Seasonal local food recipe No.362 – Frank’s tagliatelle with tomatoes, peas and prawns

This recipe was inspired by a Marcella Hazan recipe for squid with tomatoes and peas, Tuscan style, which Frank adapted to suit the ingredients we had to hand.

Serves 2

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 tin plum tomatoes
bag of shelled Camel CSA peas or 285g frozen peas
10 peeled prawns
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
salt and pepper
1 bag fresh tagliatelle

Method
Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the onion and garlic and cook slowly until the onion is translucent.  Add the tomatoes and cook slowly until the volume is reduced by half.

Add the peas and the prawns and cook until the prawns have turned pink.  When the sauce is about 5 minutes from being ready, cook the tagliatelle in a large pan of boiling water.  Drain the pasta and mix into the sauce with the chopped parsley.

Mangetout and podded peas in Camel CSA’s veg boxes

The beautiful weather in Cornwall is bringing on the summer crops fast. As well as peas, we all have more strawberries and asparagus in the boxes this week.

In all the boxes:-
*mangetout OR podded peas
*beetroot
*herb bag – rosemary, parsley and chives
Cornish asparagus (Lower Croan, Sladesbridge)
strawberries (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
new potatoes (Growfair, Cornwall)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra new potatoes
*Swiss chard
*mixed salad leaves – assorted lettuce, baby chard
cauliflower (Growfair)

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

Try these mangetout and pea dishes on Camel CSA’s recipes page: –
Frank’s mangetout and shitake mushroom stir-fry    
Hugh’s risoni with baby peas (or broad beans), bacon and garlic

Seasonal local food recipe No.304 – Cauliflower, potato and pea curry

My husband has just made this delicious, warming curry for tea.  The recipe is from Michael Pandya’s Complete Indian Cookbook which Frank bought back in the 1980s.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients
25 g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cauliflower, cut in florets
450 g potatoes, peeled and quartered
100 g peas
1 medium onion, finely chopped
450 g tomatoes, peeled and chopped
450 ml water
salt to taste
Spices:
pinch of asafoetida powder
2 cloves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 brown cardamom
For the paste:
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2.5 cm piece garlic, chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
To garnish:
1 tsp garam masala
2 Tbsp chopped coriander leaves

Method
Heat the butter and half the oil in a saucepan and add the asafoetida powder.  Stir for 5 seconds then add the cauliflower, potatoes and peas.  Fry for 5 minutes over a moderate heat.  Remove the vegetables to a plate and set aside.

Heat the remaining oil and add the onion, cloves, cumin and cardamom and fry until the onion is golden brown.  Make a fairly smooth mixture by blitzing the paste ingredients in a blender.  Add the paste to the onion mixture and cook for 5 minutes.

Mix in the fried vegetables and tomato and fry for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Stir in the water and salt and simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove the cloves and brown cardamom before serving hot, garnished with the garam masala and coriander.

Lots of peas and beans in our organic veg boxes

It’s a lucky dip again this week. We’re each getting two of the following – French beans, broad beans, peas and mangetout. They’ll be randomly allocated by our volunteer pickers and packers.

*tomatoes
*cucumber
*spinach or Swiss chard
*new potatoes – ‘Rocket’
*onions
*mangetout peas and/or peas in the pod and/or broad beans and/or French beans (purple or yellow)

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.

More broad beans, peas and mangetout in our veg boxes

It’s the Royal Cornwall Show this week and our vegetable boxes are looking absolutely awesome!

*peas
*broad beans
*spring onions
Cornish asparagus (Lower Croan, Sladesbridge)
*carrots
cauliflower (Growfair)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have:
extra potatoes
*mixed salad bag
*mangetout peas
calabrese (Mark Norman, Bodmin)

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

This week’s recommended recipes from our website archive:
Risoni with baby peas (or broad beans), bacon and garlic     Baby broad beans (or peas) with chorizo

Peas or broad beans or mangetout in veg boxes

The new vegetable season has well and truly begun! In all the veg boxes:

*peas OR mangetout OR broad beans
*radishes
*spring onions
Cornish asparagus (Lower Croan, Sladesbridge)
*parsley
cauliflower (Growfair)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have:
extra potatoes
*mixed salad bag
*beetroot
swede (Camel CSA/Growfair)

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

This week’s recommended recipes from our website archive:
Tabbouleh (bulgur wheat salad)     Parsley cashew lemon dip

Cornish strawberries in Camel CSA’s veg boxes this week

Cornish strawberries and Cornish asparagus plus peas and broad beans – what more could you wish for?!

All boxes have:
* peas (Camel CSA)
* broad beans (Camel CSA)
* sprouted mung beans (Camel CSA)
Cornish strawberries (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
new potatoes (Total Produce, Cornwall)
Cornish asparagus (Lower Croan, Sladesbridge)
cauliflower (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)

Standard boxes also have:
750g “old” potatoes
* salad bag ** (Camel CSA)
* beetroot (Camel CSA)
extra punnet of strawberries

Freshly-picked peas in Camel CSA’s weekly veg boxes

Photo: Heath Bass

All boxes have:
* peas (Camel CSA)
* turnips (Camel CSA
* beetroot (Camel CSA)
* parsley (Camel CSA)
* new potatoes (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
Cornish asparagus (Lower Croan, Sladesbridge)
cauliflower (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)

Standard boxes also have:
extra new potatoes
* mixed lettuce/rocket (Camel CSA)
* rhubarb (Mark Norman)
leeks (Restharrow)

It’s time to… tackle the mice in the polytunnels (AGAIN!)

Camel CSA’s growers leave long-tailed field mice well alone, provided they stay away from our polytunnels. 

The problem is that mice love the warmth in the tunnels and like certain types of vegetable seed – especially peas – even better.

As we cleared away this year’s mangetout pea bed we disturbed no fewer than THREE mouse nests. Suddenly there were adult, teen and baby mice running everywhere!

• Enterprisingly, the mice bit back in verse last year in response to anti-mouse measures we took then.