Green Futures

Month: September 2013

  • Turnip Almond and Lentil Stew

    2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for frying the almonds

    1  carrot, chopped
    1 stalk     celery, chopped
    1      onion, chopped
    1      turnip, chopped
    2      garlic cloves, chopped
    150g baby button     mushrooms, halved
    250g      green lentils
    1.2 l  vegetable stock
    1  bay leaf
    1 sprig  rosemary
    4 sprigs  thyme
    handful  almonds
    1 tbsp ground cinnamon
    10  cherry tomatoes, quartered

    Heat the olive oil in a large pan and fry the carrot, celery, onion and turnip until softened – about five minutes.

    1. Add the garlic and mushrooms. Fry for a further five minutes.
    2. Add the lentils to the pan. Pour over the stock and add the herbs. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
    3. Just before the end of the cooking time for the stew, in another pan, fry the almonds in a splash of olive oil with the cinnamon for two minutes.
    4. Add the cherry tomatoes and warm through.
    5. Serve the lentil stew with the almonds and tomatoes.

  • Dairy-free celeriac risotto with roasted hazelnuts and veg

    Serves 4

    60g raw cashews, 1 medium onion, finely diced

    1 garlic clove, crushed, 3 tbsp olive oil

    300g risotto rice, 200g celeriac, peeled and grated

    200ml white wine, 50ml apple juice

    2 tbsp bouillon powder, or 1 vegetable stock cube

    1 litre boiling water, ½ tsp ground nutmeg

    2 medium courgettes, chopped in half lengthways and cut into slices 5mm thick

    150g frozen peas, 45g hazelnuts, ½ tsp salt

    1 Place the cashews in a bowl and cover with water. Soak for at least an hour.

    2 Gently fry the onions and garlic in 2 tbsp olive oil in a large heavy‑bottomed saucepan until they go soft, but not brown.

    3 Add the rice and stir. After a minute, add the grated celeriac, the wine and apple juice. Mix the bouillon powder or stock cube with the water in a jug and pour about half into the rice.

    4 Give everything a quick stir, then pop on a lid and let it simmer gently over a medium heat for about 8 minutes while the liquid is absorbed.

    5 Meanwhile, make the cashew cream. Drain the cashews and place in a small food processor with 100ml fresh water. Blend for a couple of minutes until you have a smooth white liquid.

    6 Take a look at your rice. Once the liquid is nearly gone, pour in the rest of the stock and the nutmeg. Keep stirring. After a minute or so, tip in the cashew cream, the courgettes and the peas. Simmer for a further 8‑10 minutes with the lid off, stirring occasionally, until the rice is tender and the courgettes are just cooked. Season as necessary.

    7 Roughly chop the hazelnuts. Fry with 1 tbsp olive oil and the salt for about a minute until nearly blackened. Spoon on top of each portion of risotto and serve.

     

    Recipe care of

    http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/sep/07/dairy-free-celeriac-risotto-recipe

     

  • Veg Box News 09.09.13

    In this weeks veg box we decided to give you Corn on the Cobb again. The season for them is quite short and the last lot we had were absolutely delicious. We hope you don’t mind? English sweetcorn are a lot sweeter than imported because the time from farm to fork is shorter, meaning less of the natural sugar turns to starch. English sweetcorn is not GM, unlike stuff imported from America. Always look where your food comes from. Also in the box are some of our own chillies. They aren’t very hot so hopefully you will like them. Don’t forget remove the seeds if you don’t want them too hot and remember to wash your hands well, after chopping them. They can be used in chillies, stir-fry’s and curries.

     So the unusual looking thing in your box is a Celariac, I like to use it by peeling and mixing with mash potato. It takes a little while less to cook than potatoes so either cut it into larger chunks or chop the potatoes smaller. You can boil it in the same pan. Another way to use it, is to grate it raw for a salad. It makes a great coleslaw. I also include a recipe I found on the Guardian website as in interesting Dairy Free Risotto. I will be making it at the weekend and will let you know how mine went. Incidentally you can buy most of the ingredients from us too! 🙂

     Well the weather had that first bite in the air this week, sat in the office I had to grab an extra layer of clothes. We can see the tomatoes starting to slow down in their ripening. If it is like last year we will have a load of green tomatoes at the end of the season; good for green tomato chutney if anyone is feeling creative.

     We will be running the salad boxes till the end of September, but after this they will have to most likely change as the price of salad stuff will increase due to having to buy in salad from growers with heated greenhouse or imports from abroad. We will let you know nearer the time.

     On the Landscape we have lots of squash ready. In the £10 box this week you will find a patty pan squash (or butternut if we don’t have enough). They keep really well so we will be giving you them in the other size boxes in the next couple of weeks. We also have a limited number of pumpkins growing including 2 absolute monsters, pictures will be appearing on the website and facebook soon! Talking of facebook we are nearly at 1000 likes… if you haven’t already please find us and like our page for a chance to win a free veg box.

    Thanks for your continued support!

    Ps WE REUSE PLASTIC PUNNETS PLEASE WASH AND RETURN!

    Don’t forget we sell FREE RANGE Eggs from Chickens NOT fed on GM soya. Most other non organic eggs will be from GM fed chickens.

  • Veg Box News 03.09.13

    Ok so own up, who stole August? Where did that month go? We harvested so much stuff and your boxes contained the greatest percentage of our own produce yet. The Salad boxes have often been 100% from our site. As this project continues we hope to keep up this sort of level of activity and work with more local growers so we are constantly reducing our and consequently your food miles. Every box you buy from us you can feel good that you are supporting local growers and food suppliers.

    In the box this week are Lincolnshire Daisy potatoes and a load of veg that is great for roasting. (See side panel) This makes for a great dinner that is easy and so tasty.

    On the landscape we have been busy with the usual round of weeding and watering and planting out. The rather interesting looking purple sprouts are taking shape; should have these ready for the Christmas boxes. Arrgh, did I say that word! Yes, already when growing things, we have had to be thinking about Christmas! We will be offering our usual boxes plus a special larger Christmas dinner box and possibly a deluxe Christmas hamper too! More details to follow.

    One good thing to come out of the on site burglary was the news coverage got us 2 news customers! Other than that its been a night mare of logistics and apologies, particularly for our garden round customers. We finally got the vans back close of business on Tuesday, so slowly we will get back to speed. Thanks for your patience and the best help you can be is to keep buying our veg and tell your neighbours about our service!

    We have quite a few jams and preserves for sale, some made by our customers, some made by a local small business. I am slowly trying to try them all, to check for quality purposes you understand 🙂

    Thanks for your continued support!

    Reminder

    We work with Specialist Health Promotion and they are running a cookery session, Wednesday 18th

    September. Participants can take part in a practical cookery demonstration and eat the fruits of their labour in a session held at Second Avenue Resource Centre with Vicki Hall. For more information please contact: Steven Markham (01472) 326241

    Steven.Markham@nelincs.gov.uk

  • Health Benefits of Vegetables; Onions and Shallots

    Onions and shallots are full of nutrients including, Vitamins A, B, C, magnesium, potassium, sulphur compounds, bioflavonoids, essential oils (mono or sesquiterpenoids) and natural sugars.
    They are great vegetables to add to your diet to support bones and joints especially if you experience rheumatoid arthritis or gout.  They support the blood and circulation and are beneficial for people who have arteriosclerosis, onions and shallots help to support the immune system especially if you are coming down with a cold or the flu and they are also beneficial for period pains in women,
    Onions have antibiotic and anti-fungal properties and can block tumour formation, reduce cholesterol levels and prevent blood clots from forming.  They help to ease water retention and promote the elimination of urea.  Onions are beneficial to both the digestive and circulatory systems.  They can be juiced or used in a decoction for the treatment of digestive problems, diarrhora, coughs, colds and flu.  You can even make an onion syrup by layering sliced raw onion with brown sugar or molasses which will eventually turn into an onion syrup and require the onions to be strained after 4 weeks.
    Onions can be eaten raw – macerating them in olive oil makes them more palatable.  Onion juice can be drunk mixed in water or carrot juice and can also be applied neat to insect stings, warts and boils.
    Info courtesy of;
    Emma Warrener
    Western Medicinal Herbalist within Grimsby and Cleethorpes
    Check out my website at: www.herbsforhealthandwellbeing.co.uk
    Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GrimsbyHerbalUK