A simple and healthy side dish for spring from BBC GoodFood.

Serves 8

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking: 5 minutes

Ingredients
600g shredded spring greens, thick stalks removed
OR 400g spring greens and 250g broccoli, thicker stalks halved

For the dressing
2 garlic cloves, crushed
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Method
Make the dressing first. Mix together the garlic, lemon juice and zest, olive oil and some seasoning. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, then add the broccoli and/or greens, and cook for about 5 mins until tender. Drain well, then toss through the dressing and serve.

Everyone will have:
* radish bunch (Camel CSA)
* peas/broad beans (Camel CSA)
* turnip/beetroot (Camel CSA)
cauliflower (Newquay Fruit Sales)
spring greens (Newquay Fruit Sales)
rhubarb (Mitchell Fruit Garden)

Standard boxes will have extra potatoes and rhubarb plus:
* sprouted mung beans (Camel CSA)
* salad bags (Camel CSA)

* = grown to organic principles

This week everyone will have:
* beetroot (Camel CSA)
* radishes (Camel CSA)
* salad (Camel CSA)
potatoes (Newquay Fruit Sales)
cauliflower (Newquay Fruit Sales)
spring greens (Newquay Fruit Sales)
rhubarb (Mitchell Fruit Garden)

Standard boxes will have extra potatoes and rhubarb plus:
* turnip bunches (Camel CSA)
* peas/broad beans (Camel CSA)

* = grown to organic principles

We’ve also been planting out leaf beet, cauliflower and cabbage, with spring onions, salad leaves and beetroot to follow. Other outdoor sowings include parsnips, peas, carrots and three varieties of leek.

I tried this out on Camel CSA’s growing team (they’re always hungry) and they gave it the thumbs up. It’s from Jane Hornby at BBC GoodFood and caught my eye because it’s had over 100 enthusiastic reviews.

Our growers suggest it would taste even better served lukewarm as a pudding with lots of Cornish clotted cream.

Serves: 16 (or eight hungry vegetable growers)

Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 1 hour (plus rhubarb cooking and cooling)

Ingredients

1 quantity Barney’s roasted rhubarb (see recipe, below Method)
250g pack butter, softened, plus extra for greasing (I used Flora)
150g pot ready-made custard, not chilled kind (I used Ambrosia)
250g self-raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g golden caster sugar
icing sugar, for dusting

Method
Make the roasted rhubarb first, carefully draining off the juices before you let it cool. Butter and line a 23cm loose-bottomed or springform cake tin. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.

Reserve 3 tbsp of the custard in a bowl. Beat the rest of the custard together with the butter, flour, baking powder, eggs, vanilla and sugar until creamy and smooth.

Spoon one-third of the mix into the tin, add some of the rhubarb, then dot with one-third more cake mix and spread it out as well as you can. Top with some more rhubarb, then spoon over the remaining cake mix, leaving it in rough mounds and dips rather than being too neat about it.

Scatter the rest of the rhubarb over the batter, then dot the remaining custard over.

Bake for 40 mins until risen and golden, then cover with foil and bake for 15-20 mins more. It’s ready when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean, so it may take a little longer. Cool in the tin, then dredge with icing sugar when cool.

Barney’s roasted rhubarb
Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Rinse 400g rhubarb and shake off excess water. Trim the ends, then cut into little-finger-size pieces. Put in a shallow dish or a baking tray, tip over 50g caster sugar, toss together, then shuffle rhubarb so it’s in a single layer. Cover with foil, then roast for 15 mins. Remove foil. Give everything a little shake, roast for 5 mins more or until tender and the juices are syrupy.

This week small and standard boxes will have:
* turnips (Camel CSA)
* radishes (Camel CSA)
* parsley (Camel CSA)
* salad leaves (Camel CSA)
potatoes (Newquay Fruit Sales)
cauliflower (Newquay Fruit Sales)
leeks (Newquay Fruit Sales)
rhubarb (Mitchell Fruit Garden)

Standard boxes will also get:
* broad beans or peas (Camel CSA)
* chard (Camel CSA)
* spring greens (Camel CSA)
extra potatoes
extra rhubarb

* = grown to organic principles

You will need a lot of parsley for this delicious deep green soup, so don’t be put off by the quantity. If you haven’t got quite enough parsley, add some baby spinach, chard or spring cabbage leaves at the final blanching stage before you purée it. Take care not to overcook the parsley so the flavour remains fresh.

Serves: 4-6
Preparation/cooking time: 30-35 minutes

Ingredients
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil and/or butter
1 large bunch (125-150g) parsley, washed
750ml chicken or vegetable stock
300g potatoes, peeled and chopped
salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice

Method
Start by cutting off the parsley stalks and chopping them roughly. Heat the oil or butter gently in a large pan and tip in the onion and parsley stalks. Soften on a low heat for about 10 minutes without browning, then add the garlic and potato and stir for a minute or so. Pour in the stock and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until potato just cooked.

Meanwhile, divide the parsley into two. Roughly chop one half and put it to one side. Once the potato is cooked, add the chopped parsley and cook for just one minute longer. Take off the heat immediately and pour the soup into a large bowl to stop it cooking any further.

Blanch the remaining parsley – pour boiling water over it, leave it for barely 30 seconds, then put it into a sieve and cool under the cold tap. Add the blanched parsley to the soup then blend it to a smooth purée.

Pour the soup back into the saucepan, add a squeeze of lemon, check the seasoning and reheat it gently. If you like a creamier texture, swirl in some cream or crême fraiche before serving.

• Try Lemon cashew parsley dip

All the boxes have: –
*parsley (Camel CSA)
*spring onions (Camel CSA)
rhubarb (Mitchell Fruit Garden)
potatoes (Newquay Fruit Sales)
cauliflower (Newquay Fruit Sales)
spring greens (Newquay Fruit Sales)
swede (Newquay Fruit Sales)

Standard boxes also have:-
*mixed salad leaves – lettuce/curly endive (Camel CSA)
*Swiss chard (Camel CSA)
extra potatoes
extra rhubarb

* = grown to organic principles

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