Woodfield Weekly
The greens are still plentiful this week, despite the weather. Local carrots and potato supplies are becoming a bit scarcer; one of our Cambidgeshire potato growers even suffered frost damage last week. However, we should have enough to fill the boxes this week and then we will reassess the situation. We always try to have mostly UK produce in your veg boxes. Where this is not possible; either because of seasonal or weather issues, we will use the Italian co-operative – El Tamiso. This is the partner co-op to our Norfolk co-op and are another group of small organic farmers operating in close proximity to each other, sharing resources, and shipping their produce overland to Norfolk as required. You can read more about them, and our other farmers, in the “About Us” section on the website.
Below we have included an aubergine recipe, to acknowledge the El Tamiso produce coming over, and a couple of other to help with the abundace of local greenery.
Baba Ganoush
A smoky, lightly spiced aubergine purée that can be mixed with a little yogurt for a more mellow flavour. Serve it with pickled chillies and lots of salad.
Preparation time : 45 minutes
Total time : 45 minutes, plus cooling
Serves: 4
Ingredients
1 large aubergine
1 garlic clove
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp tahini
Large pinch ground cumin
Pinch ground white pepper
1 heaped tbsp yogurt (optional)
Extra virgin olive oil, to serve
Chopped flat leaf parsley, to serve
Preheat the grill to high. Prick the aubergine with a fork and grill, turning occasionally, until the skin blisters and blackens all over. When cool, peel off the skin. Leave the aubergine flesh in a colander for 15 minutes to drain off excess liquid.
Pound the garlic and salt until smooth with a pestle and mortar. Transfer to a food processor. Add the aubergine flesh, lemon juice, tahini, cumin, pepper and yogurt, if using. Whiz to a thick purée. Adjust the seasoning. Transfer to a bowl, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Lettuce Risotto
From Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall. We published this one last summer, but a good recipe is often worth repeating. It might sound strange, but it works really well.
The wilted-down outer leaves have a sweet flavour, and the leaves from the heart even retain a little crunch. You can use just about any lettuce except iceberg here. A mixture of bitter and sweet varieties (say, cos and radicchio, or oak leaf and little gem) will give an interesting breadth of flavours. Serves four to six.
1.25 litres vegetable or chicken stock
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion (or 2-3 shallots), peeled and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
350g arborio rice
2 large or 4 small lettuces, roughly shredded
100g peas (optional; fresh, if possible, though frozen will do)
12 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal into 1cm-2cm lengths
A knob of butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Parmesan, grated, to serve
Bring the stock to the boil in a saucepan, then turn down the heat to simmering point. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based pan and add the onion. Cook until starting to soften, then add the garlic and cook for a minute or two - do not allow the onion or garlic to brown. Add the rice to the pan and stir until each grain is coated with oil.
Pour in a ladleful of hot stock and stir until it has been absorbed by the rice, then add another ladleful of stock. Continue to add the stock at intervals in this way, stirring all the time. After about 15 minutes, when the rice is almost done but still just a little bit chalky in the middle, add the shredded lettuce, the peas (if using) and the spring onions. Stir gently to mix the vegetables through the rice. At first it will seem as if you have added far too much lettuce, but it will soon wilt and give up its juices to the rice. Add the last ladleful of stock at this stage.The risotto is ready when all the liquid has been absorbed, the peas are just tender and the rice is cooked (about three minutes after you've added the lettuce). It should be creamy, not dry. Stir in the butter, taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve immediately, with grated Parmesan.
Crunchy Spinach Cakes
Serves: 4
Ingredients
150ml Greek yoghurt
1 medium egg, beaten
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
salt and pepper, to taste
400 - 750g spinach, washed
100g ground almonds
4 tbsp water
1 packet of couscous, uncooked
1 onion, peeled and chopped
oil for frying
ready-made flour tortillas
Several hours before you want to serve this dish, make this dressing so that the flavours have some time to infuse before serving.Mix yoghurt and the garlic together well in a bowl and leave to one side until you are ready to use it.
To make crunchy spinach cakes: Steam the spinach in the water in a covered saucepan until it has begun to wilt. Drain the spinach, squeeze out the excess water in kitchen paper and roughly chop it. Throw the spinach into a clean mixing bowl and add the onion to the mix. Add the egg and seasonings and mix well. Slowly add the ground almonds, a little at a time, until the mixture becomes dry, yet sticky enough to form and hold small patty shapes. Make small patties with all of the mixture and set them to one side. Roll the patties around in the couscous. Refrigerate for 1 hour. After an hour, shallow fry the cakes in hot oil on a medium-low heat, in a non-stick pan, until golden. Wrap the spinach cakes in the flour tortillas, which you can either cover generously in the yoghurt and garlic dressing, or you can serve the dressing on the side.