First of all an apology for those of you affected by some of the undersized, heat damaged or bruised produce that infiltrated our pack last week. The intense heat has caused us considerable problems over the past few weeks and like all problems focused our minds on the weaknesses that we need to strengthen. Irrigation is a massive area in agriculture and by no means simple to achieve. We hope you were not affected by the problems but if you were please drop us a line or an email and we will endeavour to help.
This week we have seasonal treats like the first UK Cherries from our top fruit grower, young courgettes, beautiful broad beans from our field, coloured cauliflower that is wonderful gently steamed or even used raw in a salad, an abundance of cucumbers from our poly tunnels which are grown in soil as opposed to hydroponically like main of the commercial varieties.
If you have a child aged between 8 and 11 why not enroll them in our Summer Forest School? There are still a few places left so if interested go onto our learning page on the website and enroll.
We are reviewing our range of products at the moment so if you have any thoughts about products you would like to purchase from us or any ways that we can improve our box scheme please email:
Laurence Guy – Box Scheme Manager
Recipes
We have some lovely cucumbers and broad beans from our field this week, so we have included a couple of recipes that make the most of them to produce delicious dishes, perfect for enjoying outside in this hot weather.
Cucumber and Mint Raita
Grate or finely chop ½ of a large cucumber, wrap it in a clean tea towel and squeeze out any excess water. Mix with 250ml (8fl oz) of natural yogurt, a large handful of finely chopped mint leaves and a large pinch of salt (you can add a finely chopped, de-seeded chilli, but this is optional) and served chilled as an accompaniment to curries or simply as a dip for raw veg, savoury biscuits or anything else you fancy.
Green Gazpacho (serves 2)
Take 1 cucumber (halved lengthways, de-seeded and roughly chopped), 1 yellow pepper (de-seeded and roughly chopped), 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1 small chopped avocado, small bunch spring onions chopped, small bunch chopped mint, 150ml of fat-free natural yogurt, 2 tbsp of white wine vinegar and a few shakes of green tabasco sauce and blitz all together in a food processor, reserving half of the mint and yogurt, until smooth. Add extra vinegar or tabasco to taste and a splash of water if you like it thinner. Chill until very cold then serve with a dollop more yogurt, chopped mint and a few ice cubes if you like. This soup will keep in the fridge for 2 days – just give it a good stir before serving.
Habas con chorizo (Spanish Chorizo with Broad Beans)
Blanch 250g of shelled broad beans in lightly salted boiling water for 1 minute then drain and refresh under cold water. Dry well. Cut 125g spicy chorizo sausage into slices about 1/4inch thick. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan, add 2 chopped garlic cloves and fry gently for 2 to 3 mins until softened then discard the garlic. Increase the heat and add the chorizo, stir-frying for 2 to 3 mins until golden and it has released some of it's oil. Stir in the broad beans and cook for a further 2 to 3 mins, before adding 1 tbsp each of chopped mint and dill, squeezing the juice of half a lemon over the mix and seasoning to taste. Serve warm with crusty bread.
