Recipe No 34 – Red onion marmalade

From Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook – ‘the perfect thing to eat for lunch with bread and cheese … and it’s delicious with sausages and mash’, she says. It keeps well in the fridge for about a month.

Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: about an hour

Ingredients (for 3-4 jars)
2 garlic cloves
sea salt and black pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
450g red onions, sliced
4 tbsp red wine
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
few sprigs of thyme

Method
Crush the garlic with some sea salt and heat the olive oil in a heavy-based saucepan. Add the onions and garlic, and sweat gently, without allowing them to brown, for 20 minutes. Cook until they are translucent and soft.

Add the red wine, balsamic vinegar and brown sugar, and simmer gently until most of the liquid has evaporated, which will take about 15-20 minutes.

Add the thyme, season with salt and pepper and cook for a further 5 minutes. Put into warm sterilised jars and cover while still hot.

Tasty spring greens in the veg boxes

All the boxes this week will have:

potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)
onions (Rest Harrow Farm, Trebetherick)
carrots (Rest Harrow Farm)
* parsnips (Jeremy Brown)
* jerusalem artichokes (Camel CSA)
savoy cabbage (Rest Harrow Farm)
spring greens (Rest Harrow Farm)

Standard boxes will have larger quantities of some of these plus:
* pak choi (Jeremy)
leeks (Rest Harrow Farm)
cauliflower (Rest Harrow Farm)

Large boxes will also have:
* coriander (Jeremy)
swede (Rest Harrow Farm)
red cabbage (Rest Harrow Farm)

Read a Guardian article about jerusalem artichokes – including a few recipe suggestions.

Recipe No 33 – A fried cauliflower

This seasonal recipe for cauliflower served with a salsa verde is from Nigel Slater’s latest book, Tender. He deep fries the cauliflower but, if that’s a problem for you, shallow frying would probably work pretty well.

Serves 2 as a main course

Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: max 10 minutes

Ingredients
a medium cauliflower
sunflower or groundnut oil for deep-frying
3 tbsp gram flour
½ tsp paprika

For the salsa verde:
handful parsley leaves
6 bushy sprigs mint
handful basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp capers, rinsed
6 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice

Method
Break the cauliflower into florets. Boil in deep, salted water for a couple of minutes (a little longer if you can only shallow fry), then drain thoroughly.

To make the sauce, chop the herbs quite finely, then stir in the garlic, mustard and capers. Pour in the olive oil slowly, beating with a fork. Stir in the lemon juice and season with sea salt and black pepper. Be generous with the seasoning, tasting as you go. The sauce should be bright tasting and piquant.

Get the oil hot in a deep pan. Toss the cauliflower with the gram flour, a little salt and pepper and the paprika. When the cauliflower is coated, fy in the hot oil until crisp – a matter of three or four minutes or so. Drain on kitchen paper before serving with the sauce.

Fresh salad leaves this week

This week’s veg boxes will contain:

potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)
onions (Rest Harrow Farm, Trebetherick)
carrots (Rest Harrow Farm)
* parsnips (Camel CSA/Jeremy Brown)
* salad bag (Jeremy)
cauliflower (Rest Harrow Farm)

Standard boxes will have larger quantities of some of the above, plus:
spring greens (Rest Harrow Farm)
curly kale (Rest Harrow Farm)
red cabbage (Rest Harrow Farm)

Large boxes will also have:
* pak choi (Jeremy)
leeks (Rest Harrow Farm)

Recipe No 32 – Carrot and ginger soup

A warming soup with a bit of a kick that makes use of the seasonal carrots in our veg boxes – from the Riverford website.

Preparation: 15 Mins
Cooking: 50 Mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients
1 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 level tsp mustard powder
2.5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
freshly ground black pepper
pinch of salt
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
6 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp parsley, roughly chopped
natural yoghurt to serve

Method
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and soften the onion and garlic with the mustard powder, ginger, pepper and salt, adding 2 or 3 tbsp stock after a minute or so. After another 2 -3 minutes, add the carrots, stirring well. Pour in the rest of the stock, bring to the boil, then cover and leave to simmer for 40 minutes. When it is ready, whiz the soup until smooth in a blender, or using a hand-held stick blender in the pan. Stir in the chopped parsley, saving a little for garnish and reheat the soup gently if you need to. When serving, swirl a spoonful of yoghurt through each portion. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

Freshly-dug parsnips in the veg boxes

All the boxes this week will contain:

potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)
savoy cabbage (Rest Harrow Farm, Trebetherick)
onions (Rest Harrow Farm)
leeks (Rest Harrow Farm)
carrots (Rest Harrow Farm)
* parsnips (Camel CSA)

The standard boxes will have larger quantities of some of the above plus:
* jerusalem artichokes (Camel CSA)
* braising greens (Jeremy Brown)
small cauliflower (Rest Harrow Farm)

* = grown to organic principles

Recipe No 31 – Brussels sprouts with chestnuts, bacon and parsley

Cooking sprouts with chestnuts and bacon makes them seriously irresistible.

Serves 4

Preparation time: less than 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 to 30 minutes

Ingredients
500g Brussels sprouts
vegetable oil
125g streaky bacon, cut into small pieces
1 tbsp butter
125g vacuum-packed chestnuts, roughly chopped
30ml marsala (optional)
handful fresh parsley, chopped
freshly ground pepper

Method
Trim the ends of the sprouts and put them in a large saucepan of salted boiling water. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until they are tender but still retain a bit of bite. Remove from the heat and drain.

Heat about half a tablespoon of oil in a large pan. Add the bacon and cook until it is crisp and golden-brown. Add the butter and chestnuts. If you’re using the marsala, once the chestnuts have warmed through, turn the heat up and add the marsala. Cook until the mixture has reduced and thickened slightly.

Add the sprouts and half the parsley to the pan and mix well. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Serve with the rest of the parsley sprinkled over the top.

Curly kale in the veg boxes

… and it’s a record number to be filled this Friday: a total of 30 boxes.

All boxes will have:
curly kale (Rest Harrow Farm, Trebetherick)
sprout stalks (Rest Harrow Farm)
carrots (Rest Harrow Farm)
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)
onions (Rest Harrow Farm)
swede (Rest Harrow Farm)

Standard boxes will also have:
extra potatoes (Burlerrow Farm)
leeks (Rest Harrow Farm)
sprouting broccoli (Rest Harrow Farm)
* salad bags (Jeremy Brown)

* = grown to organic principles

Recipe No 30 – Leek and goats’ cheese tart

From Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook

Serves 6-8

Preparation: 1½ hours (including 1 hour chilling of pastry)
Cooking: 30 minutes

Ingredients
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks
285ml single cream
salt and black pepper
4 leeks, thinly sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
200g soft goats’ cheese

For the pastry:
120g butter
½ tsp salt
200g plain flour

Method
First make the pastry. Sift the flour with the salt and work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add just enough cold water to bind it together. Roll out and use to line a 23cm flan dish. Put this in the fridge for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Prick the base of the pastry case with a fork and bake blind (cover pastry with greaseproof paper weighed down with baking beans or rice) for 20-25 minutes. Remove the beans/rice and paper and allow to cool. Leave the oven on.

When the pastry has cooled a little, spread Dijon mustard over the base. Beat together the eggs, extra yolks, cream and seasoning. Fry the leeks in the oil gently until they’re soft and put them in the pastry case. Crumble the goats’ cheese over the leeks and pour over the egg mixture. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the tart is set.

In the veg boxes this week

Friday update: curly kale has taken the place of the cauliflowers that were not available.

All boxes will have:
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)
* shallots (Camel CSA)
* winter salad bag (Jeremy Brown)
curly kale (Rest Harrow Farm, Trebetherick) 
carrots (Rest Harrow Farm)
leeks (Rest Harrow Farm)

Standard boxes will also have:
* parsnip (Camel CSA)
savoy cabbage (Rest Harrow Farm)
swede (Rest Harrow Farm)

And this week’s large box will have larger shares of all of the above plus:
* jerusalem artichokes (Camel CSA)

* = grown to organic principles