We love our veg and don’t discriminate against wonky-looking ones! So we’re following Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s new War on Waste campaign with keen interest. When it comes to growing vegetables, we place more value on freshness, taste and texture than uniform good looks.

In all our boxes:-
*red onions
*kale – red Russian
*carrots
*parsley
celeriac (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
cauliflower (Restharrow)
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*mixed salad leaves
*spinach OR Swiss chard
*sprouting broccoli OR French beans

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

Try this delicious celeriac dish on Camel CSA’s recipe page: –
Nigel’s celeriac and potato cake

This recipe is from Nigel Slater’s Kitchen Diaries. He boils his pumpkin flesh for 10 minutes but I am going to try roasting it instead which means I don’t have to peel it first.

Serves 4

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

Ingredients
1 small onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
A walnut-sized knob of ginger, peeled and cut into thin shreds
225 g split red lentils
1 1/2 litres water
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground chilli
250 g pumpkin flesh, roasted or boiled
A small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped

For the onion topping:
2 onions, peeled and cut into thin rings
2 Tbsp groundnut oil
2 small, hot chillies, deseeded and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced

Method
Put the onion, garlic, ginger, lentils and water into a large, heavy-based saucepan, bring to the boil and then turn the heat down to an enthusiastic simmer.  Stir in the ground turmeric and chilli, season and leave to simmer, covered, for twenty minutes.

To make the onion topping, cook the sliced onions in the oil in a shallow pan until they start to colour.  Add the garlic and chilli and continue cooking until the onions are a deep golden colour.  Set aside.

Once the lentils have been cooking for 20 minutes, uncover and turn up the heat, boiling hard for five minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the cooked pumpkin flesh.  Blend the soup until smooth, reheat then add the coriander.  Serve in bowls with a spoonful of the spiced onions on top.

Beautiful autumn bounty is now replacing the summer produce in our vegetable boxes.

All boxes have:-
*red onions
*kale  – black Tuscan OR red Russian
*mixed salad leaves
*pumpkin (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
*leeks (Mark)
beetroot (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*turnips
*chilli peppers
*spinach OR purple sprouting broccoli

* = 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: –
A risotto of leeks and pancetta
Leek and smoked cheddar tart

We’ve made 100 jars this year. We like to minimise waste and make the most of seasonal vegetable gluts.

I have made this Jack Monroe salad twice recently, once with curly kale and today with cavelo nero and both times it was delicious. It is even easier if you use a tin of black-eyed beans and lentils that do not need pre-soaking such as puy lentils.

Serves 4 for lunch

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

Ingredients
100 g dried brown or green lentils
100 g dried black-eyed or haricot beans
8 sundried tomatoes, chopped
A handful of black olives, chopped
A fistful of parsley, torn
80 g kale, rinsed and chopped
For the dressing:
1 fat clove garlic, minced
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
130 ml olive oil
1 lemon, zested and juiced

Method
Soak the lentils and beans for at least 8 hours and preferably overnight. Meanwhile, make your dressing – a good steeping in oil and acid will calm the chilli and garlic and meld the flavours. Put the garlic, chilli, oil, lemon zest and some of the lemon juice into a lidded jar, screw on the lid tightly and shake vigorously to emulsify.  Unscrew, taste and add more lemon juice if needed.

When you are ready to make the salad, thoroughly rinse the lentils and beans, then put them in a pan of unsalted, cold water. Bring to the boil, scrape off any scum and boil vigorously for 10 minutes.  Reduce to a simmer and cook for a further 30 minutes or until tender. Drain and rinse with hot water.  Meanwhile, warm the dressing in a small saucepan over a low heat.

Toss all the other salad ingredients together with the warm pulses – there is no need to cook the kale as the warmth of the beans, lentils and dressing will soften it sufficiently.  Add the dressing to taste and serve.

We have more red onions in our boxes this week. These need to be used soon, as they don’t store as well as everyday white ones. We’ve had such a prolific onion harvest this year we can expect many more for weeks to come.

All boxes have:-
*red onions
*cavolo nero (Tuscan kale)
*carrots
*mixed salad leaves
*radishes

calabrese (Restharrow farm, Trebetherick)
potatoes (Burlerrow farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have:-
extra potatoes
*garlic
*spinach OR Swiss chard
baby leeks (Mark Norman, Bodmin)

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

Try these delicious kale soups on Camel CSA’s recipe page: –
Cavolo nero soup
Caldo verde (Portuguese greens soup)

I like to serve Colcannon with grilled sausages for a quick and easy tea.

Serves 4-6

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients
1 Kg floury potatoes such as Maris Piper or Cara, peeled and cut into chunks
100 ml milk
100 g butter
1/2 cabbage, finely shredded
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Cook the potatoes in boiling water until tender.  While the potatoes are cooking melt half the butter in a pan and cook the cabbage for about 10 minutes until tender.  Drain the potatoes well then return to the pan with the milk and the rest of the butter and leave on a low heat until the milk comes to the boil and the butter has melted.  Remove from the heat, mash the potatoes then add the cabbage and mix well.  Season to taste and serve.

We also have another Jack o’ Lantern pumpkin in each box all ready to carve for Hallowe’en.

In all our boxes this week: –
*red onions
*turnips
*cabbage OR sprouting broccoli
*parsley
*pumpkin (Camel CSA / Mark Norman, Bodmin)
*celery (Mark Norman)
*potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have: –
extra potatoes
*mixed salad bag
*green peppers OR aubergine
*borlotti beans OR French beans*

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

Try these celery dishes on Camel CSA’s recipe page: –
Braised celery

I am going to make this cake for pudding tonight.  It’s from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Fruit Every Day!  The recipe calls for eating apples but I’m trying it with the veg box apples which are cookers.  If you have a nut allergy leave out the ground almonds and substitute with an extra 5 g flour.

Serves 10-12

Preparation time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients
3 tbsp whisky
100 g sultanas
100 g ground almonds
175 g light brown flour
2 tsp baking powder
a pinch salt
500 g apples, peeled, cored and cut into thick slices
200 g butter, softened
200 g dark muscovado sugar
3 large free-range eggs
150 g thick-cut orange marmalade
25 g demerara sugar

Method
Preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas mark 3.  Grease a 20 cm springform cake tin, line the base with baking parchment and lightly butter the paper.  Warm the whisky in a small pan, then remove from the heat, add the sultanas and leave to soak while you prepare the cake.

Put the ground almonds, flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl, combine thoroughly and set aside.  Beat the butter and muscovado sugar together thoroughly until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding a spoonful of the flour mix with each, and amalgamating each thoroughly before adding the next.  Add the remaining flour mix and fold in.  Beat the marmalade to loosen it, then fold into the cake mixture.  Fold in the sultanas and whisky and finally the slices of apple.

Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared cake tin and scatter the Demerara sugar over the surface.  Bake for about 1 1/4 hours, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.  Let the cake cool slightly in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

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