The mild and wet autumn weeks mean we still have a nice range of veg in the bags, including leafy greens. I’m really enjoying the potatoes, spinach and butternut squash from Ripple Farm at the moment.
Ripple Farm are one of our “core” growers. When we set up Vegbox back in 2012, Ripple Farm was the first producer we reached out to. Martin MacKay is the farmer behind the farm. I rang him up in early summer and Martin answered the phone. “We’re thinking of setting up a veg box scheme in north London. Do you think you could deliver to us?” He pondered this and then answered in his slow and thoughtful Irish accent: “Yes, Tom, I think we probably could. September would be a good time to start.”
We went to visit them and had lunch with him, his wife Sarah and his two children. It was such a lovely, encouraging start for our fledgeling box scheme.
Ripple Farm is a 100 acre farm set across three sites near Canterbury in Kent. They grow a range of staples and are a reliable supplier to many organic box schemes around London. One great thing about Ripple Farm is their commitment to the people they work with. Unusually for a British farm, they have managed to employ an entirely local workforce. Some of the ways they’ve managed to do this are by working with local colleges to offer practical farming apprentices, building a good friendly harvesting and packing team, and paying decent wages.
Tom Steele
What’s in the bag this week?
Small bag:
Gatsby potatoes – Ripple Farm, Kent
Butternut squash – Ripple Farm, Kent
Spinach – Ripple Farm, Kent
Kohlrabi – Nash Nursery, Kent
Standard bag:
Onions – Bagthorpe Farm, Norfolk
Carrots – Bagthorpe Farm, Norfolk
Beetroot – Sarah Green’s, Essex
Fennel – Bedlam Farms, Cambridgeshire
Radicchio – Sarah Green’s, Essex
Fruit supplement:
Conference pears – Mole End Farms, Kent
Family bag:
Gatsby potatoes – Ripple Farm, Kent
Butternut squash – Ripple Farm, Kent
Spinach – Ripple Farm, Kent
Kohlrabi – Nash Nursery, Kent
Broccoli – Nash Nursery, Kent
Savoy cabbage – Newfields Organics, Yorkshire
Mega bag:
Onions – Bagthorpe Farm, Norfolk
Carrots – Bagthorpe Farm, Norfolk
Beetroot – Sarah Green’s, Essex
Celeriac – Sarah Green’s, Essex
Broccoli – Nash Nursery, Kent
Savoy cabbage – Newfields Organics, Yorkshire
Radicchio – Sarah Green’s, Essex
Wash all veg and fruit before eating. Store carrots, spinach, broccoli, beetroot, radicchio, cabbage, celeriac and fennel in the fridge. Protect potatoes from light to avoid sprouting.
Recipe: orzo with beetroot
An Anna Jones recipe.
500g beetroot, peeled and grated 300g orzo pasta
a small bunch of thyme, leaves picked 2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for finishing
1⁄2 vegetable stock cube / 2 tsp stock powder handful nuts (e.g. walnuts, almonds)
zest of an orange or clementine
- Put the grated beetroot, orzo pasta, thyme leaves, garlic and vinegar into a medium lidded pan with 1 tsp of sea salt, 2 tbsp of oil and 850ml water.
- Crumble in the stock cube or add the powder.
- Place the pan over a high heat, cover with a lid and bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes until the pasta is cooked and all the water has been absorbed.
- Stir it every minute or so to make sure that the pasta doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan.
- If the orzo looks a little thick (you want it to be the consistency of risotto) add a little more hot water.
- Serve with toasted nuts, orange zest, and a drizzle of olive oil on top.
Recipe: potato and spinach curry
Serves 2. Based on a Meera Sodha recipe.
60ml light oil 1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds 1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1cm piece fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 chilli, finely chopped 100g tinned chopped tomatoes
1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground turmeric 1 tsp salt
250g potatoes, in bite sized chunks 1 bunch spinach, chopped
2 tsp lemon juice
- Put the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat till hot, add the mustard and cumin seeds and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the onion and cook for 10 minutes, until soft and golden.
- Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes.
- Stir in the tomatoes, ground spices and salt, and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Add the potatoes, spinach and 100ml hot water, and leave to cook for about 30 minutes, stirring every five minutes or so.
- It should end up being a fairly thick curry.
- Stir through the lemon juice, serve hot with rice.
