You can tell it’s spring, as we’ve got plenty of green leafy vegetables in Camel CSA’s boxes this week.

All boxes have: –
purple sprouting broccoli (Pendavy Farm, St Breward)
* spinach/chard (Camel CSA/Mark Norman, Bodmin)
* mixed salad bag** (Camel CSA/Mark Norman)
* radish bunch (Camel CSA/Mark Norman)
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)
onions (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
cauliflower (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have: –
extra potatoes
leeks (Restharrow)
spring greens (Restharrow)
* rhubarb (Camel CSA/Mark Norman)

* = grown to organic principles
** = baby spinach/leaf beet, lettuce,  red mustard and golden mustard greens

This is from Cordon Vert by Colin Spencer and has been a favourite for nearly 30 years!  It’s a bit fiddly but well worth the effort. If you can’t get canneloni you could use lasagne sheets or use the filling to make a lasagne.

Serves 4-6

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
12-16 cannelloni tubes
900g leaf spinach
50 g butter
115g ground almonds
2 tbs double cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper
50g grated gruyere cheese
300 ml single cream
50g grated parmesan cheese

Method

Cook the pasta in boiling water until done.  Remove from the heat, drain then put the cooked pasta into a bowl of cold water with a little oil in it to keep it separate.  Remove the stalks from the spinach and discard.  Cook the spinach in half the butter over a low heat.  The spinach should shrink to less than half its bulk in about 5-6 minutes.  Cool and drain off the excess liquid.

Put the cooked spinach in a bowl and chop with a wooden spoon.  Add the almonds, remaining butter, double cream, gruyere cheese, season to taste and mix well.

Drain the canneloni, then taking one tube at a time put a portion of the spinach mixture in it.  Place the filled tubes in a shallow, greased ovenproof dish, pour the single cream over, sprinkle with the parmesan cheese and bake in a preheated oven gas mark 2/150°C for about 20 minutes until the canneloni is heated through and the cheese is melted.  Serve with a green salad.

Easy, quick, tasty and cheap! A tapas idea this time, from Tapas Revolution by Omar Allibhoy (via Guardian Life & Style). I don’t keep sherry vinegar, so used balsamic instead.

Serves: 4
Preparation/cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 large onion, thinly sliced
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm slices
1 large green pepper, deseeded and thinly sliced
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
200ml olive oil
salt and black pepper

Method
Mix the onion, potatoes and pepper, season with the salt, pepper and vinegar.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and add the vegetable mixture. Cook for about 20 minutes, turning over occasionally. The vegetables should be soft, but not too crispy.

The hungry gap is starting to have an effect on our veg box contents. This week we’ve had to buy in Cornish cabbages and cauliflowers from wholesalers Total Produce in Bodmin. Fortunately the spring crops in our polytunnels are coming on well and more of our home-grown veg should be ready soon.

All boxes have: –
* spinach/chard (Camel CSA)
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)
onions (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
leeks (Restharrow)
swede (Restharrow)
cauliflower (Total Produce, Bodmin)
savoy cabbage (Total Produce)

Standard boxes also have: –
extra potatoes
* mixed salad bag** (Camel CSA)
* radish bunch (Camel CSA)
* flat-leaved parsley (Camel CSA)

* = grown to organic principles
** = baby spinach/leaf beet, lettuce,  red mustard and golden mustard greens

This week’s recipe comes from chef Ami Phillips at Relish Food & Drink in Wadebridge. A couple of days ago she created platters of antipasti for the lunchtime menu using the contents of a Camel CSA veg box. Everybody wanted some!

Ami is a graduate of Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall restaurant at Watergate Bay. Her food is heavily influenced by Italian cooking and she’s been at Relish for 15 months. She got this recipe while working at Fifteen. It can be done using any type of greens, but is a great use for chard.

Serves: 4
Preparation /cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
4 large handfuls of chard or other greens
3 large cloves of garlic
1 red chilli
olive oil
knob of butter
2-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
sea salt
black pepper

Method
Trim and wash your chard thoroughly. Run a knife down the length of any stalks to ensure faster, more even cooking.

Blanch for 2 minutes in boiling salted water. Tougher winter greens may need longer cooking. Then refresh under cold running water, drain well and set aside.

Grate the garlic cloves, de-seed the red chilli and dice it finely, then put it all in a bowl and cover with olive oil. Heat a frying pan, melt a good chunk of butter and add the chilli and garlic mixture, stirring over a low heat so as to not add colour. Add the chard  and 2-3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, Cornish sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Once everything is piping hot, serve!

Our rhubarb is doing so well this year – all thanks to the lasagne gardening technique.

All vegetable boxes have: –
* rhubarb (Camel CSA)
* sprouted mung beans (Camel CSA)
* radish bunch (Camel CSA)
* spinach/chard (Camel CSA)
cauliflower (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
onions (Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)

Standard boxes also have: –
extra potatoes
* salad bag** (Camel CSA)
* cabbage (Camel CSA)
leeks (Restharrow)

* = grown to organic principles
** baby spinach/leaf beet, lettuce,  red mustard and golden mustard greens

Our growing team had some welcome assistance from four-year-old Daisy M on Sunday, as we dug a trench for “Rocket” potatoes. Daisy also drew us this lovely picture of a “beardy gnome growing carrots”.

This is from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Veg Every Day book.  He puts cooked pasta into a soufflé mix to turn it into a sustaining one-pot dish – a spoufflé!  I’ve been waiting for spinach (or chard) in my veg box to try this again.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients
300ml milk
1 bay leaf
1/2 onion
a few black peppercorns
100g penne
olive oil
250g spinach, any tough stalks removed
50g butter, plus extra for greasing
50g plain flour
75g mature cheddar cheese, grated
a little freshly grated nutmeg
3 large eggs, separated, plus 1 extra egg white
salt and pepper

Method
Put the milk, bay leaf, onion and peppercorns into a small pan and bring to just below a simmer.  Turn off the heat and leave to infuse.

Cook the penne until al dente, drain well then toss in a tiny bit of olive oil to stop it sticking together.

Cook the spinach, with just the water clinging to it after washing, in a covered pan over a medium heat until wilted – just a few minutes.  Drain well.  When cool enough to handle, squeeze out the excess water and chop roughly.

Heat the butter in a pan over a medium heat, stir in the flour to form a roux and cook for a few minutes.  Reheat the infused milk, then strain.  Add the milk to the roux a third at a time, beating well: you will end up with a thick bechamel sauce.  Cook, stirring for a couple of minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese, nutmeg, chopped spinach and season to taste.  Beat in the egg yolks, then fold in the cooked penne.

In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites to firm peaks.  Stir a spoonful into the bechamel mix to loosen it, then carefully fold in the rest.

Tip into a buttered 1.5 litre soufflé dish, place on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven gas mark 5/190°C for 25-30 minutes until well risen and golden.  Serve straight away.

It’s a bit of a lottery this week. Our veg box members are getting one of two types of sprouting broccoli – either purple (Camel CSA) or white (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick). There’s a very subtle distinction!

All boxes have: –
* sprouting broccoli (Camel CSA/Restharrow)
* spinach or chard leaves (Camel CSA)
* cabbage (Camel CSA)
swede (Restharrow)
onions (Restharrow)
cauliflower (Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Restharrow)

Standard boxes also have: –
extra 500g potatoes
* flat-leaved parsley (Camel CSA)
* radish bunch (Camel CSA)
* mixed salad bag** (Camel CSA)

* = grown to organic principles
** baby leaf beet, lettuce, rocket,  red mustard and golden mustard greens

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