Super selection in our veg boxes from north Cornwall

Our team of vegetable box pickers and packers deserve a medal! In spite of driving rain we managed to get 49 veg boxes out this Friday. Volunteers Charlotte, Gillian, Lila, Ness and Toby got soaked to the skin but kept on smiling, as did our growers Bridget and Mark N.

In all the vegetable boxes this week:-
*beetroot
*cucumber
*’wet’ garlic
*parsley
*red Russian or black Tuscan kale
*courgettes (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
new potatoes (Growfair)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*calabrese or fennel or new turnips
*French beans or tomatoes
*Swiss chard

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

Try out these easy oven-cooked ways of serving new potatoes on Camel CSA’s recipe page – more than 350 recipes for you to browse:-
New potatoes baked in parchment
Hugh’s roasted new potatoes with harissa 

Volunteers are the backbone of Camel CSA’s community veg-growing enterprise in Cornwall

Our picking and packing team did a grand job on Friday picking veg and lifting more than 50kg of potatoes for our weekly vegetable boxes. Many thanks to Bridget, Charlotte, Mark M, Mark N, Ness, Toby and Trish.

Like to join us and get a weekly share of the harvest? Click here to arrange a month’s veg box trial. We’re a non-profit-making community enterprise.

In all the vegetable boxes this week:- *cucumbers, *basil, *new carrots, *spring greens, *beetroot, *new potatoes, *blackcurrants (Mark Norman, Bodmin), raspberries (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
Standard boxes also have:- extra potatoes, *French beans, salad leaves, *courgettes (Mark Norman)

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

Try out lots of ways of preparing vegetables on Camel CSA’s recipe page – more than 380 recipes for you to browse.

Summer delights in our organically-grown boxes of veg

We’ve got the first of our own new potatoes in the veg boxes this week, hand-harvested by Mark, Ness and Toby. This is quite an arduous job in warm weather in Cornwall, so their hard work is much appreciated.

In all the vegetable boxes this week:-
*French beans – purple
*cucumbers
*wet’ garlic
*parsley
*salad leaves – ‘Freckles’, oak leaf lettuce, baby chard
*courgettes (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
*new potatoes
*bay leaves

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*calabrese or spring greens
*turnips or kohlrabi
*red Russian kale

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

Try out lots of ways of preparing vegetables on Camel CSA’s recipe page – more than 380 recipes for you to browse.

Seasonal local food recipe No.364 – Asparagus frittata with soft cheese and chives

This recipe was featured in The Guardian‘s 10 best asparagus recipes. It made for a very tasty meal on Friday evening accompanied by a green salad.

Serves 2

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
200 g asparagus, trimmed
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and cayenne pepper
nutmeg, freshly grated
3 large eggs, beaten
125g soft cream cheese
30g parmesan, finely grated
2 tsp chives, chopped
butter, for frying

Method
Thinly slice the asparagus spears on the diagonal.  Warm the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan, add the asparagus and season with salt, cayenne pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.  Cook gently over a low heat until the asparagus is tender and lightly coloured.  Tip out on to a plate, set aside and wipe out the frying pan.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, cream cheese, parmesan and chives until smooth.  Return the frying pan to a moderate heat, add a little slice of butter and heat until it is just beginning to froth.  Pour in the egg mixture, turn down the heat to low and begin bringing in the frothing edges to the liquid centre of the pan using a spatula.

Tip the cooked asparagus into the pan and disperse evenly.  Continue to gently lift the more cooked parts of the frittata, allowing the liquid egg to slip underneath them until a happy, soft and curd-like medium has evolved.  This should take around 2 minutes.  Slide the frittata on to a plate and allow to cool a little before serving.

French beans and cucumbers in our Cornish veg boxes

In all the vegetable boxes this week:-
*cucumbers
*spring onions
*salad leaves – ‘Freckles’, oak leaf lettuce, baby chard
asparagus (Tregassow Farm, Truro)
strawberries (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
Cornish early potatoes (Growfair)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*basil
*French beans – purple
*turnips

* = grown to organic principles

All produce grown by Camel CSA unless otherwise indicated.  Please wash all vegetables and fruit.

Try out our recipes on Camel CSA’s recipe page – more than 350 ideas for you to browse.

Fresh, crunchy carrots in Camel CSA’s veg boxes

In all the vegetable boxes this week:-
*carrots
*salad leaves – ‘Freckles’, oakleaf lettuce, chard
*spring onions
asparagus (Tregassow Farm, Truro)
strawberries (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
Cornish early potatoes (Growfair)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*cucumbers
*parsley
spring greens (Growfair)

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

Try out these ways of preparing carrots on Camel CSA’s recipe page – more than 350 vegetable recipes for you to browse:-
Baby carrots with lemon and thyme
Jamie’s best whole-baked baby carrots

Cornish early potatoes in Camel CSA’s weekly veg boxes

No more old potatoes! At long last we’ve got Cornish earlies in the veg boxes AND more of that delicious asparagus from Tregassow Farm, Truro. We also have newly-harvested baby turnips, broad beans and peas from our own polytunnels.

In all the vegetable boxes this week:-
*broad beans OR peas in the pod
*turnips
asparagus (Tregassow Farm, Truro)
rhubarb (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
spring greens (Growfair)
Cornish early potatoes (Growfair)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*salad bag
golden beetroot (Growfair)
cauliflower (Growfair)

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

Try out these ways of preparing asparagus on Camel CSA’s recipe page – more than 350 vegetable recipes for you to browse:-
Hugh’s roast new potatoes and asparagus with baked eggs
Nigel’s asparagus and lemon risotto

Seasonal local food recipe No.361 – Risotto with broad beans and mint

This fantastic risotto recipe is taken from chef David Eyre’s The Eagle Cookbook: Recipes from the Original Gastropub. We had it for our meal last night; Frank didn’t “shuck” the beans (take them out of their little grey sacs), he cooked the beans in the risotto and it still tasted great!

Serves 5-6 as a starter

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
3kg broad beans (400g podded and shucked weight)
2 litres vegetable or chicken stock
150g unsalted butter
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
300g Arborio rice
a glass of white wine
a bunch of mint, chopped
75g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
To shuck the beans drop the podded beans into a pan of boiling salted water and leave for about 30 seconds, then drain and cool them quickly under running cold water. Take a bean in one hand and aim it at a large bowl. Squeeze gently between your forefinger and thumb. The bean will pop out of the membrane and fall into the bowl in two neat halves.

Put the stock in a pan and bring it to simmering point. Gently heat 100g of the butter in a separate pan, add the onions and garlic with a little salt and fry until tender. Do not let them brown. Turn the heat up high and pour in the rice. Stir it with a wooden spoon for about half a minute, coating it with the butter; do not let it stick to the pan.

Add the wine and let it bubble fiercely for about a minute, stirring gently all the time. Reduce the heat and start to add the hot stock in stages. When the rice is done, remove from the heat, add the rest of the butter and cover the pan until it has melted. Stir in the broad beans and mint, then add the Parmesan and some seasoning. Serve immediately.

Broad beans and Cornish asparagus in our veg boxes

In all the vegetable boxes this week:-
*broad beans
*salad bag (Mr Green’s Market Garden, Newquay)
asparagus (Tregassow Farm, Truro)
spring greens (Growfair)
cauliflower (Growfair)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (St Lawrence Farm, Bodmin)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*turnips
*radishes (Mr Green’s Market Garden)
onions (Growfair)

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

Try more than 350 vegetable recipes on Camel CSA’s recipe page

New season broad beans in Camel CSA’s veg boxes

Our three polytunnels help extend the vegetable-growing season in Cornwall. This week’s standard veg boxes have the first of the broad beans, soon to be followed by mangetout and peas.

In all the boxes this week:-
*Swiss chard
*herb bag
rhubarb (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
beetroot (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
onions (Restharrow)
cauliflower (Growfair Cornwall)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (St Lawrence Farm, Bodmin)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*broad beans
*radishes
*mixed salad leaves (golden mustard, lettuce)

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

Try more than 350 vegetable recipes on Camel CSA’s recipe page