cut the aubergines in half lengthways and then across into slices 1cm thick. Heat 5 tablespoons of the oil in a wok or large, deep frying pan. Add the aubergines and stir fry for 6 minutes until lightly golden. Lift out with a slotted spoon onto a plate and set aside.
Add the remaining oil to the pan, add the shallots and garlic and fry until golden. Add the ginger, chillies, shrimp paste and tomatoes and cook for a few seconds more until the tomatoes have softened.
Return the aubergines to the pan with the lime leaves and 6 tablespoons of water. Simmer for 2 minutes until the aubergines are tender and the sauce has reduced slightly. Stir in the kecap manis, dark soy sauce, sugar, lime juice and 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste, and serve.
This is an old favourite from Ken Hom‘s classic Hot Wok, using the cucumber from this week’s veg boxes.
Serves 2-4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 12-15 minutes
Ingredients
Cooked rice – see below
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp groundnut oil
225g onions, coarsely chopped
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
175g cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
100g fresh or frozen sweetcorn kernels
1 tsp chilli oil
Method
Combine the eggs with the sesame oil. Heat a wok or large frying pan over a high heat until it is hot. Add the oil and, when it is hot and slightly smoking, add the onions, salt and pepper and stir fry for 2 minutes. Then add the beaten eggs and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the cooked rice and continue to stir-fry for 3 minutes. Finally add the cucumber, sweetcorn and chilli oil and continue to stir-fry for 5 minutes. Turn on to a warm platter and serve hot or cold as a rice salad.
Rice
Enough rice to fill l measuring jug to 400 ml level
600 ml water
Put the rice into a large bowl and wash it in several changes of water until the water becomes clear. Drain the rice and put it into a heavy pan with the water and bring it to the boil. Continue boiling until most of the surface liquid has evaporated, about 15 minutes. The surface of the rice should have small indentations like pitted craters.
At this point, cover the pot with a very tight-fitting lid, turn the heat down to as low as possible and let the rice cook undisturbed for 15 minutes. Allow to cool thoroughly and then put it in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
I made this simple dish, one of Nigel Slater’s midweek dinners for The Guardian, for tea on Friday using the cavelo nero from our veg box. He says it makes a “toothsome treat with dark earthy tones”.
Serves 2-3
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20-25 minutes
Ingredients
200g orzo or other small pasta
100g cavolo nero kale
250ml double cream
100g smoked cheddar, grated
25g Parmesan cheese, grated
Method
Cook the orzo as directed on the packet, then drain through a sieve. Run cold water through the pasta and set aside.
Trim the cavolo nero and cut into 8cm lengths, add it to a pan of boiling water, cook for 4 minutes, then drain and plunge into cold water.
Wipe the pan then pour in the cream, add the grated smoked cheddar, season with black pepper then bring to the boil. Remove from the heat immediately. Fold the orzo and drained cavolo nero into the cream and cheese then tip into a shallow baking dish and sprinkle the grated Parmesan over the top.
Bake for 20-25 minutes in a preheated oven at 180°C/Gas mark 6 until the top is golden brown.
Looking for a way to use this week’s cabbage I came across The 10 best cabbage recipes in The Guardian. Suspiciously delicious cabbage leapt out, partly because of the name, and indeed it was delicious (as well as being very easy to make)! I served it with grilled sausages.
Serves 2-4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
2 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 heaped tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 medium cabbage, cored and finely shredded
200ml double cream
salt and black pepper to taste
Method
In a very large pan, heat the butter over a medium heat until it is melted and starting to bubble a little. Stir in the onion and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, until softened. Stir in the ginger and cook for about a minute.
Then add the cabbage, stirring well to coat it with the butter and other flavours. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15-20 minutes until the cabbage is soft and caramelised. Turn the heat down to low and stir in the cream, making sure to scrape any browned bits up from the pan bottom.
Cover and continue to cook over a low heat for about 10 minutes. Uncover, add salt and pepper to taste. Then cook for a few more minutes, stirring once or twice, to let some of the liquid evaporate. Adjust the seasonings and serve.
This recipe was featured in The Guardian‘s 10 best asparagus recipes. It made for a very tasty meal on Friday evening accompanied by a green salad.
Serves 2
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
200 g asparagus, trimmed
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and cayenne pepper
nutmeg, freshly grated
3 large eggs, beaten
125g soft cream cheese
30g parmesan, finely grated
2 tsp chives, chopped
butter, for frying
Method
Thinly slice the asparagus spears on the diagonal. Warm the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan, add the asparagus and season with salt, cayenne pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. Cook gently over a low heat until the asparagus is tender and lightly coloured. Tip out on to a plate, set aside and wipe out the frying pan.
In a mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, cream cheese, parmesan and chives until smooth. Return the frying pan to a moderate heat, add a little slice of butter and heat until it is just beginning to froth. Pour in the egg mixture, turn down the heat to low and begin bringing in the frothing edges to the liquid centre of the pan using a spatula.
Tip the cooked asparagus into the pan and disperse evenly. Continue to gently lift the more cooked parts of the frittata, allowing the liquid egg to slip underneath them until a happy, soft and curd-like medium has evolved. This should take around 2 minutes. Slide the frittata on to a plate and allow to cool a little before serving.
