It’s cold at the moment! Winter drags on, and the frosty temperatures are slowing down the veg growth. Like me, you probably feel like we could do with moving into spring soon. Let’s hope we see some warmer temperatures as we head into March!
You may or may not know that we are part of a federation of box schemes and small food businesses, all committed to organic farming and fair trade supply chains, called Better Food Traders.
One interesting project that’s been taking place across the Better Food Traders network is called Bridging the Gap.
One of the struggles that we face in the sustainable food sector is that fair trade, nature-friendly food is much more expensive than “conventional” food, which means that an ethical diet is generally out of reach of people on low incomes. The low income discount that we run at Kentish Town Vegbox, which is funded by our own members through our solidarity fund, is our attempt to tackle this issue. Bridging the Gap is a bigger project still. It’s been working with a range of organisations across the UK to demonstrate ways that people on low incomes can purchase healthy, sustainable, fair trade veg and fruit.
They’ve done a nice little film about the project, which you can watch here; www.sustainweb.org/news/jan25-bridging-the-gap-film
Our next Vegbox event coming up is our “bring a dish” Spring Equinox Lunch. It’ll be 12pm-2pm on Sunday 23rd March. Venue still TBC, but do sign up now and start thinking about what dish you might bring! dandelion.events/e/springequinox2025
Don’t forget to return your re-usable bags and packaging. Please do wash any muddy bags if you can. Just rinsing them out in cold water and hanging them up to dry super helpful!
If you’re going on holiday, let us know at least a week before, by the Tuesday of the week before at the latest!
Tom Steele
What’s in the bag this week?
Small bag:
Carolus potatoes – Newfields Organics, Yorkshire
Celeriac – Langridge Organics, Lincolnshire
Crown Prince squash – Ripple Farm, Kent
Kalettes – Sarah Green’s, Essex
Standard bag:
Leeks – Sarah Green’s, Essex
Carrots – Newfields Organics, Yorkshire
Swede – Newfields Organics, Yorkshire
Purple sprouting broccoli – Home Farm Nacton, Suffolk
Kale – Ripple Farm, Kent
Fruit supplement:
Oranges – Langridge Organics, Spain
| Family bag: Carolus potatoes – Newfields Organics, Yorkshire Brussels sprouts – Langridge Organics, Lancashire Black Spanish radish – Sarah Green’s, Essex Celeriac – Langridge Organics, Lincolnshire Queensland Blue squash – Sarah Green’s, Essex Mung beans – Langridge Organics, Devon
Mega bag: Leeks – Sarah Green’s, Essex Carrots – Newfields Organics, Yorkshire Purple sprouting broccoli – Home Farm Nacton, Suffolk Celeriac – Langridge Organics, Lincolnshire Red curly kale – Sarah Green’s, Essex Kalettes – Sarah Green’s, Essex Mung beans – Langridge Organics, Devon |
Wash all veg and fruit before eating. Store carrots, leeks, kale, swede, kalettes, celeriac, squash pieces, radish and brussels sprouts in the fridge. Protect potatoes from light to avoid sprouting.
Recipe: lentils, swede puree and pesto
1 leek, sliced 200g puy lentils
1 bay leaf 2 cloves
1 sprig thyme 400ml stock
1 garlic clove, peeled 15g pine nuts or similar
a handful of parsley, chopped olive oil
300g swede 1 point from a star anise, finely ground
1 tbsp crème fraiche 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- Peel the swede, cut into chunks, and boil in salted water till soft.
- Drain and mash, or puree in a liquidiser till fine.
- Add the small amount of star anise powder and the crème fraiche and stir together.
- Meanwhile, gently fry the leek in oil for 15 minutes or so in a pan.
- Add the lentils, bay, cloves and thyme. Fry for a few minutes.
- Add the stock and gently simmer for 40 minutes or so, till the lentils are tender.
- Puree the garlic clove, pine nuts, parsley together in a blender with enough olive oil to make a smooth pesto.
- When the lentils are ready, remove the bay leaves, cloves and thyme sprig. Stir the vinegar into the lentils.
- To serve, put a dollop of swede puree on the plate, surround with lentils, then drizzle the pesto on the top.
Recipe: potato and celeriac gratin
This rich dish serves 4-6 people. Halve the quantities for a smaller dish.
1 garlic clove, split in half 1 tsp butter
800ml dairy or oat cream 1/8 tsp grated nutmeg
2 1/4 tsp salt 1/8 tsp white pepper
1/8 tsp chilli powder 800g potatoes
225g celeriac 300g strong cheese, grated
- Preheat oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Rub a 2.5l baking dish with the garlic, then lightly butter the dish.
- Combine the cream, nutmeg, salt, pepper and chilli powder in a large bowl.
- Peel the potatoes and celeriac and slice them paper-thin on the blade of a cheese grater or on a mandolin. If you end up cutting the slices by hand, you might want to parboil them a bit as they’ll be thicker.
- Add the potatoes and celeriac slices to the cream mixture.
- Either mix the grated cheese into the cream mixture or add it in the baking dish.
- Pour the potatoes, celeriac, cream and cheese in the baking dish. Flatten it all out.
- Cover the dish with foil and bake in the oven for about 2 1/2 hours, uncovering it for the last hour.
- The gratin should be completely set and golden on top.
- Leave to stand for 15 minutes before serving.
