Celery in our Cornish weekly vegetable boxes

In all the boxes: –
*celery
*squash – Uchiki Kuri
*onions
*garlic
cavelo nero – black Tuscan kale (Camel CSA / Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
cauliflower (Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have: –
extra potatoes
*swede
leeks (Restharrow)
Swiss chard (Restharrow)

* = grown to organic principles
All produce grown by Camel CSA unless otherwise indicated. Please wash all vegetables and fruit

Try these celery dishes on the recipes page on our website:
Delia’s celery soup with blue cheese
Millet and vegetable gratinée

Crunchy bunches of celery in Camel CSA’s veg boxes

We also have another Jack o’ Lantern pumpkin in each box all ready to carve for Hallowe’en.

In all our boxes this week: –
*red onions
*turnips
*cabbage OR sprouting broccoli
*parsley
*pumpkin (Camel CSA / Mark Norman, Bodmin)
*celery (Mark Norman)
*potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have: –
extra potatoes
*mixed salad bag
*green peppers OR aubergine
*borlotti beans OR French beans*

= grown to organic principles.
All produce grown by Camel CSA unless otherwise indicated. Please wash all vegetables and fruit.

Try these celery dishes on Camel CSA’s recipe page: –

Braised celery
Delia’s celery soup with blue cheese

Seasonal local food recipe No.296 – Delia’s braised celery with cheese and onion sauce

This dish is from Delia Smith’s first Complete Cookery Course.  It can be a bit time consuming to make but I think it is worth the trouble.

Serves 2-3

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients
1 large or 2 small heads of celery
25 g butter
1 Tbs olive or rapeseed oil
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
150 ml chicken stock
1/4 tsp celery seeds (optional)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the sauce:
Milk
25 g butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
15 g flour
75 g cheddar cheese, grated
1 egg, beaten

Method
Clean the celery with a bristle brush, trim off the leaf and base of each stalk and cut in half.  Blanch the celery by putting it in boiling salted water for about 5 minutes, then drain well. 
In a flameproof casserole, heat the butter and oil, add the carrot and onion and cook gently for about 5 minutes.  Add the drained celery and the chicken stock.  Sprinkle with the celery seeds if using and season with a little salt and pepper. 
Place the casserole in a preheated oven 180°C/Gas Mark 4 and bake, covered, for 30 minutes or until the celery is tender. 
Drain the cooking liquid into a measuring jug and make it up to 275 ml with milk. To make the sauce, heat the butter in a saucepan and fry the finely chopped onion until golden, then blend in the flour and cook for a couple of minutes before adding the milk mixture a little at a time, stirring well after each addition.  Bring to simmering point, still stirring, and simmer gently for a minute or two, then remove from the heat and beat in the cheese and beaten egg. 
Pour the sauce over the vegetables in the casserole dish and bake in the oven for a further 20 minutes until it is baking hot.  Serve with rice.

Veg growing jobs this Sunday

There’s plenty to do on our community veg growing plot at St Kew Highway this Mayday weekend. 

We’ll be on the site on Sunday morning between 10am and 1pm as usual. Do come and join us.

We must sow more salad spinach leaves, weed the onions, garlic and beetroot, and prick out the celery seedlings.  The boysenberry plants also need tidying.

Please bring hoes, rakes and small forks.  Don’t forget waterproof jackets and boots as rain is forecast.  

See you there!

Come and get stuck into our veg plot

Make the most of this lovely spring weather.  Come and share in the push to get our vegetables in the ground.  There’s lots to do.

We need plenty of people at our volunteer growing session this Sunday 11 April to prepare some more beds and spread compost.  There’s also celery and broad beans to plant out as well as beetroot and parsnip seeds to sow.

Please join us between 10am and 1pm on Sunday.  You’ll find us on the plot behind St Kew Harvest Farm Shop.  If you can, bring tools – hoes, spades, forks, trowels, rakes, wheelbarrows. 

Help us to get veg growing again

It’s time to get growing again

Help us to get veg growing again

The next volunteer growing session is on Sunday 11 April.  We’ve decided to give everyone a rest this Easter Sunday.

We do need all the help we can get to plant veg at this time of year so please consider coming along for a couple of hours next Sunday between 10am and 12 noon.  

You’ll be made very welcome.  We can guarantee you unlimited fresh air, plenty of exercise and some friendly company… PLUS you’ll come away feeling you’ve achieved something worthwhile.

Expert grower Mark Norman says:

“A small gang of us created a new growing bed, spread compost, and sowed lettuce and beetroot Detroit last week.  But we really could have done with some extra assistance. 

On Sunday 11 April there’ll be broad beans and celery to plant out, and more beetroot plus parsnip to sow.  Also compost to spread and additional growing beds to prepare.  Please bring tools – hoes, spades, forks, trowels, rakes, wheelbarrows…”

Recipe No 8 – Braised celery

One of the staples of the kitchen, celery is used to flavour soups, stocks and many other dishes. It is tasty on its own as a vegetable dish, gives crunch to salads especially a Waldorf salad.

 This recipe is from Alice Waters’ The Art of Simple Food.
 
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
 
Serves 4
 
Ingredients
1 head of celery
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 or 3 thyme sprigs
salt
225ml chicken, beef or vegetable stock

Method
Trim the root end close to the bottom of the stalks and cut off the leafy tops. Pull of the outer stalks to expose the pale green heart. Cut the group of stalks at the heart in half lengthwise and then in half again as wedges. Line up all the stalks and cut in half crosswise.

Into a heavy pan over medium heat, pour in the oil and add the onion and thyme. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the celery. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until the onions and celery have browned a little. Season with salt and add the stock. Bring to the boil. Lower the heat to a simmer. Cover the pan and cook until the celery is tender. The sauce should be thick and coat the celery; if not, uncover the pan, raise the heat and reduce the liquid as much as needed. Taste for seasoning and serve.

What we’re getting in our vegetable boxes

We can expect to find some tomatoes and a cauliflower among the contents of this week’s veg boxes.

These vegetables come from Richard Hore, our new supplier at Rest Harrow, Trebetherick (between Daymer Bay and Rock).  They’re not grown to organic principles, but are freshly picked and have clocked up few food miles – barely five in fact.

The potatoes and onions are our own contribution to the harvest.  They’ve been grown by our volunteers on Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s two-acre plot at St Kew Highway. 

Our expert growers are providing the rest of the box contents.  Salad bags – Jane Mellowship, cucumber and curly parsley – Jeremy Brown, celery – Mark Norman. 

See this week’s Recipe No 8 – Braised celery