Seasonal local food recipe No 126: Celeriac and Lancashire Cheese Bread

Thanks to Bridget for this recipe from Delia’s Vegetarian Collection. A tasty loaf – no yeast required.

Makes 1 loaf (serves 4-6)

Preparation: 15-20 minutes
Cooking: 45-50 minutes

Ingredients
175g celeriac (peeled weight)
110g Lancashire cheese, roughly crumbled into 1cm pieces
175g self-raising flour, plus a little extra for the top of the loaf
4 spring onions, finely chopped (including the green parts)
pinch cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 large egg
2 tbsp milk
You’ll also need a small baking tray, very well greased.

Ingredients
Preheat oven to 190C/gas mark 5.
Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl , add the spring onions, two-thirds of the crumble cheese, the cayenne pepper and the salt. Then, using the coarse side of a grater, grate in the celeriac. Give everything a really good mix. Beat the egg and milk together and, using a palette know to mix, gradually add it all to the mixture until you have a loose, rough dough.

Transfer the dough to the baking tray and, still keeping the rough texture, shape it into a round with your hands. Net, lightly press the rest of the cheese over the surface, sprinkle with a little flour and bake the bread on the middle shelf of the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and eat as fresh as possible. This is lovely served warm, and if you have any left over, it’s really good toasted.

Seasonal local food recipe No 125: Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce

A recipe from Masterchef presenter Gregg Wallace, shown in the BBC’s recent Great British Food Revival series.

Serves 4
Preparation and cooking: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients
For the gnocchi:
300g floury potatoes
50g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

For tomato sauce:
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finley chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped1 tbsp tomato purée
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
pinch of sugar
salt and freshly ground black pepperbasil leaves, to garnish

Method
For the gnocchi, cook the potatoes in their skins in a pan of boiling water for 10-15 minutes, or until tender (a knife should slide in without much resistance). Drain the potatoes and set aside until cool enough to handle. Peel the potatoes and pass through a potato ricer into a bowl, then measure out 250g for the gnocchi.

For the tomato sauce, heat the olive oil in a small pan and gently fry the onion and garlic for 2-3 minutes, or until softened but not coloured. Add the tomato purée and chopped tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat slightly and cook for a further 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with a pinch of sugar and some salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Meanwhile, tip the potato onto a floured work surface and knead in the flour until the mixture comes together to form a dough. Divide into four equal pieces and roll out into thick sausage shapes. Cut each sausage into 2cm/1in pieces and press with the tines of a fork to create a pattern.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and add the gnocchi. Cook the gnocchi for 1-2 minutes, or until they float to the top. Remove with a slotted spoon and divide among serving bowls.

Spoon over the tomato sauce and garnish with fresh basil to serve.

Seasonal local recipe No 123: Three-root boulangère

With a selection of roots in our boxes this week – and with the weather getting colder – it seems a good idea to try this ‘comfort food’ recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Veg Every Day. He says that while it’s not exactly ‘light’, it’s certainly less rich than a creamy dauphinoise-style gratin. You could also substitute other seasonal roots such as Jerusalem artichokes, carrots or swede which would all work well. Good served with some big flat field mushrooms simply baked with some butter, garlic and cheese, and some good bread.

Serves 4

Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking: about an hour

Ingredients
30g butter
2 onions, halved and sliced
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 small celeriac
2 large potatoes
3 large parsnips
a couple of sprigs of thyme, leaves only, chopped
3 sage leaves, finely chopped
about 1.2 litres vegetable stock
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Preheat the oven the 180C/gas 4. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed frying pan and use some of it to grease a large gratin dish. Add the onions to the pan and sauté over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, until soft, then add the garlic and cook gently for a further minute or two.

Meanwhile, peel the celeriac, potatoes and parsnips and cut into slices the thickness of a 10p piece, slicing the parsnips lengthways. Spread out the celeriac in the gratin dish, season generously with salt and pepper, then sprinkle with half the onions and half the herbs. Layer the parsnips on top, then scatter the remaining onions and herbs on top and finish with a layer of potatoes.

Bring the stock to a simmer and add some salt and pepper, then pour over the vegetables to barely cover them (you may not need all of it). Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes, then uncover and continue to bake for another 30 minutes or so until the vegetables are cooked.

At this point, if there is still liquid covering the potatoes, spoon off a little and return the dish to the oven for 15 minutes or so, to brown the potatoes on the top. Serve piping hot.

Seasonal local food recipe No 120: Caramelised carrots with gremolata

From Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s new River Cottage Veg Everyday cookbook. ‘The contrast of sweet, caramelised carrots and zesty gremolata is brilliant – and it looks good too,’ he says. Good with young, small carrots but fine with bigger ones if you cut them into long, thin batons.

Serves 4

Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: about an hour

Ingredients
1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
30g butter
500g young carrots, larger ones halved lengthways
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the gremolata:
½ garlic clove
small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, leaves only
finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Put the oil and butter in a large roasting dish and place in the oven until the butter melts. Add the carrots, season generously with salt and pepper and toss well. Cover with foil and roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until the carrots are tender.

Take the dish out of the oven, remove the foil and give the carrots a stir. Roast, uncovered, for 20-30 minutes, until they start to brown and caramelise.

While the carrots are in the oven, make the gremolata. Roughly chop the garlic on a large board, then add the parsley and lemon zest. Use a large, sharp knife to chop and mix the three ingredients together until very fine and well mixed.

As soon as the carrots are ready, toss them with the gremolata and serve straight away.

Seasonal local food recipe No 119: Pumpkin pie

If you’ve carved out your pumpkin for Hallowe’en and you want a change from making soup with the flesh, why not try this recipe for Pumpkin pie from Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook. She claims it’s the best pumpkin pie she’s ever tasted.

Alternatively, try Camel CSA’s Pumpkin and apple curry or some of the other recipes linked to from that page.

Serves 6
Preparation: about an hour
Cooking: 55 minutes

Ingredients
For the pastry:
50g butter
100g plain flour
1 egg yolk, beaten
icing sugar for dusting

For the filling:
450g pumpkin flesh, cut into chunks
100g soft brown sugar
pinch of salt
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tbsp honey
grated zest of 1 lemon and juice of ½ lemon
grated zest of 1 orange and juice of ½ orange
3 eggs, beaten

Method
To make the pastry, rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and just enough very cold water to gather it into a ball. Roll out the pastry and line a 20cm loose-bottomed flan tin. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Prick the bottom of the tart with a fork, cover with greaseproof paper and weigh this down with some rice or baking beans. Bake the pastry case blind for about 20-25 minutes. Take it out of the oven, but leave the oven on, and let it cool slightly, then remove the rice or beans and paper.

Meanwhile make the filling. Having removed its seeds, steam the pumpkin until tender. Put the pumpkin and all the remaining ingredients except the eggs into a food processor and puree until smooth. Add the eggs and blend. Pour into the pastry case and bake for 55 minutes, until a skewer comes out of the centre clean. Allow to cool and dust with icing sugar.

Seasonal local food recipe No 117: Radicchio and lemon pasta

A member of the chicory family sometimes known as red chicory, radicchio has distinctive pink-red leaves with white veins. Its firm, cup-shaped leaves have a strongly bitter taste. It is generally used in salads mixed with other salad leaves. In its native Italy it is often served shredded. Alternatively, tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces. But there are also a number of recipes that make use of it cooked.

Yotam Ottolenghi cooks it lightly and mixes it with walnuts, lentils and honey for a tasty dish. And Sarah Raven has this recipe for Radicchio and lemon pasta in her Garden Cookbook which she says is quick to prepare and delicious cold the next day.

Serves 4
Preparation and cooking: about 15 minutes

Ingredients
100g chopped pancetta
2-3 tbsp olive oil
½ onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
200g dried egg tagliatelle
200g radicchio
3 tbsp dry white wine
50g butter
grated zest of 1 lemon
100ml double cream
handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
grated parmesan, to serve
salt and black pepper

Method
Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Put the chopped pancetta into a wide shallow pan over a moderate heat with half the olive oil. When the fat begins to run, add the chopped onion and garlic, and then cook with the pancetta for about 3-4 minutes, until the onion has softened.

Put the pasta into the pan of salted boiling water and cook until al dente.

Slice the radicchio into thin strips and add to the onion mixture with the wine and sauté until the radicchio begins to wilt. Add the butter and lemon zest; pour in the cream and season well. Add this to the drained pasta with the remaining olive oil and the chopped flat-leaf parsley. Finish with a generous topping of parmesan.

Seasonal local food recipe No 109: Braised peas, rocket and spring onions

Recommended by Camel CSA member and expert grower Bridget Gould, a recipe from Delia Smith that would work as well with french beans as with peas. It’s a good recipe for slightly older peas which perhaps have more flavour than younger ones.

Serves 6

Preparation/cooking: 15 minutes

Ingredients
3 lb (1.35 kg) peas (unshelled weight), freshly shelled
2½ oz (60 g) fresh rocket
12 bulbous spring onions
1½ oz (40g) butter
pinch golden caster sugar
1 rounded tsp Maldon sea salt

Method
First trim the spring onions: you need only the white bulbs (the rest can be chopped and saved for something such as a stir fry).

Pull off any thick, stalky bits from the rocket and tear the larger leaves in half. Now all you do is put all the ingredients in a large saucepan, together with 3 tablespoons of water, cover with a lid, bring them up to simmering point and simmer gently for 8-15 minutes, depending on the age of the peas.

Seasonal local food recipe No 108: French beans with feta, walnuts and mint

A recipe from a recent Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall bean recipe round-up – as he says, ‘summer is a time when all of us can be full of beans’. If you’ve got more than you can cope with in your box, why not freeze some for winter use?

This simple, tasty salad works with runner beans, too.

Serves 2-4

Preparation and cooking: 20 minutes

Ingredients
280g french beans, trimmed
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
juice of ½ small lemon
small handful of mint leaves, tough stalks removed, and chopped
small handful dill, tough stalks removed, half the fronds chopped, the rest reserved to garnish the dish
flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
150g feta
50g walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

Method
Top and tail the beans. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the beans until just tender, about three to six minutes, then drain and refresh in cold water. Dress the beans in the olive oil, lemon juice, mint, some of the dill, salt and pepper. Serve topped with crumbled feta cheese, walnuts and the remaining dill fronds scattered over the top.

[Photo: Colin Campbell for the Guardian]

Seasonal local food recipe No 107: A chard gratin with grain mustard

Before the recipe – which comes from Nigel Slater’s Tender – a few points about chard. After all, it grows well on the CSA’s plot so we’ll be seeing it in our veg boxes pretty often and might as well learn how to enjoy it!

• If the stems are wide, they need to be cooked separately from the leaves. Best to cut the stalk a centimetre or so below where the leaf starts. The stem is still tender at this point but will help the leaf keep its shape better during cooking. The leaves can be cooked just as you would cook spinach.
• In a gratin-type recipe, as below, the chard leaves need a good squeeze to get rid of their water.
• Yoghurt, fromage frais and mascarpone are all good as a dressing for freshly cooked chard. Add a trickle of olive oil too, and perhaps a scattering of paprika.
• Chard stalks, however thick, never take longer to boil or steam than three or four minutes.
• Seasoning your chard: anchovies – chopped and cooked to a pulp in olive oil; parsley – can calm the mineral notes of older stalks, especially if used with olive oil and lemon juice; lemon juice and a peppery olive oil – as a dressing for warm leaves and stalks.

Serves 4

Ingredients
450g chard stems and leaves
1 tbsp grain mustard
400ml double cream
a good handful of grated parmesan

Method
Cut the chard leaves from the stems. Chop the stems into short lengths and then cook briefly in boiling, lightly salted water until crisply tender. Dip the leaves in the water briefly, until they relax. Drain well and put them in a buttered shallow dish. Put the mustard in a bowl and stir in the cream and a grinding of salt and black pepper. Pour the seasoned cream over the stems and leaves, cover with grated parmesan and bake at 180C/gas 4 till the top has a light crust the colour of honey.

• More chard recipes from Camel CSA

Seasonal local food recipe No 106: Sweet cucumber pickle

A great way of using the cucumbers that are growing so well in the CSA’s polytunnel. I halved the quantities of this recipe (from Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook) for three of the cucumbers we had in this week’s boxes. It made three mustard-size jars. It should store for up to a year, but keep in the fridge once opened.

Ingredients for 5 small jars
3 large cucumbers
2 onions
50g salt
600ml white wine or distilled white vinegar
450g granulated sugar
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp celery seeds
5 cloves
½ tsp ground turmeric

Method
Peel the cucumbers and cut lengthways into thinnish sticks about 6-7cm long. Thinly slice the onions into half moons. Put the cucumber and onions and salt into a large mixing bowl and sprinkle with salt. Cover with a weighted plate and leave for 2-3 hours.

Rinse the cucumber and onion in cold water and then let stand to drain. While they are draining, put all the remaining ingredients into a pan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the cucumber and onion, bring to the boil and simmer for 1 minute.

Remove from the heat and lift the cucumber and onion out of the liquid. Put into warm sterilised jars. Return the liquid to the heat and boil rapidly for at least 10 minutes to reduce it. Pour the liquid over the cucumber in the jars and cover.