June 21, 2012
It always helps to have lots of people on our community veg plot. So we took the opportunity to plant out squash and pumpkin seedlings and to dig up more dock weeds on Open Farm Sunday.
June 15, 2012
Photo: Shayne and Lucia House
Enter our slug spotting competition, take part in the National Farm Pollinator Survey, and help us plant hundreds of squash and pumpkin seedlings this Sunday on our plot at St Kew Highway.
There’ll be guided tours of our Big Lottery-funded vegetable plot and polytunnels. Also family fun and children’s activities, a veg box raffle, cold drinks and home-made cakes.
Entry is free to our Open Farm Sunday event this Sunday 17 June from 1.30-4.30pm – rain or shine.
Come and see: –
• What vegetables we’re growing
• What’s in our weekly vegetable boxes
• How we support other local growers
• How we promote local, seasonal food
You can find us on the A39 near Wadebridge at the St Endellion / St Mabyn crossroads, behind St Kew Harvest farm shop at St Kew Highway.
AND even if the sun’s shining bring your wellies!
We have REAL baby carrots in this week’s veg boxes – not the baby-cut carrots that are heavily marketed in supermarkets as a healthy alternative to junk food.
Real baby carrots are delectable eaten raw or lightly steamed. They are also delicious roasted, in this simple recipe from Jamie Oliver. He says: “By cooking them first covered by tinfoil, they steam and exchange flavours with the herbs and garlic. Then when you remove the foil they start to roast and sweeten.”
Serves: 4
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 40-50 minutes
Ingredients
750g/1lb 10oz young bunched carrots, different colours if possible, washed and scrubbed
olive oil
herb or red wine vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
Method
Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Toss your carrots with a good glug of olive oil, a splash of vinegar, salt and pepper, the thyme sprigs and the garlic cloves.
Place in a roasting tray or earthenware dish, cover tightly with tinfoil and cook for 30 to 40 minutes until just tender. Remove the foil and cook for a further 10 minutes until the carrots have browned and caramelized nicely.
June 14, 2012
Camel CSA’s veg boxes contain a typical mix of freshly-picked, seasonal vegetables this week. Some were cultivated on our own plot at St Kew Highway and some were supplied by other Cornish growers.
All the veg boxes will have: –
potatoes (Growfair)
* broad beans (Camel CSA)
* baby carrots (Camel CSA)
* spring onions (Camel CSA)
* mixed salad bag (Camel CSA)
* Swiss chard (Camel CSA)
Standard boxes will also have: –
extra potatoes
strawberries (Growfair)
* coriander (Camel CSA)
* mange tout peas (Camel CSA)
tomato marmalade (made by Camel CSA member Henrietta Danvers)
* = grown to organic principles
June 10, 2012
Love local food? Like to eat fresh, seasonal local vegetables? Come and visit our Big Lottery-funded project on Open Farm Sunday – this Sunday 17 June from 1.30-4.30pm.
Come and see: –
• What vegetables we’re growing
• What’s in our weekly vegetable boxes
• How we support other local growers
• How we promote local, seasonal food
There’ll be family fun and games, guided tours, vegetable box raffle, home-made cakes, cold drinks.
Find us on the A39 at St Kew Highway beside the St Endellion / St Mabyn crossroads, behind St Kew Harvest Farm Shop. Look out for the signs.
June 8, 2012
A really quick and easy one for families on half-term holiday. It works brilliantly with the mangetout peas or broad beans in Camel CSA’s veg boxes this week.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says: “This is a fantastic recipe for super-fresh homegrown baby peas or beans. Risoni pasta, also known as orzo, is a lovely, rice-shaped type that I find particularly satisfying, especially when the ingredients it’s served with are also small.”
Serves two
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
150g risoni (or other small pasta)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
150g baby peas and/or broad beans
1 tbsp rapeseed, sunflower or olive oil
3 rashers unsmoked streaky bacon (or pancetta), cut into small dice
1 clove garlic, peeled and cut into slivers
Method
Bring a pan of water to a boil for the pasta, add a good dose of salt and then the pasta. Cook as suggested on the pack, and throw in the peas and/or beans for the last two minutes of the cooking time. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the bacon and cook for five minutes, stirring often, until crisp. Add the garlic for the last minute or so. Take the pan off the heat. Drain the pasta and peas, tip into the bacon pan and toss. Season to taste, and serve.
June 6, 2012
Our veg boxes are overflowing with new season’s produce. All the vegetables – bar the potatoes – are from Camel CSA’s own plot. Our growers have been working very hard to beat the “hungry gap“.
All the boxes will have: –
new potatoes (Growfair)
* broad beans (Camel CSA)
* mangetout peas (Camel CSA)
* salad leaves (Camel CSA)
* spring greens (Camel CSA)
* spring onions (Camel CSA)
Standard boxes will also have: –
extra potatoes
* kohl rabi (Camel CSA)
* baby carrots (Camel CSA)
* parsley (Camel CSA)
* = grown to organic principles
Apologies for the absence of a veg list last week. Our attention was elsewhere – garden open (Trish); walking holiday (me).
June 1, 2012
I can vouch for this easy and delicious potato recipe. Harissa is the hot spicy paste wisely used in North African cooking.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says: “Crisp, red and spicy, these potatoes are fantastic on their own, eaten greedily from the tin with your fingers… In all cases, serve with lots of green salad.”
Serves four
Preparation / cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients
750g new potatoes
3 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp harissa
2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
Method
Heat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Cut the potatoes into even-sized chunks and put in a roasting tin – you need one big enough for there to be a little bit of space between them. Add the oil, season, and toss the potatoes so they are well coated. Roast for 30-40 minutes, or until the potatoes are starting to turn golden brown and crisp.
Remove from the oven, give them a good stir, then mix in the harissa, making sure it coats all the potatoes. Return to the oven for 10 minutes, until the harissa just starts to caramelise. Serve hot, scattered with chopped parsley.
Hugh adds: “To turn them into even more of a meal, serve them with crumbled ricotta, puy lentils or a poached egg, or add a tin of drained chickpeas to the potatoes along with the harissa for the last 10 minutes of roasting.”
May 29, 2012
Camel CSA member and garden author Trish Gibson is opening her beautiful north Cornwall garden again this Sunday 3 June from 2-5.30pm under the National Gardens Scheme.
The Mill House at Pendoggett near St Kew is a 1½ -acre country garden on the site of an old mill with ponds, stream and bridges and extensive views across farmland. Entry is £3 (children free) and there will be cream teas and plant sales.
May 26, 2012
Beetroot is everywhere at the moment – even in cakes and sumptuous desserts. Gone are the days when it only appeared soused in malt vinegar.
Nigel Slater says: “Ten years ago, beetroot was almost a goner. Available then only in pickles or occasionally in vacuum packs of four cooked and preserved globes, it is firmly in the spotlight now. It is almost impossible to find a menu that doesn’t acknowledge its newfound popularity.”
Serves 4
Preparation/ cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients
250g large green or brown lentils
60g piece fresh ginger or galangal
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
3 heaped tsp garam masala
2 small red chillies
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 medium onion
400g can chopped tomatoes
For the raita:
yogurt 200ml, natural and unstrained
beetroot coarsely grated, 4 heaped tbsp
coriander to taste
Method
Bring the lentils to the boil in a pan of deep, unsalted water, then let them simmer for 20-25 minutes, until they are quite soft.
Peel the ginger or galangal, roughly chop it then put it into the bowl of a food processor with the peeled garlic, cumin seeds, ground coriander, garam masala, red chillies, ground turmeric and enough vegetable oil to make a soft, but not runny, paste.
Peel and finely slice the onion. Warm a tbsp or two of oil in a medium, heavy-based casserole over a moderate heat. Add the onion and let it colour, stirring from time to time. When it is fragrant, golden and almost soft add the spicy paste and stir for a couple of minutes longer. Then pour in the chopped tomatoes and a can of water, add salt, and the drained, cooked lentils and leave to simmer for half an hour or so. The lentils should be soft but still retaining a little of their texture; the sauce thick.
To make the raita, put the yogurt into a small bowl, add the grated beetroot and a few leaves of coriander if you wish, then very gently fold the beetroot through the yogurt with a fork. Try not to over mix, unless you actually like vivid pink.
