I didn’t think I’d ever return to this blog, but I’ve just started getting a veg box delivery from Campy Growers and felt like this merited a bit more than an Instagram post. There’s a couple of other experiments I’ve started recently, so there may also be talk of kombucha and sourdough, but for now I thought I’d keep a bit of a record of how I’ve been using my veg supplies.
First of all, if you’d like to know a bit about Campy Growers, you can read about the project here: https://campygrowers.uk/
During the pilot, the subscription is £30 per month and you get a veg box once a fortnight. This is my first box which arrived last Monday:
Beetroot, courgettes, green beans, runner beans, purple kale, a patty pan squash, 2 of the biggest cucumbers I’ve ever seen, tenderstem broccoli and some herbs, so a pretty decent selection! The website has pictures of what you can expect in your box, which definitely helps with meal planning.
This is the meals we got out of box 1, for 2 people.
Meal 1:
Runner bean frittata with steamed broccoli and a jacket potato. This was from a book called Cook your own veg by Carol Klein and I found this a really good way to make the most of summer veg. The runner beans are steamed and diced and mixed with eggs and a generous amount of fresh herbs before frying in a little oil then finishing off under the grill or in a hot oven. This would also have worked with the courgettes or broccoli I think. I did add some Guancale (pig cheek bacon) to the frittata as I had it leftover from a carbonara but it would work just as well without.
Meal 2:
Pasta with green beans, potato and pesto, from the River Cottage Veg Every Day book. Another quick, easy one tonight. I used shop bought pesto, but blended in extra parsley, basil and walnuts to liven it up - this was a good shout! You cook matchstick sized pieces of potato with the pasta, which is much tastier than it sounds, and apparently an authentic Italian dish! This is a great mid week supper.
Meal 3:
Beetroot soup with yoghurt and dill. I added the beet shoots and leaves to this, so as not to waste them, but I think this actually took away from the earthy beetroot taste so I’d probably just use the actual beetroot in future. This was just the beetroot roasted with thyme and garlic then blended with veg stock.
Loved this one - kale and onion pizza with tomatoes from my greenhouse. The onions are sautéed till sweet then shredded kale wilted down with them. The heat of the oven turns the kale into something like crispy seaweed, which is the best thing I can think of to do with it! This was another River Cottage veg recipe. Oh, and the cheese is Smoked Anster from St Andrews cheese - delicious!
Meal 5: courgettes and patty pan with a chilli and tahini dressing served with halloumi and a grilled flatbread. The tahini dressing is from a noodle salad recipe in the River Cottages veg book but it goes really well with the halloumi and courgettes.
The rest of the courgettes ended up as a bruschetta topping for lunch, and the cucumber got juiced and mixed with kombucha and mint - currently on a second ferment in the fridge so I’ll be interested to see if that works!
It’s early days, but I’ve had fun thinking of ways to use veg I wouldn’t usually buy and I’m looking forward to box 2 next week ☺️
