In the end it took a dozen of us to finish picking all the peas and pack them into last Friday’s veg boxes. Grateful thanks to professional growers Bridget and Mark N and to Camel CSA’s volunteer picking and packing team members Anne, Bob, Charlotte, Danny, Mike, Penny, Robert, Simon, Toby and Trish.

This is a 10-minute meal from Hugh-Fearnley-Whittingstall via Guardian Cook that uses the beans or peas from Camel CSA’s veg boxes this week. Hugh says: “Broad beans are among my favourite vegetables and this dish makes the most of them. Fresh baby peas are a great, similarly fast-cooking alternative, and you could use bacon in place of the chorizo.”

Serves 2
Preparation / cooking time: less than 10 minutes

Ingredients
250g baby broad beans
1 tbsp olive oil
100g cooking chorizo, sliced or diced
Sourdough, toasted

Method
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, throw in the broad beans or peas and cook for just 2 minutes, then drain them well. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a small frying pan over a medium heat, add the chorizo and fry for a minute or so until lightly crisp. Throw the drained beans or peas into the pan with the chorizo and toss for a minute, so the beans are heated through and coated with the delicious, spicy red oil. Serve at once, with bread, or piled on to toasted garlic-rubbed sourdough as a bruschetta.

• Simple ways with broad beans

Picture: Shayne and Lucia House

They take a long time for our volunteers to pick, but – oh boy! – the newly-harvested peas are really worth it.

This week everyone has: –
* peas in pods / mangetout (Camel CSA)
* new potatoes (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
* broad beans (Camel CSA / Mark Norman)
* cauliflower (Camel CSA)
* mixed lettuce bag (Camel CSA)
* flat-leaved parsley (Camel CSA)

Standard boxes have extra new potatoes plus:
* carrots (Camel CSA)
* beetroot (Camel CSA)
* spinach / Swiss chard (Mark Norman)

* = grown to organic principles

It’s time to celebrate as we hit a new milestone – a total of 50 vegetable boxes going out to Camel CSA members every week! That’s some achievement for a small community vegetable growing enterprise in north Cornwall. So, why don’t you join us?

This particular herb-infused oil is a favourite of  Jekka McVicar, owner of Jekka’s Herb Farm near Bristol which hosts the largest collection of culinary herbs in the UK.

Basil oil is delicious used in salad dressings and marinades. You can also try swapping the basil for lemon balm, fennel leaves or sweet marjoram.

Jekka says: “As soon as you open the bottle on a cold winter’s day the aroma alone wafts hot summer through the kitchen.” Her recipe comes via the excellent West Country FoodLover magazine (complimentary copies go into Camel CSA’s veg boxes every month).

Preparation time: 30 minutes (spread over a month!)

Ingredients
250ml mild olive oil
One good handful of fresh basil leaves

Method
Tear the leaves into a bowl. Pour over the olive oil so they are well immersed and below the surface of the oil. Cover the bowl with cling film and place in a warm position – a sunny windowsill is ideal. Stir weekly, keeping the leaves immersed.

After a month, strain the oil through unbleached coffee filters, Place a few basil leaves for both identification and decoration in a clear, sterile bottle. Pour in the oil, seal and place in a cupboard.

• More about basil and how to make a lemon basil cocktail on Jekka’s blog

A true taste of summer – just as the mist rolls in and the temperatures drop in north Cornwall!

This week everyone will have:
strawberries (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
* new potatoes (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
* green onions (Camel CSA)
* mangetout or peas in pods (Camel CSA)
* mixed lettuce bag (Camel CSA)
* basil (Camel CSA)
* calabrese (Camel CSA)

Standard boxes will have extra new potatoes plus:
* carrots (Camel CSA)
* beetroot (Camel CSA)
* flat-leaved parsley (Camel CSA)

* = grown to organic principles

Yes – you can cook lettuce, provided the leaves are firm, crisp ones. There are cos/romaine lettuce leaves in Camel CSA’s mixed salad bags in this week’s boxes. 

This is a side dish from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in the Guardian. Hugh says: “It’s based on the delicious petits pois à la française, only it’s more petites pommes de terre. A little later in the season, you could throw in a handful of baby peas near the end of cooking.”

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes

Ingredients
25g butter
A trickle of olive or rapeseed oil
1 onion, peeled, quartered and sliced
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
350g new potatoes, cleaned and cut into 2-3cm pieces
About 400ml hot chicken stock
½ large head of romaine or 2 little gem lettuces, shredded
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion, let it sweat for about 10 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for two minutes more. Add the potatoes and about 250ml of stock, bring to a simmer and cook, half-covered, for around 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the spuds are tender. Add a little more stock if you need to, but the idea is to end up with reasonably well-reduced juices, so don’t go mad.

Add the shredded lettuce and a little more stock, stir, cover and cook for four to five minutes, until the lettuce is wilted. Season to taste and serve.

This week everyone will have:
new potatoes (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
* spring greens (Camel CSA/Mark Norman)
* mangetout or peas in pods (Camel CSA)
* carrots (Camel CSA)
* beetroot (Camel CSA)
* salad bags (Camel CSA)
* parsley (Camel CSA)

Standard boxes will have extra potatoes plus:
asparagus (Lower Croan Farm, Sladesbridge)

* = grown to organic principles

Camel CSA’s professional growers – Bridget and Mark N – have been picking and clearing the last of the peas and broad beans in the polytunnels to make way for more tomatoes and cucumbers.

Another scrumptious dish to make with the Cornish asparagus from Lower Croan and the new potatoes from Restharrow Farm in our veg boxes this week. It’s from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall in the Guardian. 

Hugh says: “New potatoes and asparagus both respond so well to roasting. Add some eggs and you’ve got a satisfying supper dish.”

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 50 minutes

Ingredients
600-700g new potatoes, cleaned and cut into small chunks
5-6 whole garlic cloves, bashed
3 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
About 400g asparagus
4 eggs
Chives, to serve

Method
Heat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Put the potatoes into a roasting dish with the garlic. Trickle over the oil, add plenty of salt and pepper, toss and roast for 30 minutes, until tender.

Meanwhile, snap the woody ends off the asparagus and cut the spears into 3-4cm lengths. When the potatoes are tender, add the spears, toss and roast for 15 minutes more, until the asparagus is tender.

Now create four little spaces among the veg for the eggs – you want to contain them as much as you can, so arrange the potato and asparagus pieces into reasonably snug bulwarks. Working quickly, so everything stays hot, break an egg into each space, then return the dish to the oven for about four minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks still runny.

Sprinkle some salt and pepper over the eggs, scatter some snipped chives over the whole dish and serve straight away (the eggs will continue to cook). If you don’t have, or don’t fancy, chives, grated parmesan is another very nice finishing touch.

• More asparagus recipes from Camel CSA

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