July 23, 2018
In hot weather I never feel like cooking. But we have to eat! This couldn’t be easier, and uses basil from Camel CSA’s weekly veg boxes. It’s another summer dish from the Observer Food Monthly‘s 20 Best Recipes and is taken from River Café 30 by Ruth Rogers, Rose Gray, Sian Wyn Owen and Joseph Trivelli.
Serves: 6 (as a starter or light lunch)
Preparation and cooking time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
250g spaghetti
juice of 3-4 unwaxed lemons
150ml olive oil
150g parmesan, freshly grated
2 handfuls fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
finely grated lemon zest, optional
Method
Cook the spaghetti in a generous amount of boiling salted water, then drain thoroughly and return to the saucepan.
Meanwhile, whisk the lemon juice with the olive oil, then stir in the parmesan – it will melt into the mixture, making it thick and creamy. Season with sea salt and black pepper and add more lemon juice to taste.
Add the sauce to the spaghetti and shake the pan so that each strand of pasta is coated with the cheese. Finally, stir in the chopped basil and, ideally, some lemon zest.
July 22, 2018
What a treat! Beautiful basil and elephant garlic in this week’s vegetable boxes from north Cornwall.
In all boxes:-
*basil
*elephant garlic
*carrots – ‘Early Nantes’
*cucumber
*young turnips or kohlrabi or beetroot
*runner beans (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
*courgettes (Mark)
*new potatoes – ‘Rocket’ or ‘Estima’ (CSA / Mark)
Standard boxes also have:-
*aubergine
*salad leaves
*spring onions
*= grown to organic principles. Please wash all produce thoroughly.
All veg grown by Camel CSA unless stated otherwise.
July 17, 2018
This is a surprisingly tasty courgette fritter recipe that doesn’t contain any eggs. It’s from the Modern Cook vegetarian series in The Guardian. Anna says: “If you are vegan, you can replace the halloumi with two more courgettes.”
As there was some Camel CSA chilli and crab apple jelly left over in my fridge, I didn’t need to make the chilli jam.
Serves 4 (makes 16 fritters)
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
3 medium courgettes (about 400g)
1 packet halloumi (about 225g)
100g rice flour
100g plain or white spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch dried oregano
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Olive oil
Salad leaves, to serve
For the chilli jam
6 red chillies, finely sliced
6 tbsp red-wine vinegar
5 tbsp sugar
1 small bunch mint, leaves picked and finely chopped
Method
Put all the chilli jam ingredients into a small pan and bring to a simmer for five to eight minutes, until the liquid has thickened and the chillies are soft and sticky.
Grate the courgette and halloumi. Mix the flours, baking powder, oregano and lemon zest in a large bowl. Add the grated courgette and halloumi, and mix well. Season well with salt and black pepper. If your batter looks too dry add a little milk or water until it is spoonable.
Heat a large heavy-based frying pan on a medium heat and add a generous drizzle of olive oil. Next add the batter – about two tablespoons for each fritter – and fry for a couple of minutes, until the edge is well-set, then flip and cook for another couple of minutes. Keep going until all your batter is used up – keep the cooked fritters warm in a low oven.
Serve with the chilli jam and salad leaves dressed with the lemon juice. Leftover fritters keep well in the fridge for several days – reheat in a 180C/350F/gas 4 oven for about 10 minutes. They’re also delicious cold!
July 16, 2018
Some of the vegetables in our weekly veg boxes are grown for us by Mark Norman on his smallholding on the outskirts of Bodmin. Mark also works two days a week as lead grower at Camel CSA, alongside our other grower Bridget Gould and our seasonal worker Ann Smith.
In all boxes:-
*carrots – ‘Early Nantes’ or ‘Amsterdam Forcing’
*Swiss chard
*salad leaves
*spring onions
*courgettes (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
*new beetroot (CSA / Mark)
*new potatoes – ‘Rocket’ or ‘Estima’ (CSA / Mark)
Standard boxes also have:-
*cucumbers
*French beans – ‘Amethyst’
*calabrese (Mark)
*= grown to organic principles. Please wash all produce thoroughly.
All veg grown by Camel CSA unless stated otherwise.
July 8, 2018
This has to be one of the best and easiest salad combos I’ve tried for a while. The lovely purple French beans in Camel CSA’s weekly veg boxes turn green when cooked. They look and taste beautiful in this healthy recipe from BBC Good Food magazine.
Serves: 6
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 8 minutes
Ingredients
500g medium new potatoes, thickly sliced
200g green bean, trimmed
For the dressing
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp clear honey
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
3 tbsp olive oil
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
Method
Boil potatoes in salted water for 8 mins until just tender, then drain and keep warm (they will absorb the dressing better than cold potatoes). Meanwhile, steam the beans in a steamer over the potatoes for 4 mins. Keep a close eye on them as you want them to be just tender rather than soft. Cool the beans under the cold tap to keep their colour.
Mix the dressing ingredients in a bowl. Add the warm potatoes and beans, and toss really well to coat in the dressing.
There’s a cracking combination of home-grown local produce in this week’s Cornish veg boxes! Mark Norman is our lead grower at Camel CSA. He also grows some vegetables for us on his smallholding on the outskirts of Bodmin.
In all boxes:-
*basil
*cucumbers
*French beans – ‘Amethyst’
*salad leaves
*spring onions
*courgettes (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
*new potatoes – ‘Estima’ (Mark Norman)
strawberries (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
Standard boxes also have:-
*young carrots – ‘Early Nantes’
*Swiss chard
*calabrese (Mark Norman)
*= grown to organic principles. Please wash all produce thoroughly.
All veg grown by Camel CSA unless stated otherwise.
July 2, 2018
Some of us have got those reddish-pink gooseberries in Camel CSA’s weekly veg boxes. They’re ideal for making Jane Grigson‘s gooseberry fool from Good Things, her classic about fresh local food. As far as I’m concerned, this has always been the only way to make fruit fool, with cream only. Sometimes the simple recipes are the best.
It’s featured in the Observer Food Monthly‘s 20 Best Recipes. Later in the year other fruit may be substituted, uncooked raspberries and strawberries and peaches for instance, and in the autumn cooked purees or apple flavoured with apricot jam or quinces. Use just over half a pint of puree to half a pint of cream or custard.
Serves: 4-6
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
350g young gooseberries, topped and tailed
55g butter
sugar, to taste
275ml double cream 275ml, whipped, or 150ml each double and single cream
(or 275ml single cream and 3 egg yolks if making custard)
Stew the gooseberries slowly in a covered pan, with the butter, until they are yellow and just cooked. Crush with a fork, sweeten to taste and mix carefully and lightly into the whipped cream.
To make custard, bring single cream (or rich milk) to the boil, and pour on to the egg yolks, whisking all the time. Set the bowl over a pan of hot water and stir steadily until the custard thickens to double cream consistency. Strain into a bowl, and leave to cool before folding in the gooseberries.
Serve in custard glasses or plain white cups, with some homemade almond biscuits or macaroons.
A number of this week’s fabulous selection of vegetables come from our lead grower Mark Norman’s own smallholding on the outskirts of Bodmin. Mark’s providing more for the boxes this year, as well as working two days a week for Camel CSA. This is great news as he cultivates to exactly the same organic principles.
In all boxes:-
*cucumbers
*mixed salad leaves
*courgettes (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
*new turnips (CSA / Mark Norman)
*green onions (Mark Norman)
strawberries (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
*new potatoes – ‘Rocket’ (Mark Norman)
Standard boxes also have:-
*French beans – ‘Amethyst’
*young beetroot
*red dessert gooseberries
*= grown to organic principles. Please wash all produce thoroughly.
All veg grown by Camel CSA unless stated otherwise.
June 17, 2018
This week we have strawberries from Mitchell Fruit Garden to brighten up our day!
In all boxes:-
*cucumber
*salad leaves
*chard
strawberries (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
asparagus (Tregassow Farm, St Erme)
new potatoes (Growfair)
Standard boxes also have:-*parsley
*French beans
spring greens (Growfair)
*= grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly.
All veg grown by Camel CSA unless stated otherwise.
June 3, 2018
After a long cold winter and wet spring, at last we have new potatoes in our boxes this week. Grown by our lead grower Mark Norman on his smallholding in Bodmin.
In all the boxes:-
*broad beans
*peas
*salad bags
*spring onions
*new potatoes (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
asparagus (St Enodoc Asparagus)
Standard boxes also have:-
*turnips
*spinach/chard
*baby carrots
*= grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg carefully.
All veg grown by Camel CSA unless stated otherwise.
