VegBox Recipes Blog

Obviously I’m talking veg here… (Rutabaga for anyone living outside of Blighty!)

I’ve now got 2 swedes lurking in the bottom of my vegetable drawer and I’m going to have to resign myself to doing something with them very soon…

We’ve got 4 good recipes on the VegBox-Recipes website for swede, but I really fancy a bit more variety.

So this is a cry for help!

Are any of you out there a little less swede-phobic than me? Do you have any great ideas on how to use them???

I have to resign myself to the fact that, having had so much swede in our veg box already this season, we could be on for a swede-heavy season. So I’d better get to like it.

And I know I can do this – because I overcame my fear of spiders recently by sharing my lounge with a hairy mammoth variety for 3 weeks last month. And I was actually sad when the cat ate it (This comes from the girl who screamed the place down when her best mate Lottie chucked a spider under the toilet door at school when she was 9!).

So swedes should be easy, in comparison!

Please could you help by sending your favourite swede recipes to me? Not only will you help ease my conscience, but you’ll also be sparing Louis from a childhood of “oh no mum, not swede again…!”

Thank you!
Clare x

This week our veg box had a lovely surprise – 2 baby purple cauliflowers and a small Romanesco.

But what to do with them…?

Here’s what we’ve just had for dinner: Purple Cauliflower & Romanesco with blue cheese sauce. Scrum!

I’ve discovered that steaming the purple cauliflower, rather than boiling it, means it keeps its colour – it goes really deep purple. Also cuttung the Romanesco in half means you can steam it almost intact, so it looks really impressive on the plate.

The blue cheese sauce was a case of “bung it all in a pan and melt gently” and the breadcrumbs were whizzed in the blender from a slice of bread that had been waiting to tempt Louis (the nearly-3-year-old) all day. Shove it under the grill for 5 minutes and dinner’s done!

We had it with quinoa, which has a lovely, nutty flavour, strong enough to stand up to the blue cheese. Absolutely delicious.

If you fancy giving this one a go, we’ve just uploaded the recipe and more pics.

http://www.vegbox-recipes.co.uk/recipes/purple-cauliflower-recipe-1.php

Let me know what you think.

Clare x

I don’t normallly get overly excited about recipes I invent – I’ve been doing it for a couple of decades and am kind of used to it But this one is something special.

Actually, I can only take half the credit for it ‘cos it was partly Andy’s idea, too.

We had a bit of a glut of oranges from our fruit box and were left with the choices:

Juice ‘em
Cook ‘em
Compost ‘em

Fed up of juicing them, and feeling guilty at the idea of composting them, we decided to cook them.

So we made a spiced syrup to soak them in, along with a pink grapefruit and a couple of sad-looking satsumas, and here’s the result.

Topped with some highly decadent (organic!) whipped cream, it’s simply …. well… I’ll let you be the judge of that!

http://www.vegbox-recipes.co.uk/recipes/orange-recipe-1.php

We’re still raising money for Action Against Hunger, so I’m afraid it’s gone into the exclusive section, but you only have to donate whatever you can afford to get your hands on this absolutely lovely, lovely, lovely recipe.

Hugs,
Clare x

Have you had rhubarb in your veg box this week?

Early-season forced rhubarb is now in, so it’s time to get cooking and make the most of this early sign of spring!

Cooking rhubarb is easy, as long as you remember to throw away the leaves (slightly toxic) and add enough sweetness.

My top tip is to sweeten slightly less than you think you’ll need, then add more towards the end of cooking. That way you’ll avoid ending up with an insipid, sickly mush.

Although we often think of rhubarb as a fruit, it’s technically a vegetable or a “stalk”. It works well as a pudding but also goes well with savoury dishes.

Here are some of our favourite rhubarb recipes for you to try:

Spiced Rhubarb

Classic Rhubarb Crumble

Rhubarb Fool

Rhubarb, Ginger & Orange Crumble

Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

If you’ve got a favourite rhubarb recipe, why not share it with us?

Enjoy!

Clare

Want some last minute Christmas veg recipes?

Here are some ideas to brighten up your Christmas lunch. Sorry Nigella – no goose fat in sight!

Roast Potatoes

These can either be traditional, laced with oil, or slightly healthier. Either way, they’re a delicious and essential part of Christmas Dinner!

Traditional Roast Potatoes: Roast potatoes are one of those dishes that every assumes you can cook. But they can be quite hard to get right. Here’s how to get the perfect balance of fluffy insides and crunchy outsides.

Slightly Healthier Roast Potatoes: A clever trick means you only need 1/3 of the fat of normal roasties, but you get even more flavour! Why not give it a go?

Carrots

Maple Glazed Carrots: Rather than just boiling your Christmas carrots, why not roast them with an orange and maple syrup glaze? Great for winter carrots that need a bit of extra sweetness.

The Dreaded Brussels Sprouts

 They don’t have to fragrance the house with rotten eggs and slink off your plate! If cooked properly, sprouts can be both tasty and nutritious. So here are some ideas:

Simple Brussels Sprouts: A quick and easy way to cook Brussel sprouts – avoiding the smell and slimey texture…

Stir Fried Brussels Sprouts: This recipe is quick, easy and delicious. It might even tempt committed sprout haters back into the dining room.
Garlic & Almond Brussels Sprouts: For a real Christmas treat, frying Brussel Sprouts with a little garlic and then dressing them with cream and almonds puts a whole new slant on sprouts.

Parsnips

 Roast Parsnip is a delicious and simple way of serving this winter vegetable. The roasting cooks the parsnip slowly, making them even sweeter than they already are. Throw in a few spare carrots and double the veggie quota.

Hope these help!

If you try any of these recipes, please remember to go back and add your comments or suggestions to the recipe page. Thank you!

Clare

It’s never too late to make a Christmas pudding.
Yes, I know it’s supposed to mature for months, and all that, but this recipe is just so scrummy, you could get making it tonight!

The key is to use lots of dried fruits, good quality spices and not too many bulking agents (fats and sugars).

The recipe is pretty easy – just cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs and flour, like for any cake, then add the fruits, bread crumbs and alcohol!

So why not give it a go? Christmas Pudding Recipe.

Or, if you’ve got you own favourite recipe, share it with everyone via the forum!

Thanks

Clare

Is it just me, or does it feel like winter has finally arrived today?

This morning was grey, foggy and, quite frankly, freezing.

What happened to the wonderful Indian Summer we’ve been having?

I’m not being a pessimist – it could be December and I’ll still be hoping for sunshine – but it’s definitely time to get the soup pan out.

There’s something so wonderfully warming about home-made soup. And I love making it, because it’s so easy. Soup might take half an hour, but you only need to be involved for the first 5 minutes.

Usually it’s a case of scrub and chop the veggies, maybe a little fyring, then shove it all in a pan with the stock and leave it until it’s cooked. You just need to pop in every now and then to give it a stir.

Soups really are a great way of cooking vegetables. All the water soluble vitamins that leach out during cooking stay in the stock, so you still get the full nutritional value of the veggies.

They are also a great way of using up leftover vegetables at the end of your veg box week. Almost everything works in a soup. Time to get experimenting!

We’ve pulled together our favourite soup recipes from Veg Box Recipes, to help you get started.

So if you’re feeling in need of a little winter warming, why not try these delicious soup recipes today?

Enjoy!

Clare

P.S. If you’ve got a soup recipe you’d like to share, please send it to us. Thank you!