Celeriac’s knobbly and whiskery appearance may be a bit off-putting, but this winter root has a surprisingly subtle taste. It’s delicious boiled and mashed with potato or cut into matchsticks in a salad.

In all this week’s veg boxes: –
*celeriac
*carrots
*kale – curly or ‘red Russian’
*onions
red cabbage (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
leeks (Restharrow)
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*pak choi
*sprouting broccoli
*parsnips

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

Try these celeriac dishes on Camel CSA’s recipe page: –
Three-root boulangère
Remoulade of celeriac and smoked bacon

In order to use the pak choi in our veg boxes this week, my husband Frank adapted an old Kenneth Lo recipe as we were lacking several ingredients.  The result was, however, very tasty!

Serves 2

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 13-18 minutes

Ingredients
100g basmati rice
1 head pak choi
12 prawns
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Small knob of butter

Method
Bring 200 ml water to the boil, add the knob of butter and allow to melt.  Add the rice, stir well and bring back to the boil.  Cover the pan, turn the heat right down and simmer gently for 12 minutes.  Remove from the heat and leave to stand, tightly covered for 12 minutes (don’t be tempted to peek!).

Wash and dry the pak choi.  Separate the stems from the leaf and chop both.  Heat the oil in a wok or deep saucepan.  When hot, stir fry the prawns for 30 seconds.  Add the stalks and stir fry for 2 minutes, then add the leaf and stir fry for 30 seconds.

Pack in the rice, making sure the prawns are covered.  Add 4-5 tbsp of water down the side of the wok.  Cover and simmer very gently for about 10 -15 minutes.  Season to taste and serve while hot.

In all our boxes this week: –
*pak choi
*carrots
*kale ‘red Russian’
*onions
*parsley
beetroot (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
red cabbage (Restharrow)
parsnips (Restharrow)
leeks (Restharrow)

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

Try these winter warmers on Camel CSA’s recipe pages: –
Homity bake
Stilton, onion and potato pie

My husband has just made this delicious, warming curry for tea.  The recipe is from Michael Pandya’s Complete Indian Cookbook which Frank bought back in the 1980s.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients
25 g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cauliflower, cut in florets
450 g potatoes, peeled and quartered
100 g peas
1 medium onion, finely chopped
450 g tomatoes, peeled and chopped
450 ml water
salt to taste
Spices:
pinch of asafoetida powder
2 cloves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 brown cardamom
For the paste:
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2.5 cm piece garlic, chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
To garnish:
1 tsp garam masala
2 Tbsp chopped coriander leaves

Method
Heat the butter and half the oil in a saucepan and add the asafoetida powder.  Stir for 5 seconds then add the cauliflower, potatoes and peas.  Fry for 5 minutes over a moderate heat.  Remove the vegetables to a plate and set aside.

Heat the remaining oil and add the onion, cloves, cumin and cardamom and fry until the onion is golden brown.  Make a fairly smooth mixture by blitzing the paste ingredients in a blender.  Add the paste to the onion mixture and cook for 5 minutes.

Mix in the fried vegetables and tomato and fry for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Stir in the water and salt and simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove the cloves and brown cardamom before serving hot, garnished with the garam masala and coriander.

In all our boxes this week: –
*chillies
*curly kale
*salad leaves
*onions
parsnips (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
cauliflower (Restharrow)
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*swede
*cabbage (Camel CSA / Mark Norman, Bodmin)
leeks (Restharrow)

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

Try these delicious kale and chilli dishes on Camel CSA’s recipe pages: –
Stir-fried curly kale with chilli and garlic
Hugh’s pasta with greens, garlic and chilli

This is a favourite, well-loved recipe from Sarah Brown’s Vegetarian Kitchen which I have been making for the past 30 years, I will be serving it with the curly kale from this week’s veg box.  It gets its name from the Chinese name for aduki beans – red dragon beans.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Cooking time: 35-40 minutes

Ingredients
110 g aduki beans
50 g brown rice
1 Tbsp oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
225 g carrots, scrubbed and diced
1-2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp mixed herbs
275 ml aduki bean stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper
450 g potatoes, peeled
25 g butter

Method
Soak the aduki beans overnight or steep them in boiling water for an hour.  Drain and rinse, then bring them to the boil  in fresh water along with the rice and cook for 50 minutes, until the beans are tender and the rice is fairly soft.  Drain, reserving the stock.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the onion for 5 minutes.  Add the carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes before adding the cooked beans and rice.  Mix the soy sauce, tomato puree and herbs with the stock and pour over the bean and vegetable mixture.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes, so that the flavours are well blended.  Season to taste.  Add a little more liquid if necessary so that the final mixture is moist.

Transfer into a greased 1.5 litre casserole.  Whilst the bean and vegetable mixture is cooking , boil the potatoes until soft and mash them with the butter.  Season well and spread the mashed potato over the beans and vegetables.  Place in a preheated oven 180°C/Gas mark 4 and bake for 35-40 minutes until the potato is crisp and brown.

In all our boxes this week: –
*onions
*curly kale
*chard or spinach (CSA / Mark Norman, Bodmin)
*leeks (Mark)
*Jerusalem artichokes (Mark)
carrots (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*squash (Mark)
sprouting broccoli or cabbage (CSA / Mark)
celeriac (Restharrow)

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

Try these delicious leek dishes on Camel CSA’s recipe page: –
Leeks with greens (use the kale in our boxes)
Leek soup with parmesan

This delicious recipe appeared recently in Thomasina Mier’s column in The Guardian magazine.  It uses three of the veg in our boxes this week. We happened to have rigatoni in the cupboard but this week I might be tempted to try it with penne instead.

Serves 4-6

Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients
600g butternut, acorn or onion squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
3 garlic cloves, bashed and peeled
1 pinch dried chilli
1/2 bunch sage, leaves picked
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
200g kale
400g rigatoni
250g ricotta
125g grated parmesan

Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C/Gas mark 7.  Put the squash, tomatoes, garlic, chilli and sage in a roasting tray, season generously, then drizzle over the oil and mix with your hands so that every chunk of squash is coated.  Roast for 25-35 minutes, shaking the tray occasionally, until the squash is a little crisp and the tomatoes are falling apart.

Meanwhile, tear the kale leaves from their stems.  Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil, blanch the kale leaves until tender – no more than a few minutes – then transfer to a colander with a slotted spoon and leave to cool.  Bring the water back to a boil and cook the pasta for a couple of minutes less than the instructions on the packet: you want it to be still a little firm to the bite.  Squeeze any remnants of water from the kale, finely chop and put in a bowl.

In another bowl, beat the ricotta and half the parmesan with a fork, season generously, then stir half this mixture through the kale.  Drain the pasta, reserving a cup of the cooking liquid, and return to the pan.  Stir in the kale mix and enough of the reserved cooking water to make a wet sauce that coats the pasta.

Tip into a big baking dish and scatter the roast squash, tomatoes and sage over the top.  Dollop the remaining ricotta mixture here and there, pushing some of it down into the pasta, sprinkle on the rest of the parmesan and drizzle with a little oil.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the parmesan has melted and the top is golden brown.  Serve with a green salad.

In all the veg boxes this week: –

*squash – Turk’s Turban or Uchiki Kuri
*cauliflower
*onions
*curly kale
*garlic
beetroot (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*red cabbage
*spring onions
leeks (Restharrow)
* = grown to organic principles

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

Try these delicious squash dishes on Camel CSA’s recipe page:
Stuffed squash
Spicy roasted squash

This is from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall‘s book River Cottage Veg Every Day.  He recommends using a good, fresh, firm celeriac, ideally an early-season one.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
200g celeriac (peeled weight)
1 eating apple
50g raisins
a good handful of flat-leaf parsley

For the dressing
1 tsp English mustard
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
2 Tbsp sunflower or rapeseed oil
2 Tbsp olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
For the dressing, shake all the ingredients together in a screw-topped jar to emulsify.  Tip into a bowl.

Cut the celeriac into matchstick-sized pieces.  The easiest way to do this is to use a mandolin, but you can use a large, sharp knife.  Transfer directly to the bowl of dressing and toss them in, so they don’t get a chance to brown.  Peel, quarter and thinly slice the apple and add to the salad with the raisins.  Taste and adjust the seasoning if you need to.

Serve straight away, or leave for an hour or so, which will allow the celeriac to soften slightly.  Toss in the roughly torn parsley leaves just before serving.

« Previous Page — Next Page »