I’ve just found this recipe in the latest West Country food lover magazine and will definitely be trying it out when we get some hot weather!  I will use fresh strawberries instead of frozen.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
500 g frozen strawberries
500 g Greek-style yoghurt
2 Tbsp runny honey

Method
Place all of the ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.  Transfer to a suitable container and freeze until required.

In all the vegetable boxes this week:-
*carrots
*salad leaves – ‘Freckles’, oakleaf lettuce, chard
*spring onions
asparagus (Tregassow Farm, Truro)
strawberries (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
Cornish early potatoes (Growfair)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*cucumbers
*parsley
spring greens (Growfair)

* = grown to organic principles
All produce grown by Camel CSA unless otherwise indicated.  Please wash all vegetables and fruit.

Try out these ways of preparing carrots on Camel CSA’s recipe page – more than 350 vegetable recipes for you to browse:-
Baby carrots with lemon and thyme
Jamie’s best whole-baked baby carrots

This recipe was inspired by a Marcella Hazan recipe for squid with tomatoes and peas, Tuscan style, which Frank adapted to suit the ingredients we had to hand.

Serves 2

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 tin plum tomatoes
bag of shelled Camel CSA peas or 285g frozen peas
10 peeled prawns
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
salt and pepper
1 bag fresh tagliatelle

Method
Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the onion and garlic and cook slowly until the onion is translucent.  Add the tomatoes and cook slowly until the volume is reduced by half.

Add the peas and the prawns and cook until the prawns have turned pink.  When the sauce is about 5 minutes from being ready, cook the tagliatelle in a large pan of boiling water.  Drain the pasta and mix into the sauce with the chopped parsley.

No more old potatoes! At long last we’ve got Cornish earlies in the veg boxes AND more of that delicious asparagus from Tregassow Farm, Truro. We also have newly-harvested baby turnips, broad beans and peas from our own polytunnels.

In all the vegetable boxes this week:-
*broad beans OR peas in the pod
*turnips
asparagus (Tregassow Farm, Truro)
rhubarb (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
spring greens (Growfair)
Cornish early potatoes (Growfair)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*salad bag
golden beetroot (Growfair)
cauliflower (Growfair)

* = grown to organic principles
All produce grown by Camel CSA unless otherwise indicated.  Please wash all vegetables and fruit.

Try out these ways of preparing asparagus on Camel CSA’s recipe page – more than 350 vegetable recipes for you to browse:-
Hugh’s roast new potatoes and asparagus with baked eggs
Nigel’s asparagus and lemon risotto

This fantastic risotto recipe is taken from chef David Eyre’s The Eagle Cookbook: Recipes from the Original Gastropub. We had it for our meal last night; Frank didn’t “shuck” the beans (take them out of their little grey sacs), he cooked the beans in the risotto and it still tasted great!

Serves 5-6 as a starter

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
3kg broad beans (400g podded and shucked weight)
2 litres vegetable or chicken stock
150g unsalted butter
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
300g Arborio rice
a glass of white wine
a bunch of mint, chopped
75g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
To shuck the beans drop the podded beans into a pan of boiling salted water and leave for about 30 seconds, then drain and cool them quickly under running cold water. Take a bean in one hand and aim it at a large bowl. Squeeze gently between your forefinger and thumb. The bean will pop out of the membrane and fall into the bowl in two neat halves.

Put the stock in a pan and bring it to simmering point. Gently heat 100g of the butter in a separate pan, add the onions and garlic with a little salt and fry until tender. Do not let them brown. Turn the heat up high and pour in the rice. Stir it with a wooden spoon for about half a minute, coating it with the butter; do not let it stick to the pan.

Add the wine and let it bubble fiercely for about a minute, stirring gently all the time. Reduce the heat and start to add the hot stock in stages. When the rice is done, remove from the heat, add the rest of the butter and cover the pan until it has melted. Stir in the broad beans and mint, then add the Parmesan and some seasoning. Serve immediately.

In all the vegetable boxes this week:-
*broad beans
*salad bag (Mr Green’s Market Garden, Newquay)
asparagus (Tregassow Farm, Truro)
spring greens (Growfair)
cauliflower (Growfair)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (St Lawrence Farm, Bodmin)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*turnips
*radishes (Mr Green’s Market Garden)
onions (Growfair)

* = grown to organic principles
All produce grown by Camel CSA unless otherwise indicated.  Please wash all vegetables and fruit.

Try more than 350 vegetable recipes on Camel CSA’s recipe page

We’ve had cauliflower in our veg boxes every week now for… I’ve lost count! But then we are in Cornwall, the UK’s cauliflower kingdom. We’ve so many suggestions for preparing cauliflower on Camel CSA’s recipes page, it’s hard to find new ones.

Felicity Cloake of How to cook the perfect fame has the final solution: simply give the whole cauli a good roasting. As she says:”It makes a great centrepiece.” (And it’s perfectly delicious.)

Serves: 4

Preparation/cooking time: 40 minutes

Ingredients
1 large cauliflower, about 1kg
Fine salt
50g butter, softened
2 tbsp olive oil

For the sauce (optional)
2 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
4 anchovy fillets, roughly chopped (optional)
Leaves from a couple of sprigs of thyme or rosemary
1 lemon
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

For the dip (optional)
150g creme fraiche
75g feta or similar cheese, finely crumbled
1 lemon
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method
Trim the leaves of the cauliflower, if necessary, so the top of the white part is exposed and level the base so it sits flat. Heat the oven to 240C. Bring to the boil a large pan of water with 1 tbsp fine salt per litre dissolved in it, then lower in the cauliflower, stem-side up.

Bring to the boil again and cook for eight minutes, turning once if necessary, then drain and leave to dry in a colander, florets-side down, for 10 minutes.

Beat the oil into the butter. Rub all over the cauliflower and season, then roast on a baking tray for 20 to 30 minutes until well browned, basting occasionally.

Meanwhile, if you’re making the sauce, heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan and fry the garlic and anchovies, if using, until the garlic is golden and the anchovies begin to break down. Stir in the herbs and the grated zest of the lemon, followed by the tomatoes and 2 tbsp lemon juice.

Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Season to taste, then pour into a shallow bowl and place the cauliflower in the middle.

If you’re making the dip, stir the cheese into the creme fraiche. Finely zest in the lemon, then add a scant 1 tbsp of its juice. Top with a little olive oil and serve alongside the cauliflower when it is cool enough to handle.

Our three polytunnels help extend the vegetable-growing season in Cornwall. This week’s standard veg boxes have the first of the broad beans, soon to be followed by mangetout and peas.

In all the boxes this week:-
*Swiss chard
*herb bag
rhubarb (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
beetroot (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
onions (Restharrow)
cauliflower (Growfair Cornwall)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (St Lawrence Farm, Bodmin)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*broad beans
*radishes
*mixed salad leaves (golden mustard, lettuce)

* = grown to organic principles
All produce grown by Camel CSA unless otherwise indicated.  Please wash all vegetables and fruit.

Try more than 350 vegetable recipes on Camel CSA’s recipe page

Frank made this delicious salad for Friday’s supper.  If you don’t eat prawns you could substitute with some fried tofu or just have the salad as is.  Frank used the radishes and bean sprouts from this week’s veg boxes for an extra bit of crunch!

Serves 4 for a starter or 2 for a main

Preparation time: 30-40 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients
8 tiger prawns, peeled and de-veined (we used frozen)
1 bunch fresh mint leaves
1 bunch fresh coriander
200g cucumber
2 shallots
100g bean sprouts
small bunch radishes, sliced
40g cashew nuts
150g pomelo or grapefruit
For the dressing:
2 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp fish sauce
4 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1 small red chilli (eg bird’s-eye)

Method
First make the dressing because you’ll use it to marinate your prawns.  Very finely chop or mince the garlic and chilli.  Place these in an empty jar and then add all the other dressing ingredients.  Shake well until the sugar dissolves.  Taste – you can adjust the level of spice, saltiness, sweetness or sourness according to your tastes.  Place the prawns in a dish and pour over a little of the dressing, just enough to coat.  Refrigerate while you prepare the other ingredients.

Deseed and cut the cucumber into fine matchsticks and place in a bowl.  Next, finely slice the shallots and add these.  Then prepare the pomelo/grapefruit – remove the skin from each segment so you only have the juicy centre.  Break the segments into chunks.  Add to the bowl along with the chopped mint and coriander and the beansprouts.

Finally prepare the cashew nuts.  Spread them out on a baking sheet and bake in a hot oven for about 5 minutes until they are golden.  Alternatively you could brown them under a hot grill.  Once they have cooled coarsely chop them and add them to the salad.

Next cook the prawns.  Heat a griddle pan on a high flame with a little olive oil.  Once the oil is hot place your prawns in the pan.  Cook until the prawns are pink and firm but they should not become tough – about 2 minutes each side should be enough.  Take the prawns off the heat and allow to rest while you dress and plate the salad.  Dress the salad and divide evenly between the plates before placing the prawns on top.

Spring has definitely sprung!

In all the boxes this week:-
*radishes
*sprouted mung beans
rhubarb (Camel CSA / Mark Norman, Bodmin)
leeks (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
beetroot (Restharrow)
cauliflower (Growfair)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*purple sprouting broccoli
onions (Restharrow)
Jerusalem artichokes (Restharrow)

* = grown to organic principles

All produce grown by Camel CSA unless otherwise indicated.  Please wash all vegetables and fruit.

Try more than 350 vegetable recipes on Camel CSA’s recipe page

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