This easy to make cheesecake is from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Fruit Every Day.

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 25-45 minutes
Chilling time: 4 hours

Serves 8

Ingredients
For the rhubarb:
400 g rhubarb, trimmed
75 g caster sugar
finely grated zest and juice of 1/2 orange
For the biscuit base:
85 g butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
200 g ginger biscuits
For the filling:
400 g cream cheese
3 balls preserved stem ginger, finely chopped plus 3 Tbsp syrup from the jar
25 g caster sugar
finely grated zest and juice of 1/2 orange
200 ml double cream

Method
For the rhubarb, preheat the oven to 150°C/Gas Mark 2.  Cut the rhubarb into 4 cm lengths and place in a wide oven dish, ideally in one layer.  Sprinkle with the sugar, orange zest and juice.

Cover the dish with foil and bake for 25-45 minutes (stirring carefully to turn the pieces over after the first 10 minutes), until tender and juicy (check the rhubarb after 25 minutes – and regularly thereafter – poking it with the tip of a small knife).

Leave to cool completely, then drain off the juice (it’s delicious, so save to pour over ice cream or use in a drink or smoothie). Lightly butter a 20-23 cm springform cake tin, line the base with baking parchment and lightly butter the paper.

To make the base, blitz the biscuits in a food processor (or bash in a bag with a rolling pin) until fairly fine.  Pour the melted butter through the feed tube, pulsing as you go, until the mix looks like wet sand.  (Or mix the butter with the bashed crumbs in a mixing bowl.)  Tip into the prepared tin and press in firmly with the bottom of a glass so you get an even layer.  Chill the base while you make the filling.

For the filling, beat the cheese, ginger, ginger syrup, sugar, orange zest and juice together until well blended.  Add the cream and beat until the mixture thickens enough to hold its shape.  Spoon on to the biscuit base and spread into an even layer.

Chill for 4 hours or overnight, until firm.  Run a thin knife around the edge of the cheesecake and release the side of the tin.  Serve with the cold baked rhubarb on top or on the side.

At last! Freshly-picked Cornish asparagus from Roger and Gill Derryman and rhubarb from Jeremy and Claudia Best are back in our boxes this week.

In all the veg boxes:-
Cornish asparagus (Lower Croan, Sladesbridge)
rhubarb (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
*broad beans
*turnip bunch
*mixed salad leaves – assorted lettuce, rocket, baby chard
potatoes (St Lawrence Farm, Bodmin)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*purple sprouting broccoli
*Swiss/rainbow chard
cauliflower (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)

* = grown to organic principles

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

Try these asparagus dishes on Camel CSA’s recipes page: –
Simply delicious Cornish asparagus
Shaved asparagus and goat’s cheese salad

My husband concocted this delicious meal last night from this week’s veg box contents when challenged with what to do with the sea spaghetti from The Cornish Seaweed Company.  He also used the bean sprouts in our boxes. Ingredients can be changed as you see fit!

Serves 2

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients
20g sea spaghetti
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
thumb sized knob of ginger, peeled and matchsticked
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 dried shitake mushrooms (or any fresh mushrooms as desired)
bean sprouts
150g buckwheat soba noodles (or any other noodles you fancy)
1 heaped tsp chilli bean paste or sliced fresh chillies to taste
1 Tbsp oil (sunflower or rapeseed)
1 Tbsp soy sauce
a dash of sesame oil
juice of 1 lime

Method
Soak the sea spaghetti in cold water for 30 minutes, then drain.  If using dried mushrooms, soak in boiling water for 30 minutes, then drain and slice thinly.  Cook the noodles as instructed on the packet until al-dente and drain.

Heat a wok or large frying pan, add the oil and stir-fry the onion for 2 minutes.  Add the ginger, garlic and beansprouts and stir-fry until the beansprouts start to soften.  Add the sea spaghetti, mushrooms, chilli paste, soy sauce and half the lime juice and stir-fry for 30 seconds or so. Add the noodles and stir-fry until everything is piping hot.

Divide into two bowls.  Sprinkle some sesame oil and the remaining lime juice over each bowl and serve.

We’ve all got a packet of sea spaghetti from The Cornish Seaweed Company in Falmouth in this week’s veg boxes. It’s organic of course! We like to be adventurous during the “hungry gap”.

Happily last week’s shortage of fresh veg brought on by the sudden cold snap is now a distant memory. We’re enjoying the first of the early summer crops like Swiss and rainbow chard, broad beans and new-season turnips. We can also look forward over the next few weeks to rhubarb, beetroot, mangetout peas and carrots as well as Cornish asparagus.

In all this week’s boxes:-
*sea spaghetti (The Cornish Seaweed Company)
*Swiss and rainbow chard
*bean sprouts
*mixed salad leaves (rocket, baby chard, mizuma, golden mustard, red mustard, lettuce)
cauliflower (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (St Lawrence Farm, Bodmin)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*purple sprouting broccoli OR broad beans
*turnip bunch
*parsley

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

Try these seaweed dishes on The Cornish Seaweed Company’s recipes page: –
Carrot and seaweed salad
Chicken soup with sea spaghetti, spinach and dill

My husband Frank found this recipe from Rosie Sykes’ The Kitchen Revolution on the Low Sizergh Barn website while looking for something new to do with the Jerusalem artichokes in our veg boxes this week.  Then, even better, he cooked it for tea last night!  If you are ever up in the Lake District, the shop and tearoom at Low Sizergh Barn are well worth a visit.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
60g butter
4 sprigs of thyme
Zest and juice of half a lemon
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
80g whole hazelnuts
3 leeks, trimmed and finely sliced
400g Jerusalem artichokes, sliced into pound coin-thick circles
250g filo pastry
60g soft goat’s cheese

Method
Add 2 tbsp of olive oil and all the butter to a small pan over a low heat. Add half the thyme, and all the lemon zest and garlic. Cover and warm gently. If any butter solids come to the top, skim them off. Set aside until needed.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Toast the hazelnuts in the warming oven for a few minutes until light golden. While warm, wrap in a tea towel and rub them to remove the skins. Once cool, finely chop the nuts.

Add the remaining oil to a pan over a medium heat. Add the leeks and thyme leaves stripped from the remaining stalks, cover and cook gently for about 10 minutes until soft. Turn the heat up, add the lemon juice and stir. Let the leeks become pretty dry, season to taste, take off the heat and set aside.  Meanwhile, boil the artichokes in salted water for around 3 minutes until soft. Strain and run under cold water.

Brush a baking sheet with the infused oil mixture. Lay out one or two sheets of filo to create a 30cm square. Butter the pastry and scatter with a quarter of the hazelnuts, cover with another layer of filo and press down. Repeat to create three more layers on top of the first.  Cover the pastry base with soft leeks, then arrange the artichokes on top in overlapping rows.

Season and brush with infused oil, crumble the goat’s cheese on top and cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is crisp and the cheese has melted nicely.

Cut the tart into quarters. Serve with some bitter leaves dressed with orange.

Brrrrr! The sudden cold snap has knocked back our own spring crops. It’s been almost back to winter here in north Cornwall and our root-dominated veg box contents reflect this.

In all the veg boxes this week:-
*mixed salad leaves (rocket, baby chard, mizuma, golden mustard, red mustard, lettuce)
Jerusalem artichokes (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
cauliflower (Restharrow)
savoy cabbage (Total Produce, Cornwall)
leeks (Total Produce)
parsnips (Total Produce)
*potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*radishes
carrots (Total Produce)
swede (Total Produce)

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

Try these baked parsnip dishes on Camel CSA’s recipes page: –
Parsnips baked with Cornish Yarg cheese

In all the veg boxes this week:-
*rainbow chard
*mixed salad leaves (rocket, baby chard, mizuma, golden mustard, red mustard, lettuce)
*radishes
*parsley
leeks (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
Jerusalem artichokes (Restharrow)
*potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*purple sprouting broccoli OR broad beans
*spring onions
beetroot (Restharrow)

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

Try these chard dishes on Camel CSA’s recipes page: –
Trouchia (chard omelette)
Sag aloo  (Indian spiced chard with potato)

This recipe is from the latest West Country FoodLover magazine. It’s a topping for a Turkish pizza but I reckon it would be just as good with a curry.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
1 bunch (10-12) radishes
200g plain yoghurt
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
juice of 1/2 lemon, more to taste
1/2 tsp ground cumin

Method
Trim, wash and slice the radishes finely.  Mix with all the other ingredients and serve.

In all the veg boxes this week:-
*wild garlic (foraged, St Kew)
*mixed salad leaves (rocket, baby chard, mizuma, golden mustard, red mustard, lettuce)
*radishes
*sprouted mung beans
*onions
*parsnips
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*Swiss chard
leeks (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
cauliflower (Restharrow)

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

Try these parsnip dishes on Camel CSA’s recipes page: –
Parmesan-baked parsnips
Hugh’s curry-spiced parsnips and potatoes

This recipe looks interesting – I’ve had similar salads in Thai restaurants so now is the time to try it at home, using the spring onions in this week’s veg boxes.  It’s from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s book River Cottage Veg Every Day!

Serves 6-8

Preparation time: 20-30 minutes

‘Relaxing time’: 10-20 minutes

Ingredients
1 bunch spring onions, trimmed and sliced
4 medium carrots, peeled
1 small white cabbage
For the dressing:
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp clear honey
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp finely chopped ginger
2 Tbsp white wine or rice vinegar
2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 Tbsp olive oil
To finish:
A handful of coriander, roughly torn
Lime juice

Method
Put the sliced spring onions into a large bowl.  Cut the carrots into fine julienne with a mandolin or grate them coarsely and add to the bowl.  Remove any blemished outer leaves from the cabbage, then quarter, cut away the core and shred the leaves as finely as you can.  Combine with the spring onions and carrots.

For the dressing, whisk all the ingredients together, making sure the honey is dissolved.  Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss thoroughly.  Leave for 10-20 minutes to soften and ‘relax’.  Serve the coleslaw scattered with coriander and sprinkled with a few squeezes of lime juice.

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