October 22, 2010
From Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook. Good as a vegetable side dish, she says, or, with rice, as a light supper.
Serves 4-6
Preparation and cooking: about 15 minutes
Ingredients
600g calabrese or sprouting broccoli
1 sweet red pepper
2 tbsp groundnut oil
1 tbsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp dried chilli, crumbled
3 tbsp chicken or vegetable stock
salt
Method
Trim the broccoli, retaining much of the stem as well as the heads. If the stems are tough, pare off the outer layer and then cut the stems into chunks. If using calabrese, separate the heads into small florets, breaking them off the main stem.
Deseed the pepper and then cut it into strips.
Heat the oil in a wok or deep frying pan and add the mustard seeds. Add the crumbled dried chilli and, when the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the broccoli and stir to combine. Add the strips of pepper and stock, and stir again.
Cover the pan, turn down the heat and cook for about 4-5 minutes, or until the broccoli is tender but crisp. If any liquid remains in the pan, raise the heat and boil it off. Season with salt before serving.
This week the small boxes will have:
* Lord Hindlip and Bramley apples (Camel CSA)
* carrots (Camel CSA)
potatoes (Benbole Farm)
* parsnips (Mark Norman)
* garlic (Camel CSA)
* calabrese (Jeremy Brown, St Kew Harvest)
savoy cabbage (Rest Harrow Farm, Trebetherick)
Standard boxes will have the same plus extra potatoes and:
* sweetcorn (Camel CSA)
* beetroot (Camel CSA)
* leeks (Jeremy)
* = grown to organic principles
October 21, 2010
Our expert growers have begun constructing the new polytunnel. Jeremy, Mark N and Gav have dug foundations and concreted in the base poles ahead of putting up the main framework.
October 17, 2010
Nearly 40 people came to our annual apple juicing event on our site at St Kew Highway in north Cornwall.
Everyone pitched in and helped with washing, cutting, crushing and pressing the apples. It was a big effort and we managed to produce nearly a litre of juice for every man, woman and child.
Many thanks to the kind folk who loaned us their apple crushers and presses and to those who donated vast quantities of apples from their gardens and orchards.
Our press gang on this beautiful autumn day were Aimee, Antonina, Brooke, Carla, Cat, Charlotte, Cheryl, Chris, Danny, David, Finn, Frances, Frank, Gavin, Jane I, Jane M, Jenny, Jeremy, Judy, Keira, Kitty, Lani, Leonie, Lily, Mark M, Mark N, Mike, Paul, Peter G, Peter M, Robyn, Ros, Sammy, Seth, Shayne, Sue, Teresa and Tom.
October 16, 2010
We’re all set for our annual apple juicing event. The apples are picked and the presses prepared.
It’s all happening tomorrow – Sunday 17 October – between 10am and 12.30pm. You’ll find us on Camel CSA’s vegetable plot behind St Kew Harvest Farm Shop at St Kew Highway in north Cornwall.
Our fest follows the success of last year’s event which involved lots of families. It’s just one of many Apple Day events taking place across the country.
Everyone will be able to join in washing, cutting up, crushing and pressing the apples. You’ll also have the opportunity to taste the different varieties.
In exchange for your efforts you’ll be rewarded with a fair share of the juice, either to drink on the spot or take away with you. Please bring a plastic container if you intend to take some home, as it freezes well.
It promises to be another warm, sunny Cornish autumn day, so do call by.
October 15, 2010
This is one of those Cornish cake recipes that I’ve been making for years but can’t remember where it came from.
I remember baking it for tea on my older daughter’s first birthday. She went off to university earlier this month and I’ve continued to serve this cake up regularly in the intervening years – including last Sunday at Camel CSA’s apple harvest.
Use cooking apples or dessert apples with attitude – like the Lord Hindlip variety in Camel CSA’s veg boxes.
Serves 8
Preparation and cooking: 1 hour 20 minutes
Ingredients
175g butter or margarine
175g soft brown sugar
3 large eggs
225g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 large cooking apples
½ teaspoon vanilla essence or ground cinnamon
lemon juice
Demerara sugar for sprinkling
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4. Lightly grease a square or round 18cm tin and line the base with baking paper.
Peel, core and dice the apples into small pieces. Sprinkle them with a little lemon juice to prevent them discolouring.
Mix the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs. Fold in the sieved flour, baking powder and vanilla or cinnamon. Then carefully stir in the diced apple.
Scoop the mixture into the tin and sprinkle the surface with a dessertspoon of demerara sugar. Bake in the oven for 55-60 minutes until golden brown on top. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning it out on to a rack.
It’s delicious served lukewarm – maybe with some Cornish clotted cream.
It’s apple harvesting time in north Cornwall! All the veg boxes contain a bag of delicious Lord Hindlip apples from our adopted orchard in St Mabyn.
This unusual old English dessert variety can be stored in the bag in a cool place for a couple of weeks or eaten straightaway.
We’re looking forward to this Sunday when the rest of our bumper apple harvest will be crushed and pressed at our annual apple juicing fest.
You’ll also find a large spaghetti squash in each of this week’s boxes. The name derives from the cooked flesh. This resembles spaghetti when you pull a fork lengthwise through it to separate the strands.
Spaghetti squash are a novelty as they’re quite difficult to get hold of in the UK. So be grateful that Jeremy Brown of St Kew Harvest Farm Shop has grown these to go in our boxes of locally-produced food.
This week’s small boxes have:
* apples – Lord Hindlip (Camel CSA)
* carrots (Camel CSA)
* spaghetti squash (St Kew Harvest)
* calabrese (St Kew Harvest)
* celeriac (St Kew Harvest)
potatoes (Benbole Farm)
Standard boxes have all the above as well as extra potatoes and:
* garlic (Camel CSA)
parsnips (Rest Harrow Farm, Trebetherick)
cauliflower (Rest Harrow Farm, Trebetherick)
* = grown to organic principles
October 10, 2010
Pick, pick, pick… we’ve harvested a record number of apples for our annual Cornish apple juicing event next Sunday.
Our team of adults and children filled every container available with this year’s huge glut of fruit from our adopted orchard in St Mabyn.
Some of the apple trees in the garden and old orchard are really quite unusual. They include delicious dessert varieties like Lord Hindlip and Gascoyne’s Scarlet as well as the familiar cooker Bramley’s Seedling and the cider apple Tom Putt.
Many thanks to apple pickers Aimee, Brooke, Charlotte, Fiona, Jerry, Lani, Lily, Mark M, Mike S, Paul, Ros, Sammy, Shayne and Teresa, whose joint efforts were rewarded with large quantities of homemade Westcountry apple cake.
The best of the dessert specimens and some of the cookers will go in Camel CSA’s veg boxes next week. The rest will be turned into apple juice at our juicing fest.
This is happening next Sunday 17 October from 10 am – 12.30 pm on Camel CSA’s vegetable plot next to St Kew Harvest Farm Shop, at St Kew Highway in north Cornwall.
It follows the success of last year’s event which involved lots of families. Everyone will be able to join in washing, cutting up, crushing and pressing the apples. Age is no barrier!
You’ll also have the opportunity to taste the different varieties of apples on Sunday. It’s just one of many Apple Day events taking place across the country.
This year we’ve managed to borrow three traditionally-made Vigo hand-operated apple presses and crushers, all of which require a team of volunteers to operate them.
It’s a great opportunity to get to know fellow members and local food enthusiasts. So please do come along and join in the fun.
October 8, 2010
Big excitement! The first of our three big new polytunnels is on order and should be on our site at St Kew Highway in a couple of weeks. It’ll arrive just in time to house all the winter salad crops we’ve been sowing.
It’s also time to pick our delicious Cornish apples. We’re harvesting them this coming Sunday from the old farm orchard we’ve adopted in the nearby village of St Mabyn.
The most delicious variety – Lord Hindlip – will go in Camel CSA’s veg boxes next week. The rest will be crushed and pressed into apple juice. This will happen on Sunday 17 October on our veg plot next to St Kew Harvest Farm Shop.
We do hope you’ll come and get stuck in at our annual juicing event. It’s an outdoor activity that’s suitable for all ages. And, as our hard-working press gang discovered at last year’s juicing fest, it’s really good fun!
As seen on last night’s edition of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Every Day series. Lightly toasted walnuts would be a good alternative to the redcurrants.
Serves 4 as a starter, 2 as a main course
Ingredients
about 400g small beetroot
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
a large sprig of thyme (optional)
2 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
3-4 handfuls of seasonal salad leaves
175–200g crumbly goat’s cheese
50-100g redcurrants
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the dressing:
1 tbsp cider vinegar or lemon juice
3 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
pinch sea salt
pinch freshly ground black pepper
pinch caster sugar
Method
Scrub the beetroot well, but leave them whole, then place on a large piece of foil. Scatter with the garlic, the leaves from the thyme, if you’re using it, and some salt and pepper, then trickle over the oil. Scrunch up the foil to make a baggy but tightly sealed parcel, place it on a baking tray and put it in an oven preheated to 200°C/Gas Mark 6.
Roast until tender – about an hour, though it could take longer. The beetroot are cooked when a knife slips easily into the flesh. Leave to cool, then top and tail them and remove the skin. Cut into wedges and place in a large bowl.
Whisk together all the dressing ingredients. Arrange the salad leaves on serving plates and trickle on a little of the dressing. Roughly crumble the cheese over the beetroot, add the remaining dressing and toss together loosely with your hands. Arrange on top of the leaves, scatter over the redcurrants and serve.
