Seasonal local food recipe No.337- Jamie’s mixed leaf salad with mozzarella, mint, peach and prosciutto

This recipe comes from Jamie Oliver‘s The return of the Naked Chef.  If, like me, you don’t like prosciutto in the salad just leave it off the plate.

Serves 2

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Ingredients
Mixed salad leaves
1 mozzarella
2 peaches, skinned and quartered
4 slices prosciutto
a few mint leaves, torn

olive oil and lemon dressing – whisk together the following:
5 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method
Put the salad leaves and mint on a flat serving dish and dress with a little of the dressing.  Scatter the peach quarters and torn up mozzarella over the top.  Lay the prosciutto (if using) over the top.  Serve with some good bread to mop up the juices.

Seasonal local food recipe No.231 – Gruyere salad roulade

This is a perfect dish to serve on a hot summer’s day.  It’s from Cordon Vert by Colin Spencer.

Serves 4-6

Preparation time: 30-40 minutes
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients
2 tbs parmesan cheese, grated
55g fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs
170g gruyère cheese, grated
4 eggs, separated
150 ml single cream
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2-3 pinches cayenne pepper
2 tbs warm water
4-5 tbs mayonnaise
salad leaves, shredded
2-3 tomatoes, finely sliced
30g mushrooms, finely sliced
1 tbs fresh chives, parsley or mint, chopped
bunch of watercress to garnish

Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6.  Line a swiss roll tin with greaseproof paper and sprinkle with half the parmesan cheese.

Mix the breadcrumbs and gruyere cheese together in a bowl.  Add the egg yolks, cream, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.  Stir in the water.  Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold into the cheese mixture.  Pour into the swiss roll tin and bake for 10-15 minutes until firm and springy to the touch.

Remove from the oven and let cool.  Sprinkle another piece of greaseproof paper with the rest of the parmesan cheese and turn the cheese roulade onto the paper.  Peel off the paper on top and spread the mayonnaise over the roulade, then sprinkle with the salad leaves, tomatoes, mushrooms and herbs.  Roll up loosely, but firmly.  Transfer to a serving dish, garnish with watercress and serve in slices.

Spinach and chard in our veg boxes this week

The spring sunshine is helping to bring things on. Camel CSA’s vegetable boxes also have freshly-picked salad leaves from our polytunnel and tender sprouting broccoli from Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick.

All boxes have: –
* spinach or chard leaves (Camel CSA)
* mixed salad bag (Camel CSA)
* sprouting broccoli (Camel CSA/Restharrow Farm)
onions (Restharrow)
red cabbage  (Restharrow)
cauliflower (Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have: –
extra 500g potatoes
* flat-leaved parsley (Camel CSA)
* beetroot (Camel CSA)
* leeks (Camel CSA)

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

Fresh overwintered salad leaves in our boxes this week

All boxes have: –
* mixed salad bag (Camel CSA) **
onions (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
* purple or white sprouting broccoli (Camel CSA/Restharrow)
bay leaves (Bridget Gould, St Tudy)
swede (Restharrow)
cauliflower (Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra 500g potatoes
* curly kale (Camel CSA)
leeks (Restharrow)
red cabbage (Restharrow)

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

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)

What we’re getting in our vegetable boxes

We can expect to find some tomatoes and a cauliflower among the contents of this week’s veg boxes.

These vegetables come from Richard Hore, our new supplier at Rest Harrow, Trebetherick (between Daymer Bay and Rock).  They’re not grown to organic principles, but are freshly picked and have clocked up few food miles – barely five in fact.

The potatoes and onions are our own contribution to the harvest.  They’ve been grown by our volunteers on Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s two-acre plot at St Kew Highway. 

Our expert growers are providing the rest of the box contents.  Salad bags – Jane Mellowship, cucumber and curly parsley – Jeremy Brown, celery – Mark Norman. 

See this week’s Recipe No 8 – Braised celery

Our first veg boxes

We’ve done it – we’re starting to eat our own food! 

More than 15 Camel Community Supported Agriculture members receive their first vegetable boxes on Friday 3 July. 

A great deal of human effort has gone into providing these first fruits of our labour.  It’s hard to believe that we only started preparing our site at the beginning of March and sowed the first seeds just a few weeks later.

Our first share of the harvest will contain: – 

• broad beans
• potatoes
• onions
• beetroot
• Swiss chard
• a bunch of curly or flat-leaved parsley
• turnips and radishes – possibly
• green salad

We’ve grown the first eight items ourselves at St Kew Highway.  The salad leaves are being provided by Jane Mellowship, one of our expert growers, who has her own vegetable plot at New Polzeath.

Hard work

We’ve made enormous strides since March – entirely as a result of the dedicated volunteer labour provided by members and expert growers.  Some people said we would never manage it, but we have proved that we can.

Many hours of hard work have gone into preparing the 40-metre long growing beds, spreading compost, digging up dock leaves, sowing seeds, planting out seedlings, hoeing and an enormous amount of hand weeding.  We’re grateful to our expert growing team and all the volunteers who have turned up on Sunday mornings – rain or shine.

Last Sunday we thinned out and hand weeded the parsnips, weeded the Swiss chard, spread compost and dug up yet more dock leaves that were threatening to go to seed. 

A big thanks to expert grower Mark Norman, to members Charlotte, Diana, Mike H and Mike S, and to visitors Donna and Marianne.

Another team of volunteers will be picking and packing the boxes every Friday morning.  If you’d like to be included on the rota, please contact Mark Norman or phone Antonina at St Kew Harvest. 

Box collection

 

“Your name will be on your box, please take your own box and anyone else’s that you are delivering.  Remember to give us feedback as soon as possible.

 

A special thank you to to Penny and Robert Manders and to Mike Haywood for volunteering to help Mark with the first harvest and packing.

 

Happy eating!”

Feedback on box content and any queries about veg box administration should be sent to Cathy at thefarm@bodminmoor.co.uk