The seasons are definitely changing, the mornings and evenings are darker, the days are cooler and that really hot Summer is becoming a bit of a distant memory! I work from home on a Monday and as I sit at my kitchen window typing, I am watching the huge trees at the bottom of my garden swaying in the Autumn wind and starting to yellow. It's a wonderful time of year.
In veg box land, Autumn is a really exciting time. I love the array of colour Autumn brings, not only outside, with the deep oranges and reds that take over our trees but also in the produce we can offer! We have multi coloured beetroots, deep red and oranges, greens and an array of squash! One of my favourite is the Crown Prince Squash. These guys often weigh in at 3-4kg and we will be portioning them up for some of our veg boxes this week. This is a fantastic little blog post from @thevegboxcafe packed with ideas on how you might use yours - let us know how you get on! From a yummy risotto, to a warm, roasted salad, they are so versatile! http://thevegboxcafe.co.uk/the-crown-prince-squash-challen…/
Seasonal eating, is, in my opinion a wonderful thing. We have enjoyed the fruits of our labour over the Summer months with delicious courgettes, a wonderful array of greens and tomatoes. Now we are fast approaching Autumn, we start to think about squashes, sweetcorn and wonderful Autumnal roots.
I couldn't imagine eating the same foods year round, a fruit and veg grown in season is so much tastier. Unfortunately, we have become so accustomed to being able to eat everything year round that it poses a few challenges for an organic veg box scheme with seasonal eating at it's heart.
A huge part of what we do here at The Paddock falls to education. Education in many senses of the word. Education about who we are, what we do and why we do it. Education about fruit, veg, local food, organic food, traceability, food miles, plastic, zero waste - the list could go on and on. Seasonal eating really is about developing an appreciation of what grows when, where and why through education. Once you have this, it becomes really fun!
I live purely off what is left over after the farm shop closes on a Friday evening, I never have a choice over what fruit and veg I take home, it's always just a case of what is left - right, what can I cook this weekend using what I have. And we are never bored! We come up with new recipes all of the time.
This weekend I remembered just how much I love Cavolonero, another wonderful Autumnal green. Also know as black kale or Italian Kale, it is a loose leafed dark green variety of kale, packed with vitamins, minerals and iron. It has for a long time been used in Italian cooking, especially in Tuscany and is absolutely delicious.
I stir fried about 300g this weekend in a little butter and olive oil until it began to soften, then added a couple of cloves of chopped garlic, salt, black pepper, a little single cream (approx 150ml), blue cheese (approx 50-75g), some cherry tomatoes I had roasted in the oven, and cooked very gently over a low heat until soft and creamy, then added some pumpkin seeds. It was a delicious side.
This would also go lovely with some of the Crown Prince Squash mentioned above, pre- roasted and stirred in. I'm really looking forward to some risottos and warm salads using these ingredients over the next couple of months.
Whilst most people plan a menu, and then go to the shop to buy the ingredients, our meals are planned in completely the opposite way. It's a case of what ingredients do I have and what can I make. This adds to the fun of cooking!I'm sure most gardeners are in this same mindset when it comes to Autumn, as the time for gluts and harvests is upon us. This is one of the wonderful things about a veg box scheme, or using a community farm or local, small scale green grocer. You won't have access to every ingredient all of the time - you might have thought about using broccoli and instead be faced with a cauliflower, but please do not let this put you off, embrace the challenge!
I look for inspiration in recipe books and on the internet to keep trying new things but rarely do I have the exact ingredients required for a recipe. I'm not much of a one for following a recipe exactly, nor am I one to write down exactly what ingredients I used when creating a new recipe, but it's great fun to try new things.
Even if your not able to shop locally and a trip to the supermarket is a must, you can still try to eat within the seasons. Most of the larger supermarkets now have an indication of whether something is British grown. Next time you pop out to do some shopping, stand there in the fruit and veg isle and have a look at what is British grown, and think about what you might cook with it. Even better still - if you can pick something up that is British grown and not wrapped in plastic, I challenge you to take that home and try a new recipe!
Buying our food in a more seasonal way has loads of benefits; it supports our local economies, it reduces our carbon footprint, it generally reduces packaging if your buying local and small scale. What's not to like? So many of our veg box customers comment on how much they love the surprise element of the veg box scheme, how it challenges them to try new recipes!
James (my brother) rang me at lunch time today to ask what was left from last week's boxes he could make soup with. he had already spied there were some carrots so it's carrot and coriander soup for lunch for everyone tomorrow, a strong favourite and one of my nana's recipes which we have enjoyed since we were kids!
I really hope we've inspired you to try something new this week with your veggies. Share your recipes on our community page https://www.facebook.com/groups/thepaddockvegbox/
Happy cooking x