Seasonal local food recipe No.379 – Gujerati cabbage and carrot

This quick and easy dish is based on a recipe from Madhur Jaffrey and goes with any curry.  Savoy cabbage is best.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 7 minutes

Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp black mustard seeds
1 dried chilli
1/2 cabbage, thinly sliced
2 carrots, coarsely grated
1 tbsp caster sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Heat the oil in a wok and add the mustard seeds and chilli.  When the mustard seeds start to pop, add the cabbage and carrots and stir-fry for 5 minutes.  Add all the rest of the ingredients and cook for a minute longer.  Serve immediately.

Seasonal local food recipe No.365 – Suspiciously delicious cabbage

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.

Seasonal local food recipe No.320 – Hugh’s Asian-inspired coleslaw

This recipe looks interesting – I’ve had similar salads in Thai restaurants so now is the time to try it at home, using the spring onions in this week’s veg boxes.  It’s from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s book River Cottage Veg Every Day!

Serves 6-8

Preparation time: 20-30 minutes
‘Relaxing time’: 10-20 minutes

Ingredients
1 bunch spring onions, trimmed and sliced
4 medium carrots, peeled
1 small white cabbage
For the dressing:
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp clear honey
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp finely chopped ginger
2 Tbsp white wine or rice vinegar
2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 Tbsp olive oil
To finish:
A handful of coriander, roughly torn
Lime juice

Method
Put the sliced spring onions into a large bowl.  Cut the carrots into fine julienne with a mandolin or grate them coarsely and add to the bowl.  Remove any blemished outer leaves from the cabbage, then quarter, cut away the core and shred the leaves as finely as you can.  Combine with the spring onions and carrots.

For the dressing, whisk all the ingredients together, making sure the honey is dissolved.  Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss thoroughly.  Leave for 10-20 minutes to soften and ‘relax’.  Serve the coleslaw scattered with coriander and sprinkled with a few squeezes of lime juice.

Seasonal local food recipe No.298 – Colcannon

I like to serve Colcannon with grilled sausages for a quick and easy tea.

Serves 4-6

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients
1 Kg floury potatoes such as Maris Piper or Cara, peeled and cut into chunks
100 ml milk
100 g butter
1/2 cabbage, finely shredded
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Cook the potatoes in boiling water until tender.  While the potatoes are cooking melt half the butter in a pan and cook the cabbage for about 10 minutes until tender.  Drain the potatoes well then return to the pan with the milk and the rest of the butter and leave on a low heat until the milk comes to the boil and the butter has melted.  Remove from the heat, mash the potatoes then add the cabbage and mix well.  Season to taste and serve.

Seasonal local food recipe No.217 – Baked cabbage with nuts and cheese

Known in our house as cabbage and peanut bake, this recipe is from an old Sainsbury’s cookbook, Vegetarian Meals by Rosamond Richardson.  It is a main course in its own right or could be served alongside another dish.   I first tried this recipe to see how the rather odd combination of ingredients worked and it has become a winter favourite.

Serves 2

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients
1 small white cabbage chopped fairly coarsely
300ml white sauce made with 40g butter, 2tbs plain flour and 300ml milk
50g salted peanuts, chopped
100g cheddar cheese, grated
nutmeg, finely grated
salt and pepper

Method
Boil the cabbage until it is cooked but still crunchy.  Thin out the white sauce with a little of the cooking water and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Make layers in a greased baking dish of cabbage, sauce, grated nutmeg, peanuts and grated cheese (I usually have two layers of each ingredient), finishing with grated cheese. Bake at Gas mark 6/200°C for 15-20 minutes or until the top is a golden brown.  I serve it with baked potatoes.

Green leafy veg ‘may reduce diabetes risk’

The mounds of Swiss chard picked for our veg boxes this week could help prevent us developing type 2 diabetes, according to the British Medical Journal.

Researchers from Leicester University found that one and a half portions of green leafy vegetables every day could result in a significant 14 per cent risk reduction in getting the disease. You can see the BBC report on their findings here.

Green leafy veg include chard, spinach, cabbage, kale and lettuce – and are all found in abundance in Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s weekly veg boxes at different times of the year.