Seasonal local food recipe No.368 – Aubergine curry with chilli, tomato and kaffir lime leaves

This recipe is taken from Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey.  If you miss out the shrimp paste, you have got a pleasing vegetarian curry. The kaffir lime leaves can also be replaced with grated lime zest.

Kecap manis is a thick, sweet Indonesian soy sauce which Rick Stein says is not interchangeable with ordinary soy sauce but we just put in a little extra dark soy sauce.  The use of fresh tomatoes gave the curry a nice fresh taste.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
2 medium-sized aubergines
7 tbsp vegetable oil
200g shallots, thinly sliced
25g garlic, thinly sliced
25g peeled ginger, finely chopped
2 medium-hot red chillies, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp shrimp paste
200g chopped tomatoes
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 tbsp kecap manis
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp palm sugar
juice of 1/2 lime

Method
Cut the aubergines in half lengthways and then across into slices 1cm thick.  Heat 5 tablespoons of the oil in a wok or large, deep frying pan.  Add the aubergines and stir fry for 6 minutes until lightly golden.  Lift out with a slotted spoon onto a plate and set aside.

Add the remaining oil to the pan, add the shallots and garlic and fry until golden.  Add the ginger, chillies, shrimp paste and tomatoes and cook for a few seconds more until the tomatoes have softened.

Return the aubergines to the pan with the lime leaves and 6 tablespoons of water.  Simmer for 2 minutes until the aubergines are tender and the sauce has reduced slightly.  Stir in the kecap manis, dark soy sauce, sugar, lime juice and 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste, and serve.

Seasonal local food recipe No.336 – Jamie’s sweet cherry tomato and sausage bake

My husband used our bag of tomatoes to make this delicious sausage dish from Jamie Oliver last night.  He finely chopped  the rosemary before cooking and cut the larger tomatoes into chunks.  He served the finished dish with garlic bread.

Serves: 6

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 45-60 minutes

Ingredients
2 kg ripe cherry tomatoes
2 sprigs each of fresh thyme, rosemary and bay
1 tbsp dried oregano
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
12 good-quality Cumberland or coarse Italian pork sausages
extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
sea-salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C/gas mark 5.  Get an appropriately sized roasting tray, large enough to take the tomatoes in one snug-fitting layer.  Put in all your tomatoes, the herb sprigs, oregano, garlic and sausages.  Drizzle well with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper.

Toss together, then make sure the sausages are on top and pop the tray into the oven for half an hour.  After this time, give it a shake and turn the sausages over.  Put back into the oven for 15-30 minutes, depending on how golden and sticky you like your sausages.

Once it’s cooked, you’ll have an intense, tomatoey sauce.  If it’s a little too thin, lift out the sausages and place the tray on the hob to cook it down to the consistency you like – I tend to make mine quite thick – then put the sausages back in.

Check the seasoning and serve either with a good-quality loaf of bread warmed through in a low oven for 10 minutes (great for mopping up the sauce!) or with mashed potato, rice or polenta, a green salad and a nice glass of wine.

Seasonal local food recipe No.335 – Miryam’s tomatoes with toast

We have recently returned from our holiday touring round Spain.  For five nights we stayed at the Valencia home of our young Spanish friend Miryam.  Every morning she prepared this simple dish for breakfast.

Serves 2

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Ingredients
3 large tomatoes
sea salt
extra virgin olive oil

Method
Halve the tomatoes and grate the flesh directly into a shallow dish, discard the skin.  Season to taste with sea salt and a good glug of extra virgin olive oil.  Serve with freshly made toast, left over baguette is ideal.

Red and yellow tomatoes in Camel CSA’s veg boxes

In our boxes this week: –

First of the season’s pumpkins in our veg boxes

In all the boxes: –
*pumpkin
*carrots
*sweetcorn
*onions
*sprouting broccoli OR kale
*cooking apples (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Last of the ripe tomatoes in our veg boxes

The under-ripe tomatoes are going into chutney to have at Christmas.

In all our boxes this week: –
*tomatoes
*parsley
*sweetcorn
*onions
*sprouting broccoli OR Tuscan kale
*celery (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*mixed salad bag
*peppers OR aubergines
*French beans OR Swiss chard

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

Seasonal local food recipe No.290 – French beans with pepper and tomatoes

This classic recipe is based on the late Marcella Hazan‘s recipe for French beans with yellow peppers, tomatoes and chilli pepper. We make it with whatever colour pepper we have to hand and sometimes we include the chilli pepper and sometimes we don’t!  You can also use thinly sliced runner beans.

Serves 4-6

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients
450g French beans
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 pepper, cut into strips
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
170g tomatoes (tinned or fresh)
chopped hot red chilli pepper (optional)

Method
Trim the beans, soak them in cold water, drain and set aside.  Put the oil in a pan on medium heat and gently cook the onion until translucent.  Add the pepper and roughly chopped tomatoes, stir well and simmer gently for about 20 minutes.

Add the chilli pepper (if using) and the beans, turn them over 2 or 3 times to coat them well, add 6 tbsp. of water or less if you are using fresh tomatoes and they are watery.

Cover and cook at a steady simmer until tender, 20-30 minutes depending on the youth and freshness of the beans.  Add more water as needed.  When the beans are done, if the pan juices are watery, uncover, turn the heat up and rapidly boil them down.  Season with salt and chilli pepper to taste.

Seasonal local food recipe No.288 – Delia’s pasta ‘Puttanesca’

In Italian a puttanesca is a “lady of the night” so Delia Smith calls this “tart’s spaghetti”!

Serves 2

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes

Ingredients
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
50g anchovies, drained (optional)
150g pitted black olives, chopped
1 fresh red chilli, de-seeded and chopped
1 heaped tbsp capers, drained
450g tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 rounded tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
freshly ground black pepper

225-275 g spaghetti (depending on how hungry you are)

freshly grated parmesan cheese
chopped fresh basil

Method
To make the sauce, heat the oil in a medium saucepan, then add the garlic, chilli and basil and cook these until the garlic is pale golden.  Then add all the other sauce ingredients, stir and season with a little pepper.

Turn the heat to low and let the sauce simmer very gently without a lid for 40 minutes, by which time it will have reduced to a lovely thick mass, with very little liquid left.

Cook the spaghetti, timing it to be ready when the sauce is cooked.  Drain the spaghetti, return it to the pan and toss the sauce in it, adding the basil.  Mix thoroughly and serve with lots of grated parmesan to sprinkle over.

It’s time to… plant out aubergines and tomatoes

The polytunnels are filling up with spring-sown vegetables.

Seasonal local food recipe No.244 – Hugh’s roasted tomato sauce

This is a brilliant way to use up a surplus of tomatoes.  Once made it can be frozen for later use as a pizza topping or with pasta.  It is from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Veg every day.

Makes about 500ml
Cooking/preparation time: 1-1hour 15 minutes

Ingredients
1.5-2 Kg ripe tomatoes, larger ones halved
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
a few sprigs of thyme
A couple of sprigs marjoram (optional)
2 tbs rapeseed or olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4.  Lay the tomatoes, cut side up if halved, on a baking tray.  Scatter over the garlic and herbs and trickle over the oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Put the tomatoes in the oven for about an hour until the tomatoes are completely soft and pulpy and starting to crinkle and caramelise on top.  Leave to cool then tip them into a sieve and rub through with a wooden spoon.  Your tomato sauce is now ready to use.