My holiday with vegetables
September 15, 2009
Holiday nightmare or domestic dream? Frances is back home after a visit to her parents, who are enthusiastic members of Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s growing-our-own-food project…
“Who’d have thought I’d spend my first morning visiting my parents helping Mum make three lots of soup, the easiest and quickest way to make sure all the vegetables from the box got used.
“Dad incidentally was out of the way, sorry, too busy up at the farm helping out with the other volunteers.
“My favourite soup was the roast tomato and basil (see below), as the tomatoes actually tasted like tomatoes unlike the ones you get from the supermarket in Newcastle!
“The fun didn’t stop there, with another vegetable box arriving towards the end of my visit. This box contained a wonderfully orange pumpkin which we roasted to make a pumpkin and sage risotto with blue cheese.
“I made up the recipe, simply adding the roasted pumpkin to a basic risotto, adding chopped fresh sage leaves to the stock and cubes of blue cheese on top of the risotto at the end.
“Although the pumpkin ended up being a little bit watery (perhaps we should have stuck to making soup!) the risotto turned out to be very good energy food for dancing the night away at the barn dance in St Mabyn that evening which was a lovely, if not exhausting end to my Cornwall visit.”
Roast tomato and basil soup Ⓥ (adapted from the Good Housekeeping Cookery Book)
Preparation and cooking time: 40 minutes. Serves 4
Ingredients
2 lbs fresh ripe tomatoes
1 onion
1 medium potato
1 stick of celery
1 carrot
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 litre of vegetable stock
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 bunch of basil
Method
Halve tomatoes and place in baking tray. Sprinkle with oil and a few basil leaves. Cook in a hot oven for 30 minutes. Chop onion, carrot, potato and celery finely and sautee gently in oil in a large pan for 10 minutes. Add stock, salt and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes. When tomatoes roasted, remove skins and add to pan. Chop stems of basil and half the leaves and add to the mix with tomato paste. Simmer for a further 5 minutes. Puree in a blender. Serve with a garnish of basil leaves.
