Kohlrabi and ‘Uchiki Kuri’ squash in our veg boxes

Yet more exciting seasonal vegetables this week that we bet you don’t get in the supermarket!

In all the boxes: –
*kohlrabi
*squash ‘Uchiki Kuri’
*kale ‘Red Russian’
*onions
leeks (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
cauliflower (Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have: –
extra potatoes
*carrot bunch
*chillies
*beetroot

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

Try these delicious cauliflower dishes on the recipes page on our website:-
Penne with cauliflower and chilli
Warm cauliflower salad

Radishes and spring onions in Camel CSA’s veg boxes

The summer salad veg are ripening fast. Some of us also have the first of the cucumber crop this week, with plenty more to come.  Plenty!

In all our boxes this week:-
*radishes
*spring onions
*parsley
*new potatoes (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
*calabrese OR spinach (Mark Norman  / Camel CSA)
*cauliflower (Mark)
*cabbage (Mark)

Standard boxes also have: –
extra new potatoes
*kohlrabi (how to use it)
*carrots
*peas OR cucumber

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

Butternut squash in Camel CSA’s veg boxes

All this week’s boxes have: –
*butternut squash (see recipe ideas below)
*carrots
*beetroot
*parsley
leeks (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
*cabbage (CSA/Restharrow)
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have:
Extra potatoes
*turnips (CSA) or kohlrabi (Restharrow)
*chillies
*calabrese

All veg grown by Camel CSA unless otherwise indicated
* = grown to organic principles

This week’s recommended recipes from our website archive:
Stuffed squash
Squash and sage risotto

Seasonal local food recipe No.229 – Kohlrabi salad

This is from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s book Jerusalem.  It is crunchy and refreshing. I added some chopped celery to make the salad go further but it would also be easy to scale down the dressing ingredients to suit the amount of kohlrabi you have.  For those of you who live local to Wadebridge, sumac can be bought at Elixir Health Foods at the top of Molesworth Street.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
750g kohlrabi
80g Greek yoghurt
70g soured cream
50g thick double cream
1 small garlic clove, crushed
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp finely shredded fresh mint
1 tsp dried mint
20 g baby watercress
1/4 tsp sumac
salt and pepper

Method
Peel the kohlrabi, cut into 1.5 cm dice and put in a large mixing bowl.  Put the yoghurt, soured cream, double cream, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil in a medium bowl.  Add 1/4 tsp salt and a healthy grind of pepper and whisk well.  Add the dressing to the kohlrabi, followed by the fresh and dried mint and half the watercress.  Gently stir and place on a serving dish.  Dot the remaining watercress on top and sprinkle with the sumac.

Kohlrabi is back in Camel CSA’s boxes this week

This weird-looking and wonderful vegetable is now ready to crop. Enjoy it hot or crunchy cold.

This week both standard and small boxes have: –
* kohlrabi (Camel CSA)
* mixed salad greens (Camel CSA)**
* cabbage (Camel CSA)
* parsley (Camel CSA)
* garlic (Camel CSA)
* onions (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
cauliflower (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
potatoes ‘Wilja‘ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have: –
extra potatoes
* green pepper (Camel CSA)
* radishes (Camel CSA)
* parsnips (Camel CSA)

* = grown to organic principles
** lettuce, mibuna, mizuna, baby leaf beet, pak choi, rocket,  red mustard and golden mustard greens

It’s time to… plant garlic and indoor salad crops

Camel CSA’s growing team are busy cultivating our over-wintering crops. We’ve got “cut and come again” salad leaves in the polytunnels – mixed lettuce, curly endive, rocket, mibuna and mizuna. Also beetroot, kohlrabi, chard, spinach, parsley and spring onions. Outdoors we’re starting to plant garlic and onion sets for harvesting next summer.

Mixed salad leaves and kohlrabi in our Cornish veg boxes

Camel CSA’s growers are continuing to supply our boxes with plenty of mixed salad in spite of the shorter, darker days. Also in our share of the harvest this week are kohlrabi and squash.

 Everyone will be having:
* kohlrabi (Camel CSA)
* mixed squash (Mark Norman / Camel CSA)
* onions (Camel CSA)
* salad leaves (Camel CSA)
* calabrese (Camel CSA)
* spinach (Camel CSA)
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes will have extra potatoes plus:
* Jerusalem artichokes (Camel CSA)
* peppers(Camel CSA)
* parsley (Camel CSA)
* chillies (Camel CSA)

UPDATE: Only the small boxes have kohlrabi this week, standard boxes have a swede

Seasonal local food recipe No.111: Kohlrabi, potato and spinach gratin

Camel CSA’s weekly veg box members keep asking: “What’s that pale greenish-white sputnik-like vegetable in the veg boxes? And what do I do with it?”

Kohlrabi are easy to grow, not often seen in the shops and highly underrated. They have the combined taste and texture of radishes and turnips – but are milder, crisper and more juicy.

I love to eat smaller ones raw – just peel and slice them into batons or matchsticks. They can be grated as a crunchy addition to salads, made into a kohlrabi remoulade, or cubed and steamed before dressing with oil and lemon juice. Some people even stuff them! (But I think life’s too short for that.)

This recipe comes with some useful tips on cooking with kohlrabi from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in the Guardian. He says: “If your kohlrabi still has its green leaves attached, combine them with the spinach in this tasty gratin.”

The spinach could be replaced with some of the Swiss chard we’re getting in Camel CSA’s weekly veg boxes at the moment. Oh – and I used creme fraiche instead of double cream.

If you have just one kohl rabi, you could make this for two people (or for four as a side dish) simply by dividing the amounts by three.

Serves 6

Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking:  35 – 40 minutes

Ingredients
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 knob butter, plus a little more for greasing the dish
2 medium onions (about 600g), halved and finely sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
500g kohlrabi, peeled and cut into 3mm thick rounds
250g potatoes, peeled and cut into 3mm rounds
2 tsp thyme leaves, chopped
200ml double cream
200ml water (or chicken or vegetable stock)
1 big handful baby spinach, or spinach mixed with kohlrabi leaves
1 tbsp parsley, chopped

For the topping
60g fresh breadcrumbs
25g butter, melted
45g cheddar or hard goat’s cheese, grated

Method

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Place a medium-sized frying pan over a medium heat. Add the oil and butter, wait until it foams, then add the sliced onion and a pinch of salt, and sauté for 12 minutes, until soft and starting to take on a little colour.

Throw in the kohlrabi, potatoes and thyme, and season generously with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing the mixture occasionally, for another five minutes.

Pour over the cream and stock, simmer gently until the liquid is reduced by half, stir in the spinach and parsley, then place in a lightly buttered gratin dish, about 30cm x 20cm x 7cm in size, levelling it out with a spatula as you go. Place the gratin dish on a baking tray.

Blitz together the breadcrumbs, butter and cheese in a blender, and sprinkle over the top of the filling. Bake the gratin in a hot oven for about 35-40 minutes, until all golden and bubbling.

• Try kohl rabi, apple and walnut salad