Beetroot Is Back

There isn't much of the year when you can't get UK grown beetroot but the last few months have been beetroot free. I must say by January I find it hard to get inspired by the weekly beetroot but it is always exciting when the first new ones arrive. These looked prettier when they first arrived as they had the stalks and leaves attached. I cut them off because apparently they keep better without them. You can use the leaves in salads but they don't keep long.

I decided to make a classic beetroot, walnut and goats cheese salad except I substituted a local sheep's cheese, Wigmore, that is soft like a Camembert but with a more tangy taste. I scrubbed and then boiled them (don't peel them until after they're cooked or the colour drains out). The very tiny ones only took 15 minutes but the larger ones about 30. Once they were cooked and cooled I sliced and put them on some peppery rocket that also came in the veg bag. I drizzled them with a dressing made with a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and 2 tablespoons olive oil. The cheese and toasted walnuts were then just sprinkled on top.

I found a good blog with a posting about beetroot (or beets - it's American) while looking for ideas. I particularly like the advice about not calling the doctor the first time you go to the loo after eating beetroot!

Onions and Cook Books

I had some onions in the veg bag this week. According to the Tolhurst Organic website they are bought in but must be from the UK as they don't import any of the veg. They were an unusual shape - slightly flattened. They smelt gorgeous really fresh so I used one last night in a stir fry - the Dutch ones I had in the cupboard could wait. 

I thought I photo of some onions wasn't very exciting so I'd give you a nose at some of my cook books. These are the smarter hardback ones the more dog-eared paperbacks are in the kitchen.

Using the bean sprouts 2

It had to be a BBQ in this lovely weather and that gave me a chance to use the punnet of bean sprouts that came in the veg bag as an accompaniment . These are not the bean sprouts you have with Chinese food they are the sort you get if you sprout your own beans so you get the bean and the sprout. These were a mixture of lentils, chickpeas and other beans. I looked up a few recipes and a some of the ones for sprouted chickpeas said to cook them so I boiled them for a couple of minutes and then drained them and put then in cold water. I added half a chopped red pepper, a couple  of table spoons of chopped parsley, half a red onion finely chopped and made a vinaigrette with cider vinegar. They were good. "surprisingly  good" apparently! 

 

Chilli to the rescue

Thursday night I made a rice dish with some leeks, red peppers, brown rice and red lentils. I thought is was tasty but a bit worthy. Neither of the children ate it and I ended up with loads left over. There was too much to throw away and I've vowed to stop using the freezer as some where to store stuff we don't want to eat before throwing it away two years later. So I got some Cumberland sausages I'd bought at the  Real Food Festival  out of the freezer (a good use of it!) and tarted  up the rice to go with them. I mixed in some ricotta cheese and fried a chopped fresh red chilli and then added the mixture to the pan with the chillies. It was much nicer this time and one of my children ate it.

Using every last bit

We had a leg of lamb for Sunday Dinner and after using what was left on Monday night spiced up in wraps, I boiled the bone to make stock. Just added some pepper corns, old bit of celery, parsley stalks and dried herbs. At the same time I put a handful of black turtle beans to soak in cold water. I then made some soup with a leek (from the veg bag), the stock, beans and a few bits of lamb meat.

When I reheated it for lunch I added a chopped potato which thickened it up nicely. It was very tasty, far too good to share - I've hidden the rest at the back of the freezer for lunches when I'm on my own.

Spring Greens and Chorizo

Today I used the spring greens from my veg bag. They've been in fridge since Thursday but were still in good condition. Here's what I did.

Ingredients -

• 1 tea spoon corriander seeds
• 3 spring onions sliced
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 175g spring greens sliced (thick ends cut off but included most of the stalks) 
• 100g chorizo cut into 1cm chunks
• glug of sherry (10 ml?)

Melt knob of butter in a pan that has a lid and gently cook the coriander seeds for a minute of so until they start to smell nice. Turn up heat and stir fry the spring onions, greens, garlic and chorizo for a couple of minutes. Add the sherry turn the heat as low as possible and cook with the lid on for about 5 minutes. 

I served this with creamy mashed potatoes. This amount wasn't really enough for 4 more like 2 or 3. We filled up on bread and cheese which as we happened to have some local Wigmore cheese in the fridge wasn't too much of a hardship. 

Recycling bags

One of things I love about my veg bag is that it is a good way of reducing packaging. Most of the veg comes loose in the bottom of the bag with somethings, like spinach, in clear plastic bags. The green heavy paper bags that the veg comes in are also reused. I say they are reused but this obviously depends on customers returning them. I was ashamed to find a big pile of them in my cupboard this week (see photo). I did take them all back and exchanged them for one full of lots of green things - spinach, chard, spring greens and salad as well as the usual potatoes, leeks and carrots. 

Bubble and Squeak

I know bubble and squeak is supposed to be a way of using up cooked potato and cabbage but in a world where you can buy it as a ready meal cooking cabbage and potatoes specially doesn't seem so strange. In fact we do it quite often and always follow Ainsley Harriott's recipe from 'Gourmet Express'. You don't really need a recipe for bubble and squeak but this one is good. You fry some onion and garlic and then add your cooked potato and cabbage. When the crust forms on the bottom you add Worcestershire sauce and stir it up so all the lovely crispy bits get mixed in. You repeat the process twice more. A great way to get kids to eat cabbage without complaint.

Carrots with pasta?

Having a veg bag is a bit like being on ready steady cook - you have to make something out of what you've got.  I've got carrots, leeks, cabbage and potatoes. Tuesday night it has to be something quick as we have to eat early. What I came up with was pasta in a tomato sauce with leeks, carrots and flavoured tofu. I chopped the carrots up small so that they would have time to cook. They were still a bit cruchy but I thought that was nice. I still have three carrots left as I only put one in because my daughter was watching me cook saying “you can’t put carrots in pasta!”

Real Food Festival

On Friday I went to the Real Food Festival at Earl’s Court. This is a celebration of small scale producers making traditional craft food products. As well as the pies I came home with cheese, bacon, sausages, smoked mussels and chorizo. Oh and chocolate brownies that were definitely the best in the show because I sampled them all to make sure! 

While I was there I listened to the Rude Food rants. Rude food is a cereal company and they’ve started a tradition of soap box rants at food festivals where people with a passion for food talk about their favourite subject for 5 minutes. I went because my friend Porridge Lady was ranting (about oats of course). What caught my attention in relation to veg bags schemes was Henrietta Green’s rant about local food. She was making the point that as “local” becomes a marketing tag we need to be clear what we mean when we talk about local food. It needs to be about more than just distance. If you lived next to a coke factory would that make it local food?  It needs to be about using ingredients sourced as locally as possible, about sustainability and treating people (and animals) fairly. In terms of veg bag schemes there are a number of national ones and they offer great produce but why not check if there is a small farmer in your area who would  appreciate your regular support. It is great feeling that you know the person who grew the food you are eating.

This weeks bag

I pick up my bag on a Thursday but this week I didn't pick it up until about 11 pm as I was busy helping get Reading's first Green Party councillor elected (Yeh!!).

I thought I'd do an inventory as this is the first new bag since I started the blog. There were potatoes, leeks, carrots, a cauliflower, spinach, salad and cabbage. No onions - until I started getting a veg bag I hadn't thought about onions being seasonal. 

So far all we've used is the cauliflower. I went to the Real Food Festival yesterday and came back with some yummy pies that we had with cauliflower cheese. Not the most imaginative thing to do with cauliflower but still good. 

Using the bean sprouts

We are in the middle of the hunger gap at the moment - the period when the winter veg has finished but the summer veg hasn't come in yet. This means that veg box schemes often have to supplement with produce that hasn't come from their farm, or even close for a month or so. We have been getting a box of mixed bean sprouts in our bag most weeks and I must confess I struggle to use it and ended up throwing last weeks away. (That is a terrible confession and I felt really bad!). I don't know why I find it difficult because I always enjoy them when I do eat them. This week I'm determined to use them and last night was very organised and prepared lunch to take to work with me today. I sliced and fried some spring onions with a handful of the bean sprouts, some chilli and soy sauce. I mixed it with some cooked rice and had it cold for lunch. I've still got two thirds of a box to use though!

Leeks and Leftovers

I collect my veg bag on a Thursday so by this time of the week I'm looking to use up what is left. Today I it was leeks and thought they would go well with the leftovers from Sunday dinner. Pretty special leftovers. We had pork tenderloin from Laverstoke Park in cream and mustard sauce. I sliced up the left over meat and fried it with the veg bag leeks, added the rest of the cream and stirred it all into some pasta.