Recipe No 60: Beetroot with fresh mint

Thanks to Henrietta Danvers for this recipe, a salad that can be served as an appetiser or as part of a selection of salads, or as an accompaniment to grilled or roasted pork or lamb.

Serves 4
Preparation: 60 minutes cooking, 10 minutes preparation, 1 hour chilling

Ingredients
4-6 cooked beetroot
1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 bunch fresh mint, leaves stripped and thinly shredded
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and black pepper

Method
Slice the beetroot and cut into dice, put in a bowl and add the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Combine. Add half the thinly shredded fresh mint to the salad and chill in the fridge for an hour. Serve garnished with the remaining shredded mint leaves.

Our own crunchy carrots this week

This year’s been a good growing season for carrots as you can see from our vegetable boxes – remember last year’s tiddlers? This week’s produce is mostly from Jeremy Brown at St Kew Harvest and from our own Camel CSA plot.

Small boxes have:
potatoes (Benbole Farm)
* carrots (Camel CSA)
* chard (Camel CSA)
* beetroot (St Kew Harvest)
* french beans (St Kew Harvest)
* red cabbage (St Kew Harvest)

Standard boxes have extra potatoes plus:
* salad bags (Camel CSA)
* leeks (St Kew Harvest)
* kale (St Kew Harvest)

* = grown to organic principles

Tasty tomatoes in this week’s boxes

The contents of this week’s veg boxes are produced by Jeremy Brown of St Kew Harvest, Benbole Farm and the Camel CSA’s own plot.

Small boxes have: 
1kg potatoes (Benbole Farm, St Kew)
* salad bags (Camel CSA)
* carrots (Camel CSA)
* leeks (Jeremy)
* savoy cabbage (Jeremy)
* tomatoes (Jeremy)

Standard boxes also have:
extra 500g of potatoes
* coriander (Camel CSA)
* swede (Jeremy)
* parsley (Jeremy)

* = grown to organic principles

Weekly veg boxes camel community supported agriculture, tomtaoes, veg boxes, vegetable boxes

Sweet corn on the cob

The contents of our vegetable boxes this week come from Mark Norman, Jeremy Brown of St Kew Harvest, Benbole Farm and our own Camel CSA plot.

Small boxes will have:
* sweetcorn (Mark)
* runner beans (Mark)
potatoes (Benbole Farm)
* coriander (Camel CSA)
* swiss chard (Camel CSA)
* salad bags (Camel CSA)

Standard boxes will have larger quantities of potatoes and runner beans plus:
* garlic (Camel CSA)
* carrots (Camel CSA)
* courgettes (Jeremy)

* = grown to organic principles

Seasonal recipe No 57: Red cabbage salad

This recipe is from Sybil Kapoor’s Simply British. “Surprisingly good,” she says, “and should be served with cold meat and jacket potatoes.” It’s a variation on one that appeared in the classic Food in England by Dorothy Hartley, and known as Yorkshire ploughboy.

Serves 4

Preparation: 10 minutes + 10 minutes resting time

Ingredients
½ large red cabbage, finely sliced
1 red onion, halved and finely sliced
3 tbsp dried sour cherries or cranberries
2 tbsp black treacle
4 tbsp white wine vinegar
salt and black pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper

Method
Place the cabbage, onion and dried fruit in a mixing bolw. Measure the treacle and vinegar into a small mixing bowl and stir until the treacle has dissolved. Pour over the salad, mix thoroughly and season to taste. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Note: This can also be made into a warm red cabbage salad by lightly frying the cabbage with finely sliced spring onions, a little garlic and the dried fruit before tipping in the dressing.

More of our own baby carrots this week

Most of this week’s veg box contents come from Jeremy Brown at St Kew Harvest.

Small boxes will have:
potatoes –  Estima (Benbole Farm)
* carrots (Camel CSA)
* salad bag (Jeremy)
* french beans (Jeremy)
* red cabbage (Jeremy)
* parsley (Jeremy)

Standard boxes will have extra potatoes as well as:
* mixed summer squash (Jeremy)
* leeks (Jeremy)
* marrow (Jeremy)

And next week we can look forward to sweetcorn and the first of the cauliflowers.

* = grown to organic principles

Seasonal recipe No 56: Runner beans with cream and savory

A different way with runner beans from Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook. She calls it ‘a delicious soft, creamy dish that is good with roast chicken. It also makes a tasty quick pasta sauce.’ If you don’t have savory, you can use thyme instead.

Serves 4

Preparation/cooking: 20 minutes

Ingredients
450g runner beans
salt and black pepper
150ml double cream
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 tbsp chopped summer savory or thyme, plus more to serve
grated parmesan cheese, to serve

Method
String and slice the beans and cook them uncovered in rapidly boiling salted water for 3 minutes until they are just tender. Plunge into cold water and drain.

Put the cream, garlic clove and savory or thyme in a saucepan. Add salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave for 10 minutes for the flavours to merge. Take out the garlic.

Add the beans, put back on the heat and stir to heat them through. Scatter more savory or thyme and plenty of parmesan over the top.

Summer’s first runner beans this week

The contents of our Cornish vegetable boxes this week are provided by Mark Norman, Jeremy Brown of St Kew Harvest and Camel CSA’s own plot, all of it grown to organic principles.

Small boxes will have:
potatoes – Estima (Mark)
courgettes (Mark)
runner beans (Mark)
carrots (Camel CSA)
salad bag (Jeremy)
savoy cabbage (Jeremy)

Standard boxes will have all the above plus extra potatoes and:
garlic (CSA)
chard (CSA)
beetroot (Jeremy)
swede (Jeremy)

Large boxes will have double the amount in the standard box plus red cabbage (Jeremy) instead of two savoys.

Our veg box scheme is a year old

Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s first veg boxes were distributed exactly a year ago today.

Over the last 12 months our volunteer picking and packing team have braved extreme conditions - frost, snow, hail, gales, mud, rain and shine - to prepare the weekly vegetable boxes for our members.

Together with our growers and local suppliers in north Cornwall they ensure that the quality of the veg box contents remains of a consistently high standard.

Between us we’re growing a fantastic variety of fresh seasonal vegetables.

Our veg box scheme has vacancies for new members. So if you’re interested in a regular weekly supply of locally-grown food, please contact us.

We’ll make sure you feel very welcome.

Tasty chard in the veg boxes

… as well as more of the mixed basil, baby carrots and other spring vegetables, all supplied by two of Camel CSA’s expert growers – Mark Norman of Bodmin and Jeremy Brown of St Kew Harvest.

* new potatoes (Mark)
* carrots (Mark)
* Swiss chard (Jeremy)
* salad bag (Jeremy)
* basil (Jeremy)

Standard boxes will also get:
* extra potatoes
* calabrese (Mark)
* spring greens (Jeremy)

* = grown to organic principles