Seasonal local food recipe No.356 – Wild garlic and cheese muffins

Camel CSA’s chair Diana Barry recommends this River Cottage Handbook No.8 Pam Corbin recipe for wild garlic. Pam says: “It’s heady, yet sweet aroma combines beautifully with strong Cheddar to make moreishly good muffins.”

Makes 10 large muffins

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp English mustard powder or 1/2 rsp cayenne pepper (optional)
125ml milk
125ml plain yogurt
1 egg
100ml sunflower or rapeseed oil
2 level tbsp finely chopped wild garlic leaves (about 20 leaves)
100-150g strong Cheddar cheese, grated
5 cherry tomatoes, halved (optional)

Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas Mark 6. Sift the first five ingredients into a medium mixing bowl, making sure they are evenly blended together.

Put the milk, yogurt, egg, oil, chopped garlic leaves and three-quarters of the cheese into a large mixing bowl. Beat together until well combined and the mture is like a very thick batter. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir very lightly, scraping son the sides, until just combined, with no clumps of dried flour lurking in the bottom of the bowl.

Place 10 muffin cases in a muffin tray with holes 2cm deep / 6.5cm diameter. Divide the mixture between the cases, filling each 3/4 full. Place half a tomato, if using, on top of each muffin and sprinkle with the remaining sheese.

Bake in the oven until well risen and golden on top.They should spring back into shape when touched lightly.

Salad leaves and wild garlic in Camel CSA’s veg boxes

Spring comes early to Cornwall. The longer days and increased light levels are encouraging seeds to germinate and veg plants to put on a growth spurt.

In all the boxes this week:-
*salad bag – rocket, lettuce, mizuma, baby beet/spinach, red/golden mustard leaves
*wild garlic leaves – foraged
*sprouted mung beans
cauliflower Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick
parsnips (Restharrow)
Jerusalem artichokes(Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*red Russian kale or purple sprouting broccoli
leeks (Restharrow)
onions (Restharrow)

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

Seasonal local food recipe No.355 – Wild garlic frittata

Newly-laid eggs are the perfect partner for wild garlic during its short season in Cornwall. This tasty and colourful recipe from Demuths Vegetarian Cookery School is delicious served with the red kale or purple sprouting broccoli in our weekly veg boxes.

Serves: 2
Preparation and cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients
1 medium potato peeled and diced very small
1 tbsp olive oil
4 eggs
50g ricotta
25g vegetarian-style Parmesan, grated
1 large handful of young wild garlic leaves, chopped roughly
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
In a 24cm frying pan, one without a plastic handle, heat the olive oil and gently sauté the potato, with a lid on until cooked, which takes about 10 minutes.

In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with 2/3rds of the ricotta and parmesan, add the wild garlic and season with salt and pepper. Add the egg mix to the potatoes and cook on a gentle heat, until almost set. You will need to run a heatproof spatula around the frittata to stop it from sticking.

Pre-heat the grill. Scatter the remaining ricotta and parmesan over the top of the frittata and grill until the top is golden. Serve at once cut into wedges. with wild garlic leaves drizzled with your favourite nut or olive oil.

Tips
Flavour frittatas with whatever is in season, spring onions and peas with chervil, steamed asparagus tips with fresh mint, sweet tomatoes with basil or wild mushrooms with tarragon.

Wild garlic leaves in Camel CSA’s seasonal veg boxes

Wild garlic is in season in Cornwall, so we’re foraging madly! We expect it to be in our veg boxes over the next 2-3 weeks, depending on the weather conditions. Our picking and packing team forage the garlic leaves from private locations where no chemical fertilisers or sprays are used.

In all the boxes this week:-
*wild garlic leaves – foraged
*swede
*purple sprouting broccoli or red kale (Camel CSA / Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick
leeks (Restharrow)
red onions (Restharrow)
cauliflower (Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*flat-leaved parsley
*beetroot (Camel CSA / Restharrow)
Jerusalem artichokes (Restharrow)

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

Seasonal local food recipe No.354 – Beetroot and caraway soda bread

Frank made this loaf for Sunday lunch last weekend.  The recipe’s from Anna Jones in The Guardian. You might expect the loaf to be bright pink.  It was before it went into the oven but oddly, once baked, it turned to a more palatable shade of yellow!  Whatever the colour it tasted great.

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes

Makes 1 x 750g loaf

Ingredients
300g cooked beetroot, chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp caraway seeds
100ml buttermilk (or plain yoghurt let down with a splash of milk)
200g white spelt flour
200g wholemeal spelt flour
50g pumpkin seeds, plus more for sprinkling
1 tsp salt
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Black pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7. Put the beetroot (see the note below if you’re roasting your own), spices and buttermilk in a food processor and puree until smooth.

Put the flours, pumpkin seeds, salt, bicarbonate of soda and pepper into a large bowl and mix well.  Pour the beetroot mixture into the flours and mix with a fork until well combined, then use your hands to gently bring the lot into a rough ball. Don’t knead it though, or it will make the finished loaf tough.

Scatter some flour over a baking sheet and put your ball of dough on top. Dust with a little more flour and a few more pumpkin seeds.   Cut a deep cross in the bread, then bake for 30 – 40 minutes until golden and risen.

Remove from the oven and tap the bottom of the loaf. If you get a hollow sound, it’s perfect, so pop it on a wire rack to cool. This is delicious warm with salted or almond butter.

If you are roasting the beetroot yourself
Wash the beetroot well and trim off the stalks. Place the whole beetroot in a foil parcel, wrapped really tightly so the steam doesn’t escape. Cook for around an hour (depending on the size of your beetroot) until tender. Once cooked, allow to cool in the foil parcel, this will make it really easy to remove the skins. When cool enough to handle slip the skins off and discard. Extra roasted beetroot can be used in salads or alongside dips such as hummus.

White sprouting broccoli in Camel CSA’s veg boxes

Our boxes are bursting with staple winter vegetables.

In all our veg boxes: –
white sprouting broccoli (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
red onions (Restharrow)
cauliflower (Restharrow)
beetroot (Restharrow)
leeks (Restharrow)
parsnips (Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*coriander
*cabbage
*mixed salad leaves – rocket, lettuce, mizuma, baby beet/spinach, red/golden mustard

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

Try these delicious ways with roasted cauliflower on Camel CSA’s recipe page: –
Yotam’s roast cauliflower with chorizo and green olives
Roasted curried cauliflower
Roasted cauliflower gigli with pine nuts and currants

Beetroot and bean sprouts in Camel CSA’s veg boxes

We’ve all got a free copy of Westcountry FoodLover magazine in this week’s veg boxes, full of tempting seasonal recipes.

In all our veg boxes this week: –
*bean sprouts
*mixed salad leaves – rocket, lettuce, mizuma, baby beet/spinach, red/golden mustard
*purple sprouting broccoli ( Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
beetroot
leeks (Restharrow)
red Russian kale (Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*flat-leaved parsley
parsnips (Restharrow)
cauliflower (Restharrow)

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

Try these delicious chocolate beetroot cakes on Camel CSA’s recipe page: –
Chocolate beetroot cake (rich, moist and oozing)
Beetroot and chocolate traybake (a tad less indulgent)

Sign up for a veg box of seasonal local vegetables on CSA Day UK and get these free gifts

Sign up for a 4-week vegetable box trial from Camel CSA on CSA Day UK this Wednesday 1 March and we’ll give you a free pack of seeds and a LoveYourVeg cloth bag.

We’re proud to be one of the first CSAs in the UK; we set up at St Kew, near Wadebridge, back in 2008. We’re now part of a rapidly-growing national CSA network with more than 60 members.

A small weekly veg box (feeds 1-2) costs £28 for four weeks; a standard weekly veg box (feeds 2-4) costs £42. Delivery every Friday to home or work is £2, or just £1 to a collection point.

So why not give us a try and help us grow.

Camel CSA’s seasonal local veg box will help you get your 10-a-day

We’re all being urged to start eating 10 portions of fruit and vegetables a day.  Eating seasonally and locally reduces the cost of a 10-a-day diet. So why not sign up for a 4-week veg box trial with us?

In all our veg boxes this week: –
*herb bag (rosemary, bay, sage + curry plant sprig)
*sprouting broccoli (Camel CSA / Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
red cabbage
leeks (Restharrow)
cauliflower (Restharrow)
parsnips (Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*kale ‘Red Russian’ or ‘black Tuscan’
*swede
red onions (Restharrow)

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

Seasonal local food recipe No.352 – Cauliflower and lentil curry

We had this tasty curry recently, the lentils and coconut milk give a nice creamy sauce. Use the green coriander in Camel CSA’s veg boxes this week.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes

Ingredients
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 fat garlic clove, finely chopped
25g fresh root ginger, grated
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
75g red split lentils
150ml vegetable stock
1 cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced
400 ml can coconut milk
75g green beans
3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large saucepan and gently cook the onion for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until soft and translucent.  Add the garlic, ginger,ground coriander, cumin and turmeric and cook for 2 minutes, stirring all the time. Stir in the lentils, then pour in the stock.  Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and gently simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tbsp of oil in a frying pan and fry the cauliflower for 2-3 minutes until lightly browned.  Add to the lentil mixture with the carrots and coconut milk.  Bring the curry back to a gentle simmer and cook for a further 10 minutes.  Stir in the beans and cook until all the vegetables are tender.

Stir in the chopped coriander and lemon juice, then season to taste.  Serve with rice, warm naan or chapatis.