You’ll find a green garlic bulb from Ripple Farm in the bags this week. I love seeing the green garlic arrive. It’s the young garlic bulb, before the individual cloves have separated out, and before it has been dried. It has a milder flavour than mature garlic and you can eat the whole bulb and stem.
When they are “green” like this, you can really see the resemblance between baby spring onions, little leeks, and green garlic. They are all alliums and look and taste quite similar when young.
Produce is scarce now – we’re definitely in the middle of the Hungry Gap. The Hungry Gap is the time of year when the crops that have been stored over the winter – onions, potatoes, squash, carrots and other roots – run out but the new season’s produce is still a few weeks or months away from harvest. We can still fill the bags, but mostly with fast growing greens, and the variety of veg to choose from is much reduced. But there’s still some lovely stuff in there – asparagus! spinach! salad leaves!
Don’t forget to return your re-usable Vegbox bags and packaging.
When you want to take a holiday from Vegbox, please let us know a week in advance.
Tom Steele
What’s in the bag this week?
Small bag:
Leeks – Ripple Farm, Kent
Carrots – Langridge Organics, Lincolnshire
Asparagus – Bedlam Farms, Cambridgeshire
Green garlic bulb – Ripple Farm, Kent
Standard bag:
Twinner potatoes – Skea Organics, Angus
White cabbage – Langridge Organics, Lincolnshire
Spinach – Wild Country Organics, Cambridgeshire
Salad bag – Wild Country Organics, Cambridgeshire
Coriander – Wild Country Organics, Cambridgeshire
Family bag:
Leeks – Ripple Farm, Kent
Carrots – Langridge Organics, Lincolnshire
Asparagus – Bedlam Farms, Cambridgeshire
Green garlic bulb – Ripple Farm, Kent
Radish – James Foskett Farms, Suffolk
Chard – Ripple Farm, Kent
Mega bag:
Twinner potatoes – Skea Organics, Angus
White cabbage – Langridge Organics, Lincolnshire
Spinach – Wild Country Organics, Cambridgeshire
Round lettuce – Sarah Green’s, Essex
Coriander – Wild Country Organics, Cambridgeshire
Radish – James Foskett Farms, Suffolk
Chard – Ripple Farm, Kent
Fruit supplement:
Oranges – Langridge Organics, Spain
Wash all veg and fruit before eating. Store carrots, leeks, spinach, asparagus, salad leaves, green garlic, coriander, lettuce, chard and radish in the fridge. Protect potatoes from light to avoid sprouting.
Recipe: kimchi
When life gives you white cabbage, make kimchi! My favourite fermented food. The Korean red chilli flakes (“gochugaru”) are key to the flavour. I like to keep my kinchi in a glass sweets jar – also known as a biscotti jar. I find the seal is much better than a kilner jar and then the pungent kimchi smell won’t annoy your housemates!
1 white cabbage 600g carrots
4cm root ginger, chopped 2 garlic cloves, chopped
50g gochugaru Korean red chilli flakes 50ml tinned pineapple juice, or water
2 tsp sugar 1 tbsp tamari sauce
- Put 1.5 litres of water into a saucepan with 180g salt.
- Heat, stirring, till the salt has dissolved, then leave to cool.
- Core the cabbage, and slice the leaves into bite sized strips/chunks.
- Put the cabbage pieces in a bowl and pour over the brine.
- Leave for 2-3 hours till the leaves have wilted.
- Chop the carrots into bite sized chunks, and add to the brine for the last 30 minutes.
- Mix the chopped ginger and garlic with the Korean red chilli flakes, sugar, tamari sauce, 50ml juice from a tinned pineapple can, and 50ml water.
- Rinse the veg well under cold water to get rid of all the salt.
- Mix the salted veg and red chilli seasoning together in a bowl. Put into a sealable 2 litre glass jar.
- Press the mixture down firmly to expel any air bubbles and submerge the cabbage under its own liquid. Keep pressing down and the liquid will slowly rise up.
- Leave to ferment for 3-4 days. Liquid may bubble out of the jar initially.
- Transfer to the fridge for ongoing storage and use. Will keep for months in the fridge.
Recipe: asparagus with hollandaise sauce
I know many recipes tell you to trim the asparagus or snap off the thick base, but honestly I think it’s a waste. I find it’s all perfectly edible. The base is just less tender than the tip.
bunch of asparagus
- First make the hollandaise sauce (see below) or buy a sneaky jar of hollandaise and reheat!
- Put some salted water on to boil.
- Add the asparagus spears. If possible, stand them up so that the thick ends of the spears are under the water so that the tips are only steamed. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Remove the asparagus from the pan and arrange on two warmed plates.
- Drizzle with hollandaise.
Recipe: hollandaise sauce
There are vegan hollandaises that you can buy, or mix a little lemon juice or vinegar with vegan mayonnaise.
125g butter 2 egg yolks
½ tsp vinegar lemon juice
cayenne pepper / chilli powder
- Melt butter in a saucepan and skim any white solids from surface. Keep the butter warm.
- Put the egg yolks, vinegar, a pinch of salt and a splash of ice-cold water in metal or glass bowl that will fit over a small pan.
- Whisk for a few minutes then put the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and whisk continuously until pale and thick, about 3-5 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and slowly whisk in the melted butter, bit by bit until it’s all incorporated and you have a creamy hollandaise. If it gets too thick, add a splash of water.
- Season with a squeeze of lemon juice and a little cayenne pepper. Keep warm until needed.
