July 15, 2010
Contents of our vegetable boxes this week are provided by Mark Norman, Jane Mellowship, Jeremy Brown of St Kew Harvest and Camel CSA’s own plot, all of it grown to organic principles.
Update: Don’t forget that the beetroot tops make a tasty vegetable – see Seasonal recipe No 51. The Pentland Javelin potatoes we’re getting at the moment tend to collapse if overcooked – try steaming rather than boiling them. And this week’s French beans are a mix of purple- and green-podded ones but all come out green once cooked.
Small boxes will have:
potatoes – Pentland Javelin (Mark)
turnips (Mark)
broad beans (Mark)
beetroot (Mark
calabrese (Jeremy)
parsley (Jeremy)
salad (Camel CSA)
Medium boxes will have extra potatoes as well as:
french beans (Jane and Jeremy)
cucumber (Jeremy)
basil (Jeremy)
Large boxes will have extra potatoes, turnips, salad and beetroot, plus:
peas (Jeremy)
courgettes (Jeremy)
onions (Camel CSA)
July 12, 2010
The growing team has been kept well occupied over the past two Sundays preparing beds, sowing beetroot and carrots, and hoeing the borage. We’ve also cleared the last of our own broad beans, which have gone over.
Expert grower Jane Mellowship says:
If we get a good downpour we now need to mulch the celeriac, celery and sweetcorn with the green manure which was cut recently.
We’ve had a good wet spell so it is an ideal time to do this. It will help the soil to hold moisture and improve the soil structure as the green manure decomposes, not to mention reduce weeding!
July 9, 2010
As this week’s boxes contained the produce from the Camel CSA’s two rows of broad beans which were picked clean this morning, it’s perhaps the last chance for a broad bean recipe. This is from Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook. She recommends using tagliolini or fine spaghetti. Slightly fiddly recipe but the result is very tasty.
Serves 4
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 15 minutes
Ingredients
250g broad beans, shelled weight
350g tagliolini or fine spaghetti
75g fried pancetta or prosciutto
2 tbsp finely chopped summer savory or thyme, to serve
grated parmesan cheese, to serve
For the beurre blanc:
4 tbsp white wine
4 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 heaped tbsp finely chopped shallots
salt and black pepper
175g unsalted butter, cold and diced
Method
To make the beurre blanc, reduce the wine, vinegar, shallots, salt and pepper in a small saucepan until you have only a tablespoon of liquid left. Whisk in the cold butter bit by bit over a very low heat or using a bain-marie, until thick and creamy. Season. Keep it warm in a vacuum flask or bain marie.
Bring a pan of water to the boil. Cook the beans in the water for 4 minutes. Remove them, reserving some of the cooking liquid, and cool them quickly in a sieve under cold running water.
Pop some of the bright green beans out of their skin by pinching them with your thumb and forefinger; this adds a wonderful colour. Discard the skins and puree half the beans with a tablespoon of the cooking water.
Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until just al dente, leaving a tablespoon or two of cooking liquid in the pan. Add the bean puree, pancetta or prosciutto and the beurre blanc, and stir. Season carefully.
Lastly throw in the remaining beans and stir. Serve with summer savory or thyme and grated parmesan.
July 8, 2010
and peas and cucumber too.
Contents of our 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 vegetable boxes will have:
potatoes – Pentland Javelin (Mark)
carrots (Mark)
blackcurrants (Mark)
peas (Jeremy)
cucumber (Jeremy)
broad beans (Camel CSA)
salad bags (Camel CSA)
Standard veg boxes will also have:
extra potatoes
mixed courgettes (Jeremy)
marrow (Jeremy)
swiss chard/perpetual spinach (Camel CSA)
July 7, 2010
Camel CSA members are hosting our own Big Lunch again this year on Sunday 18 July.
It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to get together in a social setting. Join us on our site at St Kew Highway from 12.30pm onwards.
Please do come along to the Big Lunch and feel welcome to invite friends and family. All you need to do is bring some seasonal food and drink and something to sit on. Be prepared to share your lunch with the rest of us!
Last year in spite of the terrible weather we had a fantastic time at South Penquite Farm, Blisland at the kind invitation of our treasurer Cathy Fairman. We even managed some musical entertainment.
This year, fingers crossed, we can have this Eden Project-inspired event outdoors beside our vegetable-growing plot, next to St Kew Harvest Farm Shop. We’ll provide a very simple activity for the children (maybe some more straw bales…) And if anyone would like to bring a musical instrument or two, that would be great.
July 3, 2010
After a welcome day of rain, we won’t need to do any hand watering in the near future. However, as usual there are plenty of things for our volunteer growing team to do on our site at St Kew Highway this Sunday.
Expert grower Jane Mellowship says:
Jobs for Sunday include sowing salad for our own mixed salad bags, coriander and bulb fennel. None of which particularly thrive in hot, dry conditions, which is exactly what it has been of late. So when germinated the crops are going to need some extra care to ensure they don’t get tempted to bolt!
And of course there is always a little weeding to be done. See you Sunday.
July 2, 2010
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.
A recipe from Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook which she says came from Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian. A good way of using those beetroot leaves and a nice change from chard or spinach.
Serves 4
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes
Ingredients
450g beetroot greens
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 fresh green chilli, cut into long thin slivers
3cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into long slivers
½ tsp salt
Method
Strip the beetroot greens from the stalks and cut them into fine ribbons.
Put the oil in a large pan and warm over a high heat. When the oil is hot, put in the chilli and ginger. Stir them around for a minute and then add the greens.
Cover the pan, turn the heat to low and cook until the leaves have wilted. Add the salt and stir, then add 4 tbsp water and bring to a simmer.
Cover again and cook on a low heat, stirring occasionally, until the greens are tender.
July 1, 2010
Yes, it’s a whole year since we packed our very first vegetable boxes …
Treats in store this week come from our professional growers Mark Norman of Bodmin, Jane Mellowship of Polzeath and Jeremy Brown of St Kew Harvest as well as some of Camel CSA’s own produce, all of it grown to organic principles.
In the small birthday veg boxes:
potatoes ‘Pentland Javelin’ (Mark)
garlic (Mark)
lettuce (Jeremy)
spring greens (Jeremy)
broad beans (Jeremy)
spring onions (Jane)
swiss chard (Camel CSA)
The standard birthday vegetable boxes will have:
extra potatoes (Mark)
courgettes (Mark)
beetroot (Mark)
salad bags (CSA)
Update: Please make sure you wash the leaves in the salad bags, as some are a little muddy after yesterday’s very welcome burst of rain.
