Here
are some quick and easy recipes using vegetables
commonly found in the North Aston Organics VegBox:
Sonia’s
Creamed Beans with Pancetta
 Planning
Serves:
4 people
Preparation time: approximately 15 min.
Cooking time: 20 min.
Ingredients
500g (1 lb) North Aston Organics Broad Beans,
podded, blanched and peeled
4 rashers of pancetta (or streaky bacon)
4 North Aston Organics shallots
2 cloves of North Aston Organics garlic
2 tablespoons vegetable (or olive) oil
12 leaves of fresh basil
300 ml Double Cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
The Broad Bean, a jewel of the summer crop!
Pod
your beans, extracting the kidney-shaped beans
from their soft-downed pillowcase. Discard
the pods. Blanche, or parboil the beans by
tipping them into boiling water for about two
minutes. Remove the beans from the pan and
plunge them straight into cold water, with
some ice cubes added if you have them. This
will stop the beans from over-cooking and preserve
their colour. Now peel the beans. Taking off
their tough overcoats will allow the fresh,
sweet flavour of the fabulous jade-green pulses
to shine through. It’s
a fiddly task, but so worthwhile!
Finely chop three or four rashers of pancetta
(or bacon) to create shards of the pink cured
ham. Add to a saucepan containing just a dash
of hot vegetable oil and fry over a moderate
to high heat until crisp but not burned. Remove
from the pan and leave to rest on a sheet or
two of kitchen paper, to draw off as much of
the surplus oil as possible.
Chop the shallots as finely as you can, to add
flavour but without adding too much texture.
Shred the basil (a dozen fresh leaves) by rolling
up a clump tightly and then slicing crossways
with a sharp knife. Prepare the garlic by slicing
finely, or chop into small pieces and pass through
a press if you prefer your garlic less obvious.
Add
the garlic to a pan with a little vegetable
oil and cook gently. Once ‘sweated’ and
soft, add the shallots, and cook for a while
longer until the shallots start to become translucent.
Then add the double cream and bring to the boil.
Add
a twist or two of freshly ground pepper to
taste and then squeeze in the juice from half
a lemon. Bring back to full heat before adding
the beans, and stir them in well to ensure
that they are totally coated with the sauce.
Bring back to full heat and warm them through,
but don’t allow
them to cook any more than they already have.
Add the basil, setting aside a small amount
to use later as a garnish, and stir through
quickly.
Take the creamy beans off the heat and serve
them on a warm (but not too hot) plate. Sprinkle
the pancetta across the top and garnish with
the remaining basil. Use as an accompaniment
to meat or fish, or serve on their own as a tasty
starter.
If
you like the sound of this recipe, then watch
Sonia prepare her Creamed Beans with Pancetta by clicking on the link, top right, to view
her video on The
Guardian.
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Potatoes
with Spinach
 Planning
Serves:
4 people
Preparation time: approximately 25 min.
Cooking time: 30 min.
Ingredients
1kg (2 lbs) North Aston Organics potatoes
1 large North Aston Organics onion
2 cloves of North Aston Organics garlic
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
6 tablespoons vegetable (or olive) oil
500g (1 lb) North Aston Organics spinach
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon Garam Masala powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Firstly,
wash and peel the potatoes and cut into small
cubes roughly 1 cm (half an inch) in size.
Place these into a saucepan of water and bring
to the boil, allowing to simmer for 10 minutes
until they start to soften. Drain the water
and set the pan to one side.
Whilst the potatoes are cooking, finely chop
the onion and add the garlic, either chopped
finely or squeezed through a press. Also prepare
the spinach by cutting into short, narrow strips
across the leaves and then setting aside.
Place the oil into a pan, bring to the heat,
and add the mustard seeds to the hot oil. Stir
quickly and briefly, before adding the onions
and garlic. Fry for 5 minutes, stirring regularly,
so that the onion begins to soften and brown.
Now add the chopped spinach and continue cooking
for a further 10 minutes, stirring frequently
to prevent catching on the bottom of the pan.
Finally, sprinkle in the cumin and Garam Masala
powder, stirring as you do, and then toss in
the potatoes. Stir for a while longer to get
the heat back into the potatoes, seasoning with
salt and pepper as you do, and then serve.
Back to the top ^
Spiced
Green Beans
 Planning
Serves:
4 people
Preparation time: approximately 15 min.
Cooking time: 30 min.
Ingredients
750g (1½ lbs) North Aston Organics Green
Beans (Runner or French)
4 cm (2 inch) length of root ginger
1 clove of North Aston Organics garlic
6 tablespoons of vegetable (or olive) oil
½ tablespoon ground turmeric
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons ground coriander
3 tablespoons fresh coriander
3 tablespoons cold water
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Start by washing and pat drying the beans, Top
and tail them. If you’re using Runner
Beans, make sure you strip off the fibrous
edge, before trimming the beans into regular
pieces the length of your little finger.
They don’t have to be perfectly even,
but they’ll look better on the plate
if they are!
Peel
the ginger and then chop or grate into fine
pieces. Do the same with the garlic, finely chopping
the clove (or force it through a press) before
frying, together with the ginger, in the heated
vegetable oil for about 2 minutes.
Sprinkle
in the ground turmeric, cumin and coriander,
and stir continuously, still over the heat,
for another minute.
Finally,
add the trimmed green beans and the freshly
chopped coriander leaves. Stir in the 3 tablespoons
of water and season with salt to taste. Cover
the pan and leave to cook at a moderate to
setting (not too hot) for 25 to 30 minutes.
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We
will add more recipes soon . . . .
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