Seasonal local food recipe No.355 – Wild garlic frittata

Newly-laid eggs are the perfect partner for wild garlic during its short season in Cornwall. This tasty and colourful recipe from Demuths Vegetarian Cookery School is delicious served with the red kale or purple sprouting broccoli in our weekly veg boxes.

Serves: 2
Preparation and cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients
1 medium potato peeled and diced very small
1 tbsp olive oil
4 eggs
50g ricotta
25g vegetarian-style Parmesan, grated
1 large handful of young wild garlic leaves, chopped roughly
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
In a 24cm frying pan, one without a plastic handle, heat the olive oil and gently sauté the potato, with a lid on until cooked, which takes about 10 minutes.

In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with 2/3rds of the ricotta and parmesan, add the wild garlic and season with salt and pepper. Add the egg mix to the potatoes and cook on a gentle heat, until almost set. You will need to run a heatproof spatula around the frittata to stop it from sticking.

Pre-heat the grill. Scatter the remaining ricotta and parmesan over the top of the frittata and grill until the top is golden. Serve at once cut into wedges. with wild garlic leaves drizzled with your favourite nut or olive oil.

Tips
Flavour frittatas with whatever is in season, spring onions and peas with chervil, steamed asparagus tips with fresh mint, sweet tomatoes with basil or wild mushrooms with tarragon.

Wild garlic leaves in Camel CSA’s seasonal veg boxes

Wild garlic is in season in Cornwall, so we’re foraging madly! We expect it to be in our veg boxes over the next 2-3 weeks, depending on the weather conditions. Our picking and packing team forage the garlic leaves from private locations where no chemical fertilisers or sprays are used.

In all the boxes this week:-
*wild garlic leaves – foraged
*swede
*purple sprouting broccoli or red kale (Camel CSA / Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick
leeks (Restharrow)
red onions (Restharrow)
cauliflower (Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*flat-leaved parsley
*beetroot (Camel CSA / Restharrow)
Jerusalem artichokes (Restharrow)

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

Seasonal local food recipe No.354 – Beetroot and caraway soda bread

Frank made this loaf for Sunday lunch last weekend.  The recipe’s from Anna Jones in The Guardian. You might expect the loaf to be bright pink.  It was before it went into the oven but oddly, once baked, it turned to a more palatable shade of yellow!  Whatever the colour it tasted great.

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes

Makes 1 x 750g loaf

Ingredients
300g cooked beetroot, chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp caraway seeds
100ml buttermilk (or plain yoghurt let down with a splash of milk)
200g white spelt flour
200g wholemeal spelt flour
50g pumpkin seeds, plus more for sprinkling
1 tsp salt
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Black pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7. Put the beetroot (see the note below if you’re roasting your own), spices and buttermilk in a food processor and puree until smooth.

Put the flours, pumpkin seeds, salt, bicarbonate of soda and pepper into a large bowl and mix well.  Pour the beetroot mixture into the flours and mix with a fork until well combined, then use your hands to gently bring the lot into a rough ball. Don’t knead it though, or it will make the finished loaf tough.

Scatter some flour over a baking sheet and put your ball of dough on top. Dust with a little more flour and a few more pumpkin seeds.   Cut a deep cross in the bread, then bake for 30 – 40 minutes until golden and risen.

Remove from the oven and tap the bottom of the loaf. If you get a hollow sound, it’s perfect, so pop it on a wire rack to cool. This is delicious warm with salted or almond butter.

If you are roasting the beetroot yourself
Wash the beetroot well and trim off the stalks. Place the whole beetroot in a foil parcel, wrapped really tightly so the steam doesn’t escape. Cook for around an hour (depending on the size of your beetroot) until tender. Once cooked, allow to cool in the foil parcel, this will make it really easy to remove the skins. When cool enough to handle slip the skins off and discard. Extra roasted beetroot can be used in salads or alongside dips such as hummus.

White sprouting broccoli in Camel CSA’s veg boxes

Our boxes are bursting with staple winter vegetables.

In all our veg boxes: –
white sprouting broccoli (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
red onions (Restharrow)
cauliflower (Restharrow)
beetroot (Restharrow)
leeks (Restharrow)
parsnips (Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*coriander
*cabbage
*mixed salad leaves – rocket, lettuce, mizuma, baby beet/spinach, red/golden mustard

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

Try these delicious ways with roasted cauliflower on Camel CSA’s recipe page: –
Yotam’s roast cauliflower with chorizo and green olives
Roasted curried cauliflower
Roasted cauliflower gigli with pine nuts and currants

Beetroot and bean sprouts in Camel CSA’s veg boxes

We’ve all got a free copy of Westcountry FoodLover magazine in this week’s veg boxes, full of tempting seasonal recipes.

In all our veg boxes this week: –
*bean sprouts
*mixed salad leaves – rocket, lettuce, mizuma, baby beet/spinach, red/golden mustard
*purple sprouting broccoli ( Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
beetroot
leeks (Restharrow)
red Russian kale (Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*flat-leaved parsley
parsnips (Restharrow)
cauliflower (Restharrow)

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

Try these delicious chocolate beetroot cakes on Camel CSA’s recipe page: –
Chocolate beetroot cake (rich, moist and oozing)
Beetroot and chocolate traybake (a tad less indulgent)

Camel CSA’s seasonal local veg box will help you get your 10-a-day

We’re all being urged to start eating 10 portions of fruit and vegetables a day.  Eating seasonally and locally reduces the cost of a 10-a-day diet. So why not sign up for a 4-week veg box trial with us?

In all our veg boxes this week: –
*herb bag (rosemary, bay, sage + curry plant sprig)
*sprouting broccoli (Camel CSA / Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
red cabbage
leeks (Restharrow)
cauliflower (Restharrow)
parsnips (Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*kale ‘Red Russian’ or ‘black Tuscan’
*swede
red onions (Restharrow)

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

Seasonal local food recipe No.352 – Cauliflower and lentil curry

We had this tasty curry recently, the lentils and coconut milk give a nice creamy sauce. Use the green coriander in Camel CSA’s veg boxes this week.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes

Ingredients
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 fat garlic clove, finely chopped
25g fresh root ginger, grated
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
75g red split lentils
150ml vegetable stock
1 cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced
400 ml can coconut milk
75g green beans
3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large saucepan and gently cook the onion for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until soft and translucent.  Add the garlic, ginger,ground coriander, cumin and turmeric and cook for 2 minutes, stirring all the time. Stir in the lentils, then pour in the stock.  Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and gently simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tbsp of oil in a frying pan and fry the cauliflower for 2-3 minutes until lightly browned.  Add to the lentil mixture with the carrots and coconut milk.  Bring the curry back to a gentle simmer and cook for a further 10 minutes.  Stir in the beans and cook until all the vegetables are tender.

Stir in the chopped coriander and lemon juice, then season to taste.  Serve with rice, warm naan or chapatis.

Freshly-picked salad leaves in our seasonal veg boxes

Camel CSA’s salad leaves are freshly picked, not freshly clicked! Unlike the supermarkets, ours are harvested on the same day we deliver the veg boxes.

In all our veg boxes this week: –
*mixed salad leaves (mizuma, baby chard/spinach, rocket, red and golden mustard, lettuce)
*green coriander
purple sprouting broccoli (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
leeks (Restharrow)
cauliflower (Restharrow)
parsnips (Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*Savoy cabbage
*turnips or kohlrabi
beetroot (Restharrow)

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

Veg in Camel CSA’s weekly boxes go from field to fork within hours

We still have plenty of home-grown seasonal vegetables available in Cornwall. No need to panic!

In all our veg boxes this week: –
*squash ‘Crown Prince’
*sprouted mung beans
*onions
*parsley
purple sprouting broccoli (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
cauliflower (Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*carrots
*leeks
beetroot (Restharrow)

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

Seasonal local food recipe No.350 – Nigella’s roast chicken with lemon, rosemary, garlic, leeks and potatoes

This Nigella Lawson recipe appears in 20 best one-pot recipes in The Observer’s Food Monthly supplement.  It’s easy to prepare and tastes delicious.

Serves 6

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp rosemary needles, finely chopped, plus more to serve
1 bulb garlic, separated into unpeeled cloves
2 leeks
1 kg waxy potatoes, washed if necessary, but unpeeled
2 unwaxed lemons
1 medium chicken (approx. 1.4 kg)
sea salt flakes to taste

Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C/Gas mark 7.  Get out the biggest roasting tin you have, and pour all but a teaspoon or so of the oil into it.  Throw in the chopped rosemary needles and the garlic cloves.

Trim the leeks and cut each in half lengthways, then slice into half-moons and drop these leek curls into the tin too.  Cut the potatoes into 1.5 cm slices, then cut each slice into 4, or just halve them if the potatoes are small, and add these to the tin.  Quarter the lemons, then cut each quarter in half, take out as many pips as you can and toss the lemon quarters into the pan.

Now schmoosh everything to mix, and then make a space in the middle of the tin for the chicken to sit in.  Untruss the chicken, place it in the reserved parking place, pour the tiny bit of the remaining oil on top of it and sprinkle sea salt flakes on top of the chicken only.

Place in the oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes, and if the juices of the chicken run clear when you push the tip of a knife into the joint where the thigh meets the body, remove the chicken to a board to sit, letting the juices from its cavity spill back into the tin as you do so.

Then put the potato mixture back in the oven for 10 minutes until soft and golden.  If the chicken needs longer, keep everything in the oven until the chicken is cooked.  When it’s ready, and the chicken has rested, carve it or cut into joints as wished.  Sprinkle with 1/2 a teaspoon of finely chopped rosemary needles and sea salt flakes to taste.