An Edwardian dish (great name!) that Sarah Raven says was included in her aunt Fortune Stanley’s 1974 cookery book, English Country House Cooking. Sarah reproduces it in her Garden Cookbook. She says that with a crunchy salad of bitter leaves – our own Camel CSA-grown salad leaves would work well – it’s perfect for a light main course.
Serves 4
Preparation and cooking: 40 minutes
Ingredients
1 large cauliflower
175g butter, plus a little more for the dish
3 tbsp flour
6 tbsp single cream
250g strong cheddar cheese
salt and black pepper
1 tbsp mustard
6 eggs, separated
Method
Preheat a moderate oven (180C/gas 4). Divide the cauliflower into chunks and steam it for 3-4 minutes. Put the cauliflower in the bottom of a buttered souffle dish.
Melt the butter, add the flour and stir over a gentle heat for 1-2 minutes. Add the cream and cheese. Season and add the mustard and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring continuously until the mixture thickens to the consistency of double cream. Take off the heat and stir in the egg yolks.
Whisk the egg whites and fold in. Pour the souffle mixture over the cauliflower and bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, until the top is browned and risen.
From Nigel Slater on the Royal Horticultural Society’s ‘Grow Your Own‘ website, in the ‘Eating and Cooking‘ section’ – the ideal recipe for the selection of Camel CSA’s own leaves in this week’s boxes.
Serves 4
Preparation and cooking: 15 minutes
Ingredients
200g piece of pancetta or bacon
2 thick slices of bread, crusts removed
a little olive oil
For the salad:
4 handfuls of leaves to include soft, mild lettuce and a spicier leaf such as one of the mustard family
a small bunch of flat leaf parsley
6 bushy sprigs of tarragon
about 10 basil leaves
For the dressing:
1 tbsp tarragon vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp walnut oil
a dab of French mustard
Method
Cut the pancetta into small dice and tear the bread into larger pieces. Cook the pancetta in a shallow pan with a little oil until the fat is golden, then lift it out and drain on kitchen paper.
Using both the fat remaining in the pan and a little more oil if needs be, cook the bread cubes until they are golden on all sides. Watch them carefully, they can burn quite easily. Put them on kitchen paper to drain.
Rinse the leaves carefully, so as not to damage any of the fragile leaves. They are best dried in a salad spinner. Pull the leaves from the herb branches, tear the basil roughly and chop the others.
Make the dressing by mixing all the ingredients together with a small whisk or by shaking them in a jar. Toss the warm bacon and croutons of bread with the salad leaves, herbs and the dressing. Serve straight away …
A variation on a recipe by Angela Hartnett that uses pea shoots but we can use the spinach from this week’s boxes instead. You can either cook the chicken from fresh or it’s an excellent way of using up some leftovers.
Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main
Preparation and cooking: 40 minutes or so if cooking the chicken, much less if not
Ingredients
olive oil
4 chicken thighs
salt and pepper
1 clove crushed garlic
1 sprig rosemary
250g instant couscous
400ml boiling water
2 spring onions, sliced
½ tsp ground ginger
1 dsp raisins
1 dsp chopped hazelnuts
4 salad radishes, sliced
50ml vinaigrette
½ tsp pesto
½ handful baby spinach or pea shoots
Method
Heat a touch of olive oil in a frying pan. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and cook together with the crushed garlic and rosemary over a medium heat for 15-20 minutes, turning occasionally until it is golden brown and a knife can go through it easily. If it appears to be dry, add a touch of water. Once it is cooked, allow it to cool and either shred the meat or remove the bone and slice into strips, skin and all.
While the chicken is cooling, turn your attention to the couscous. Place it in a bowl with a pinch of salt and 1 tbsp of olive oil, add the 400ml of boiling water, stir and cover with a plate or clingfilm. Leave for five minutes before removing the cover and breaking the couscous up with a fork. Then add the chicken and remaining ingredients. Mix well and check the seasoning.
Serve in a large bowl at room temperature.
The warm spring weather has brought on the asparagus crop in Cornwall. We’ve been enjoying Cornish asparagus from Lower Croan, Sladesbridge in our veg boxes for the past three weeks.
There’s a lot to be said for local food that’s come straight from the farm and run up few food miles.
Camel CSA is incredibly fortunate to be situated just a few fields away from the Derrymans’ asparagus farm. So it’s always tender and freshly picked – nothing like the tough old stalks you get in supermarkets.
Most of us would agree that asparagus is best eaten either on its own with some butter or hollandaise sauce, or with just a few simple extra ingredients.
Roger and Gill Derryman never get tired of their own Cornish asparagus with bacon and parmesan.
I’m a fan of what I call simply delicious Cornish asparagus with dry-cured bacon and a free-range poached egg (from my own hens, naturally).
Garden biographer Trish Gibson, who posts a recipe every week on this website, likes it even simpler – just Cornish asparagus with egg (from her hens).
Camel CSA volunteer Henrietta Danvers, who used to run her own restaurant in London, recommends Mark Hix’s more sophisticated shaved asparagus and goat’s cheese salad.
And if you’re not sure what to do with this lovely vegetable, why not begin with the basics: How to cook British asparagus.
The first asparagus of the season is such a treat that it would be a shame to over-complicate it. One of the best things to combine it with is egg. The whole thing will take not much more than ten minutes. Use freshly-picked Cornish asparagus of course.
Ingredients
asparagus
free-range eggs
Maldon or sea salt
pepper
butter
optional extras: balsamic vinegar, parmesan shavings, basil pesto, mayonnaise
Method
Take your asparagus and snap off any woody bits from the base. Put a wide pan of water with a pinch of salt on to boil (obviously it should be large enough to take the asparagus, ideally standing upright, but that’s not too important).
Meanwhile put your eggs in another pan of cold water and bring to the boil. For hard-boiled, allow about 10-12 minutes depending on size; for soft-boiled, allow about 7-9 minutes. Alternatively, if you’re a whiz at poaching your eggs, cook them that way.
Once the asparagus pan comes to the boil, add the spears and allow around 5-6 minutes – test with a sharp knife.
Run cold water on the boiled eggs and shell them. Drain the asparagus and add a generous knob of butter, sea salt and pepper. Serve the asparagus with the egg cut in half on top and add whichever of the optional extras you fancy. A green salad accompaniment would be good. New potatoes too, if you’re feeling a bit greedy.
Another recipe from Annie Bell’s Evergreen. She makes homemade pasta but bought is fine. It’s tossed with some herbs and baby spinach leaves while still hot, and the salad is served warm.
Serves 4
Preparation and cooking: 15 minutes
Ingredients
300g papardelle, fettucine or other flat ribbon pasta
Dressing
½ tbsp red wine vinegar
salt, pepper
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 tbsp groundnut oil
Salad
55g baby spinach
2 level tbsp chives, snipped 2cm long
½ level tbsp tarragon leaves
½ tbsp basil, torn
1 level tbsp flat-leaf parsley leaves
Method
Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add a shot of oil and then the pasta. Cook till al dente, depending on which size pasta you’re using. Meanwhile whisk the vinegar with the seasoning. Add the oils.
When the pasta is cooked, drain and toss with the dressing, adding all the leaves and herbs at the last minute. Adjust the seasoning and serve immediately.
It would be a shame to tinker too much with this week’s lovely fresh broccoli supplied by Jeremy so why not try this recipe from Sybil Kapoor’s Modern British Food?
Serves 4
Preparation and cooking: 10 minutes maximum
Ingredients
225g purple sprouting broccoli
2 tbsp vegetable oil
6 small red dried chillies
½ tsp rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1-2 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp sugar (optional)
Method
Trim the stalks of the broccoli, removing any yellow leaves and cutting out any scars, before washing thoroughly. If any of the stems are too thick, slice them into elegant strips.
Heat the oil until very hot in a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan. Add the chillies, and when they begin to sizzle and deepen in colour, stand back and quickly add the vinegar. The frying pan will spit and sizzle for a few seconds and you will suddenly inhale a huge amount of chilli. Despite this, immediately add the garlic and broccoli.
Stir fry for a further 2-3 minutes, then add the soy sauce and sugar (if wished), check the seasoning and serve.
From Annie Bell’s Evergreen. She recommends ‘any squat and tubular pasta’ and says that both the cauliflower and the pasta should be ‘on the firm side. The sauce is richly flavoured and hot, and just coats the pasta and cauliflower. Parmesan would be out of place.’
Serves 4
Preparation and cooking: 15-20 minutes
Ingredients
400g cauliflower florets (1 large cauliflower)
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 level tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp harissa
3 tbsp olive oil
450g tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (or a tin of chopped tomatoes)
salt, pepper
225g penne
Method
Cut the cauliflower into 1cm florets. Finely chop the garlic cloves. Dilute the tomato puree with 3 tbsp of water and stir in the harissa. Take a deep frying pan and heat the olive oil. Cook the garlic until it gives off an aroma, then add the tomato solution, the chopped tomatoes and seasoning. Simmer the sauce for a couple of minutes. Add the cauliflower and cook, covered, for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. It should remain on the firm side.
While the cauliflower is cooking, boil the pasta, leaving it firm to the bite. Drain it, though not too dry, and toss it with the cauliflower. Adjust the seasoning and serve.
or ‘Poireaux au vin rouge’ – a recipe from Elizabeth David’s classic French Provincial Cooking. She explains that, ‘Unexpectedly, perhaps, when wine is to be used in the cooking of leeks, the French always use red rather than white wine … It is a dish of particularly beautiful appearance, with the green of the leeks and the dark purple of the wine sauce.’
Preparation and cooking: 20 minutes
Ingredients
500g leeks
3-4 tbsp olive oil
1 wineglass of red wine
2 tbsp meat or vegetable stock (or water)
salt
Method
Choose smallish leeks if possible, all of a size. Having cut them down almost to the white part and cleaned them thoroughly, put them side by side in a frying pan in which you have heated the olive oil. As soon as they have taken colour on one side, turn them over. Season with very little salt. Pour over the wine (look out for the spluttering), let it bubble, add the stock or water, cover the pan and cook at a moderate pace for 7 to 10 minutes, turning the leeks over once during the process. They are done when a skewer pierces the root end quite easily. Put the leeks in a shallow dish, cook the sauce another few seconds until reduced and pour it over the leeks.
One of Angela Hartnett’s ‘midweek suppers’ from the Guardian. She says the secret is not to over-cook the cauliflower and add it to the curry mix while it is still warm so it absorbs all the flavours. Eat on its own, with steamed rice, or cheat and buy some naan bread.
Serves 4-6
Preparation and cooking: about 15 minutes
Ingredients
1 whole cauliflower
3 medium onions
4 cloves of garlic
½ tsp chopped fresh ginger
2 tsp ground coriander
2 star aniseed
½ tsp ground chilli
4 curry leaves
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tin of chickpeas, drained
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
Method
Remove the stalks from the cauliflower and cut into large florets. Add the cauliflower to a pan of boiling water and cook for five minutes. When ready, drain and then place back in the pan. Cover so it stays warm.
While the cauliflower is cooking, cut the onions into small pieces. Squash the garlic with the back of a knife to make it easier to peel. Chop until nice and fine.
In a pan,add a touch of butter, plus the onion, garlic and ginger, and saute until golden brown. In the same pan, add the dried spices and cook for a further five minutes. Add the tin of tomatoes and chickpeas and stir well. Then add the cooked cauliflower. Top up with 100ml of cold water and bring to a simmer for five to 10 minutes until the cauliflower is cooked.
Finish by adding the chopped coriander. Serve on a warm plate.
