Blog | Canalside Community Food - Part 20

Serve this lovely blend of tomatoes, beans and saffron-scented onions as a side dish, or alongside some polenta topped with a poached egg. It’s also tasty accompanying plain white fish.

Fagiolini in umido all zafferano
Serves 4 as a side dish.

Ingredients
10 medium tomatoes
60ml olive oil
2 medium onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1 small pinch of saffron
650g green beans, topped and tailed

Preparation
Bring a medium pot of water to the boil. Prepare a bowl of ice water.
Score the bottom of each tomato with a X, using a sharp knife, and remove the core. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water a few at a time, and cook for about 30 seconds each, until the skin starts to loosen. Remove with a slotted spoon and drop into the bowl of ice water. Don’t discard the hot water: you’ll use it to cook the beans.
Fish each tomato out of the ice water and slip off the skin. Dice into small cubes.
Put the olive oil and sliced onions into a saucepan over very low heat. Add a pinch of salt and the saffron. Cook gently for 20-25 minutes, or until the onions are soft and translucent. Stir occasionally and make sure they don’t catch or burn.
Add the diced tomatoes and cook for 10 more minutes. Season with salt.
Bring the tomato water to a boil, salt, and cook the beans for 6 minutes, or until tender. Drain the beans and add to the onion-saffron-tomatoes. Simmer for 3 more minutes over low heat and serve.

Recipe adapted from Christopher Boswell and Elena Goldblatt, Verdure: Vegetable Recipes from the American Academy in Rome (2014).

If you’re a Saturday collector, you’ll be getting the last of the broad beans – why not try them in this recipe?!

I’ve had this recipe waiting in the sidelines for a while, expecting it to take ages but it turned out to be super easy! The fritters turned out pretty tastey and all that veg helped make me feel a little better about the deep fat frying… The recipe I got this from has instructions for homemade labneh, but I swapped that for  lemon minted yoghurt. Since I had the frier out I decided to go all out and make courgette fritters, deep fried brie and onion rings as well, not a healthy night! Note the recipe is scalable for smaller shares but i’d keep the spice measures fairly high to avoid them getting lost in the frier.

Chilli broad bean fritters with homemade labneh

Ingredients:
Fritters:
600g broad beans (or 1¼kg in their pods), skinned to reduce bitterness (I didn’t bother and can’t say I noticed)
small bunch mint, roughly chopped
small bunch parsley, roughly chopped
small bunch dill, roughly chopped
1 tbsp self-raising flour, plus a little for dusting
1 red chilli (deseeded if you don’t like it too hot), roughly chopped
zest 1 lemon
2 small garlic cloves
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp sumac

Yoghurt:
1/4 a bunch of fresh mint , (7.5g)
1/2 lemon, (juice and any remaining zest after fritters)
4 tablespoons natural yoghurt (Alpro-style alternative will work great too)

Method:
Fritters:
To make the fritters, put the ingredients in a food processor, season and blend until smooth. Using 2 dessertspoons, scoop and shape the mixture into 16 quenelle shapes – or roll with floured hands. Place on a plate and chill for at least 1 hr, or cover loosely with cling film and chill for 24 hrs. (I chilled in freezer for 1h, they weren’t quite sticky enough but I managed by squeezing them hard with my hands).

When you’re ready to serve, heat at least 6cm oil in a wide, deep pan (or put a deep fat frier on 190°C). The oil is ready when a piece of bread dropped into the oil sizzles and turns brown within 30-40 secs (if the oil is too cool, the fritters will fall apart). Dust the fritters with a little flour and roll around the plate to coat the outside. Carefully lower 4-6 into the pan at a time and cook in batches, for 5-6 mins, until deep golden brown. Drain on a plate lined with kitchen paper and sprinkle with salt. Put the fritters in the oven on low heat while you cook the next batch.

Yoghurt:
Mix yoghurt, mint and lemon, adding salt and pepper to taste.

If you fancy them, courgette fritters or onion rings just need some batter making up in a bowl, about 50/50 self-raising flour (to get good bubbly batter) and water to a pancake batter consistency, add salt and pepper (and dill if you like) for a better taste. Chop courgette into sticks and onion into rings, rub them in a plate of flour (coat fully) then dip in the batter then into the frier. Fry until golden (1-3 minutes) then remove and drain, making sure to add salt and pepper whilst they’re fresh out of the frier! (This makes a BIG difference).

From: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chilli-broad-bean-fritters-homemade-labneh

It seems a pity to discard the flavoursome green leaves from a Canalside spring onion. This punchy blend of spring onion and tahini puts them to good use. It makes a great dressing for a spinach salad, coating the leaves in a savoury, creamy blanket. You could also use it as a dip.

Spring Onion and Tahini Blanket
Enough to dress a large 2-person salad

Ingredients
4 spring onions, including the green bits
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons rapeseed oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation
Roughly chop the spring onions.
Place everything in a blender, Nutribullet, or the container for an immersion blender. Blend everything until smooth. Check to see if it needs more salt, pepper, or lemon juice. If it’s too thick for your liking you can add a little more water to thin it out, and then serve either as a salad dressing, or as a dip.

I’ve never tried this but my girlfriend assures me it’s a great summer recipe and a slightly different way to make use of courgette! 

Courgetti with pesto and balsamic tomatoes

Ingredients
baby plum tomatoes 8, 4 halved and 4 whole
olive oil
garlic 1/2 clove, crushed
balsamic vinegar 1 tbsp
courgette 1 large, spiralised or very thinly shredded into noodles
fresh vegetarian pesto 2 tbsp
pine nuts 1 tbsp, toasted

Method

STEP 1: Toss the tomatoes with 1 tsp oil, garlic and balsamic vinegar and some seasoning. Tip into a frying pan and cook for 5 minutes until the whole tomatoes start to burst and they are coated in the balsamic.

STEP 2: Pour a kettle of hot water over the courgette spaghetti and blanch for 30 seconds. Drain really well, toss with the pesto and season well. Stir, coating the noodles, then add the tomatoes and toasted pine nuts to serve your courgetti.

From Olive Magazine

Warm Japanese noodles and bright green vegetables, tossed with a sharp, gingery dressing make a quick and delicious dinner. The whole thing comes together in under 25 minutes. I think you could add some toasted, chopped peanuts to the top, as well.
The dressing is also very good tossed onto shredded cabbage and kohlrabi, for a punchy slaw.

Charred broccoli and bean soba noodle salad
Serves 2

Ingredients
For the salad
450g French beans and/or broccoli (any combination)
2 red onions, peeled and cut into 8 wedges
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
¼ tsp salt
200g soba noodles, or a mixture of soba and udon noodles
¼ cup Thai basil and/or mint leaves, roughly chopped

For the dressing
4 spring onions (use the whole thing), finely chopped
4cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
3 tbsp toasted sesame oil
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar (Meera Sodha specifies black Chingkiang vinegar)
4 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp brown rice (or maple) syrup
1 dried red chilli, finely chopped, or de-seeded and then left whole if you’d like the option of removing it later

Preparation
Pre-heat the oven to 220C.

Trim the broccoli into long, slender strips. You can include the green leaves if you like, as well. Top and tail the beans.

Place the broccoli and/or beans and onion wedges on a baking tray. Drizzle over the oil and sprinkle with salt. Mix with your hands, and roast for 10-20 minutes, until they are a bit charred and the leaves have become crispy.

Bring a large pan of water to a boil, then cook the noodles according to packet instructions. Drain and rinse under cold water, then leave to one side to drain.

For the dressing, put all the ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, then take off the heat and put to one side.

When the vegetables have cooked, tip them into a serving bowl, add the drained noodles and dressing, and toss. Toss in the herbs, and serve while the vegetables are still a little warm.

Recipe adapted from Meera Sodha, The Guardian, 22 June 2019.

Canalside featured in the podcast ‘Tales from Five Acre Community Farm’, when Becca and Esther from our sister farm came to Canalside to chat to staff and members. You can listen to it here.

Then later in the same week, a small group of Canalside members paid a visit to Five Acre for a tour with Becca, the grower there.

We’ve been getting spring onions in the share for a few weeks now, so I thought I would try something different to the usual stir fries and salads… The recipe this week is for spring onion dip! This should go well with courgette sticks, chips (oven baked from the new potatoes) and even fennel. Enjoy best served straight from the fridge, preferably after having a couple of days for the flavours to intensify.

Spring onion dip

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped spring onions
1 1/2 cups raw cashews, soaked overnight or at least 2 hours
fine sea salt
1/2 cup cream cheese (Tesco and Sainsburys both do good vegan alternatives)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon tamari
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 cup water, plus more if necessary
chives, for garnish

Method:
Heat a large pan over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the onion and a few pinches of salt then stir. Caramelise the onions over 10-12 minutes (stirring occasionally) then transfer to a plate and let cool
Meanwhile, add the cashews, cream cheese, lemon juice, vinegar, tamari, garlic powder, water and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the container of an upright blender (preferably high-speed). Blend on high, scraping down the sides until the dip is smooth and creamy
Taste and adjust the salt and/or lemon juice, as needed
Pour the dip into a bowl, and fold in the onions
Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or overnight to really develop the onion flavor.

This immensely straightforward pasta dish demonstrates the results that can be achieved with very simple ingredients. The combination of fresh herbs, crunchy breadcrumbs and slippery, dark-green broad beans is delicious. A glass of rose or a pinot noir would be a very nice accompaniment.

Slipping the broad beans out of their little skins is a bit of a bother, but makes all the difference in the world to the delicacy of the finished dish. I imagine this would work very well with frozen broad beans, as well.

Spaghetti with Broad Beans and Marjoram
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
1kg broad beans, shelled
Salt
300g spaghetti
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup fresh bread crumbs, preferably whole wheat
3-4 tablespoons fresh marjoram leaves (to taste), roughly chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino (or a combination), for serving

Preparation
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat. Add the broad beans and cook for about 5 minutes, or until tender. Drain them, or, if you like, you can scoop the beans out of the water with a slotted spoon. This way you can use the same water to cook the pasta. Whichever approach you take, once the beans are out of the pan run them under some cold water to cool them down a little. Once they’re cool enough to handle, pop them out of their little papery skins.

Bring some more water to the boil, or use the same water. Salt generously, and then add the spaghetti. Cook over high heat, stirring occasionally so the pasta doesn’t stick together, until al dente, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat, then add the bread crumbs, marjoram, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until crispy, three to four minutes. Turn off the heat, and set aside.

When the pasta is cooked al dente, remove ½ cup of the cooking water and then drain the pasta. Return the pasta to the pan, and add the broad beans and the cooking water. Return the pan to the heat and cook, stirring, for a minute or two, until the water is absorbed and the beans are warm. Stir in the bread crumb mixture and serve, passing the cheese at the table.

Recipe adapted from New York Times Cooking.

Welcome to Rob Liddle – the new addition to the weekly update, meaning we now have a recipe creator team!

Rob says: Next week’s share contains beetroot and kohlrabi, so I’ve chosen the soup recipe below (I’ve been looking for something new for lunches for a while!). The recipe makes 4 servings but can be scaled to suit share sizes.

Ingredients
4 small-medium red beetroots diced (0.5cm pieces)
2 medium kohlrabi diced (0.5cm pieces)
1cm fresh ginger (peeled)
4 cups (~1L) water
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Pinch of ground cardamom
Salt to taste
Dash of lime juice to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

Put beetroot, kohlrabi, ginger, and water in a large pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat and then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes, until beets are fork tender.

Transfer soup to a blender. Add spices and lime juice. Purée on high until creamy and smooth. Return soup back to the pot. Add more water if soup is too thick.

Add olive oil and stir. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed, adding more salt to taste.

Serve hot or cold topped with some chia seeds, and chopped toasted peanuts.

Recipe and photo taken from: https://www.natalieshealth.com/beet-kohlrabi-soup/

It’s that time of the year when the words “I’m just not sure what to do with it” reverberate around the collection space: the first kohlrabi share of the year. The first piece of advice is to ask a German, as our central European friends adore this bizarre vegetable; otherwise enjoy it raw, grated in a ‘slaw or cut as batons like carrot sticks, perhaps with a dip. Alternatively you can thinly slice it for a stir fry or steam together with perhaps squash or carrot. It also works well in a stew. Lexicographically, the name means ‘cabbage turnip’, and botanically, it is the swollen stem of the plant, analagous to the stem part of a head of broccoli.