Grow Dundee

Harvest box #9 – Courgette and beans in the spotlight

The garden is filled with so many colours! Courgette and beans are starting to be very abundant. Not all boxes are the same

Runner beans, French beans (purple, yellow or green) and courgette

Remember: When drinking herbal tea or eating edible flowers always check the risks associated with it. Vulnerable people, elderly, children or pregnant women should avoid using some of them. All produce are pesticide free and may contain some intruders.

Today in your boxes you have:

what’s your favourite way to prepare your potatoes? In a salad with chives, as a tian, gnocchi or in a shepherd’s pie? if you go with the last option, include the carrots in the stew or grate them in a salad

For the carrot tops, include them in a pesto, stir fry or soup!

For your salad, enjoy the freshly picked red leaf lettuce, rocket, raw radish, beetroot, tomato, cucumber. If you want something utterly fresh and that tastes like holiday this feta, tomato, basil salad is for you !

For your courgette, grill it with some oregano or include it in a pizza cooked or raw!

If you have broccoli in your box, know the flowers are edible too! This caramelised broccoli and garlic recipe seems delicious and this way you’ll use your garlic!

Beans are becoming abundant in the garden. You will find in you box; runner beams, French beans (purple, yellow or green). They can be sautéed, boiled, steamed or included in a omelette. This runner beans tortilla served with tomato salad sounds perfect for this week’s harvest box!

To use celery, try eating the stalks raw on their own or as sticks for a dip. You can also eat the leaves by adding them to a salad. If you’d prefer cooked celery, try adding some to a stir-fry or some soup. Or, mix celery in with a stew or casserole.

Apple and rhubarb are always the best combo for a yummy crumble.

Herbal tea this week is mint.

Edible flower: Alyssum, calendula, nasturtium flowers and leaves

Please send us pictures on fb or by email of the dishes you make with your box! Thank you

Next harvest box 29/08 (order on the 28/08)

Green shakshuka and easy chocolate cake

Menu

Green Shakshuka with basil and garlic roasted bread

Easy chocolate cake

Harvest of the day

Chard, leek, green chilli, fennel, coriander, garlic, basil

Green Shakshuka (serves 4)

Leon, Happy one-pot vegetarian

Ingredients

80ml olive oil
2 leeks
6 cloves of garlic
1 tsp ground coriander
1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin
2 green chillies
100g fennel leaves
650g chard
100ml vegetables stock
8 large eggs
1 tbsp za’atar
Salt and pepper

To serve

1 red chilli
100g feta
Zest of 1 lemon
Bread

Method

Heat the oven to 200C
Place oil in a pan on medium heat.
When hot, add the leeks and cook for 10 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes until it begins to soften, then add the coriander, cumin and green chillies and cook for 1 minute until fragrant. Add the fennel, chard stems and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often. Add the chard leaves and pour in the stock and cook for a further 10 minutes, sitting until all the vegetables are soft.
Place your mixture in a large, deep, ovenproof dish. Use a spoon to create 8 small wells in the vegetable mixture, then crack and egg in each well. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and the za’atar. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until eggs are just set.

Top with the reserved dill, sliced chilli, crumbled feta and lemon.

Easy chocolate cake

Ingredients

225g/8oz plain flour
350g/12½oz caster sugar
85g/3oz cocoa powder
1½ tsp baking powder
1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 free-range eggs
250ml/9fl oz milk
125ml/4½fl oz vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
250ml/9fl oz boiling water

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease and line two 20cm/8in sandwich tins.
For the cake, place all of the cake ingredients, except the boiling water, into a large mixing bowl. Using a wooden spoon, or electric whisk, beat the mixture until smooth and well combined.
Add the boiling water to the mixture, a little at a time, until smooth. (The cake mixture will now be very liquid.)
Divide the cake batter between the sandwich tins and bake in the oven for 25–35 minutes, or until the top is firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Remove the cakes from the oven and enjoy!

We forgot to a take picture of the chocolate cake. But we also made improvised rhubarb and apple compote, redberry smoothie and rhubarb tart!

Farzana’s Saag with Maki ki roti and Beetroot brownie – everyone’s kitchen

It was a really special session today as Farzana showed us hoe to make Saag from Pakistan. she used a handmade kitchen tools and explained all the different type of saag that can be made.

We also had a refreshing guava juice to go with it !

Farzana’s Saag with Maki ki roti

Beetroot brownie

Harvest of the day : Coriander, green chilli, chard, kale, onion

Farzana’s saag
Ingredients

400g spinach, washed and chop finely
10-12 curly kale stalks, chop finely and remove stalk
10 chard stalks, chop finely
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
1 large onion, chopped finely
3 small onions , finely chopped
½ inch ginger, grated
2-3 garlic clove, grated
2-3 green chilli
1 broccoli, chop finely

Method

In a large pan with boiling water, add the chard, kale, spinach, green chilli, broccoli. Press down the greens and cover with a lid. The mixture should be slightly covered with water.

After 40 minutes, or so, blend with a hand blender. You still need to have some chunks. Bring back to boil, without a lid to reduce the amount of water.

In a small pan, add some oil and fry onions until translucent. Add ginger, garlic and salt.

Incorporate the fried mixture to the saag.

Ready to eat with moolin, maki ki roti.

Maki ki roti

Ingredients

1 cup maize flour
one and half cups milk
1 egg
a pinch of salt

Method

Mix well with a egg beater . Add oil to pan. Heat a fry pan and Using a ladle pour the batter and cook on a medium heat turn over and cook on the other side.

Beetroot brownie

Dry ingredients

210g plain flour, (or sub spelt or wholemeal flour)
160g sugar, to taste
25g cocoa or raw cacao powder
12g seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, chia, …)
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda

Brownie Wet ingredients

200g beetroot puree
165g melted chocolate
65g vegetable oil
3 tbsp milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 20cm square baking pan with baking paper.

Add all the dry ingredients to a medium-size bowl and mix until there are no lumps. Add all the wet ingredients to the bowl and mix until combined. Pour the batter into your baking pan and smooth the top.

Bake the brownies in the oven for 20-25 minutes (shorter if you like them fudgy, longer if you like them more crispy). The brownies are ready when the surface is dry. They will set more over time. Allow the brownies to cool in the baking pan.

Harvest box #8 – Tomatoes are ready!

Always wash your veg before eating them🐌

Not all boxes are similar. You might found:

Half a marrow : You can include then in your pasta sauce or make courgette/marrow fritters
Half red or white cabbage: perfect for a homemade coleslaw !
Radishes and broad beans: Eat raw in a salad to add crunchiness. Keep the radish leaves for a soup or pesto and fry your broad beans pods. Everything is edible !
Parsnip: Roast it with your potatoes !
Beetroot: Grate your beetroot to add colour to your salad or roast it with your potatoes
Runner and French beans: buttery garlic green beans perfect as a side dish !

The tomatoes are ready and the polytunnel is smelling amazing ! it will go perfectly with your lettuce and rocket. Nasturtium petals can be added it for a peppery taste. You can also make a pesto.

Try calendula petals in salads, salsas, scrambled eggs, quiche, and frittatas. The yellow and orange confetti adds merriment and festivity to any dish. Add the petals to herbal compound butters with other edible blooms, such as chives. The chives you have in your box are past their prime but still very tasty. remove any bit that is dry or dead, and enjoy the rest!

Berries of the week are: wild strawberries, raspberries, red currant, tayberries perfect for your porridges, yogurt or to put in muffin

Vine grape leaves are ideal to make dolmades !

Yarrow can also be taken as a tea to help fight colds and fevers, and to help detoxify the body. It can be chewed fresh or dry to relieve toothache and can be infused in oil or extracted in alcohol to make solutions that can be rubbed on the body to relieve bruises, burns, rashes and bug bites.

We know lavender as many calming properties. But did you know you could make a blackberry lavender cake? That sounds very yummy. You can even use the rose for a botanical cake decoration.

Sage, potato and rosemary are a good combinason to a warm roasted vegetables dish.

you chard can be added to bacon with a bit of sauce!

Please send us pictures on fb or by email of the dishes you make your box! Thank you ☺️

Next harvest box 15/08 (order on the 14/08)

Mediterranean hasselback potato with coleslaw and blackcurrant muffins – Everyone’s kitchen

Mediterranean hasselback potato (tian style)

Served with homemade coleslaw

Blackberry muffins

Harvest of the day

For the potatoes: courgette, thyme, basil
For the coleslaw: red cabbage, broad beans, parsley
Muffin: black currant

Mediterranean hasselback potato (tian style)

Ingredients (serves 6)

6 potatoes,
1 big courgette
2 aubergines
2 mozzarella
4 tomatoes
Bunch of basil
Bunch of thyme
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Method

Slice your courgettes, aubergines, tomatoes and mozzarella finely
Thinly slice the potatoes three-fourths of the way through for the entire length of the potato.
Place alternatively your sliced vegetables and mozzarella in between your potato slices.
Lay the potatoes in a baking sheet, drizzle some oil, salt pepper, chopped basil and thyme. And bake for 30-45 min at 220*C.

Red cabbage and apple coleslaw

Ingredients

1/2 small red cabbage (400 g)
4 tbsp mayonnaise
2 apples (200 g)
1/2 small red onion
2 tablespoons yoghourt
Parsley
Pepper
Broad Beans
Optional: nuts

Method

In a large-sized bowl mix together the cabbage, apples, onion and parsley.
Add the mayonnaise, yoghourt and then season with pepper.

Blackcurrant muffins

Ingredients (makes 12)

140 g Caster Sugar
200 g Plain Flour
1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
100 ml Natural Yogurt
2 Eggs beaten (large)
140 g Melted Butter cooled
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
150 g Blackcurrants fresh or frozen
Option: add nut

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 190°c and line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin cases.
Place the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.
(140 g Caster Sugar,200 g Plain Flour,1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda)
Whisk together the wet ingredients and vanilla extract until you get a smooth batter, then carefully mix this into the dry ingredients.
(100 ml Natural Yoghourt,2 Eggs,140 g Melted Butter,1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract)
Fold through the blackcurrants.
150 g Blackcurrants,100 g White Chocolate Chips
Divide the muffin batter between 12 paper muffin cases in a 12 hole muffin tin, and bake in a preheated oven for 16 -18 minutes until golden brown. Allow the muffins to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before tucking in (if you can wait that long!).

Carrot, beetroot & rhubarb salad with homemade spread and Eton mess – Everyone’s kitchen

Menu

Carrot, beetroot and rhubarb salad

Spread: beetroot hummus and courgette leaves hummus

Elton mess with berries from the garden

Harvest of the day

For the salad: lettuce, rhubarb
For he spread: courgette leaves
For the dessert: tayberries, red and black currant, gooseberries

Carrot, beetroot and rhubarb salad

Ingredients (serves 4)

300g bunched beetroots
300g bunched carrots
salt & pepper
175g rhubarb
1 orange
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
50g watercress/lettuce
small bunch of mint, finely chopped
olive oil
salt & pepper

Method

Preheat your oven to 200˚C/Gas 6. Remove the leafy tops from the beets and give them a good wash and scrub to remove any dirt. Do the same with the carrots.

Place the beets in the saucepan, cover with cold water and season with salt. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until soft to the tip of a knife.

Meanwhile, cut the carrots into evenly sized angular pieces. Place them on the roasting tray, coat with oil and season well with salt and pepper. Mix well and roast for about 20 minutes, or until tender and starting to colour.

While the carrots and beets cook, cut the rhubarb into 3cm pieces. Split any wide pieces in half, lengthways, so that all the pieces are a roughly even size. Zest and juice the orange into a large saucepan, and add the sugar and rhubarb. Cover and bring to a simmer. Cook gently for 5-6 minutes, until the rhubarb is starting to soften but still holds its shape. Remove from the heat and leave it to cool with the lid on.

When the beets are ready, remove them from the water and thumb the skins away. Cut into even-sized wedges.

Let the carrots and beets cool a little while you make the dressing. Whisk 3 tablespoons of the rhubarb liquid with a pinch of salt, and slowly add 2 tablespoons of olive oil so that it comes together into a dressing.

Mix the beets, carrots and watercress together with the dressing. Transfer to a serving plate and then gently place the rhubarb pieces across the top. Scatter over the mint to finish.

Zucchini Leaf Spread

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add the zucchini leaves to the water and stir.

Boil the zucchini leaves for just about 1 minute — boiling the leaves too long gives them a mushy texture.

Pour the pot of water into a strainer, allowing the water to drain away from the zucchini leaves. Immediately rinse under cold water for 1 minute.

Squeeze the zucchini leaves to remove the excess water. Deposit the leaves into a bowl and add additional seasonings and ingredients as desired. You can use minced garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, chopped onion, Parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper flakes.

Mix the ingredients with an electric mixer until a thick paste forms. You can also add chunky ingredients, such as chopped tomato or diced black olives, for texture.

Beetroot hummus

Ingredients

250-300g beetroot
400g tin cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp light tahini
1-2 lemons, depending on size
pinch ground paprika
1½ tsp ground cumin (use freshly ground cumin seeds if you can)
olive oil, about 2-3 tbsp, plus a little extra for drizzling
salt and pepper

Method

Roughly chop the beetroot and put in a food processor with the chickpeas, garlic, tahini, juice of 1 lemon, the paprika and cumin.
Blitz to a coarse paste, then gradually trickle in enough olive oil until you have a thick, smooth(ish) dip.
Taste and add salt, pepper and a little more lemon juice to taste, and the garnish.

Currant syrup

Ingredients

250g Currants
50g Caster Sugar
Water

Method

Place the blackcurrants, sugar, and water into a pan.

Bring to a boil and then simmer on a medium heat for 5 minutes.

Once cooled, strain the mixture through a sieve, using the back of a spoon to help press it through.

Harvest box #7 – Flowers, greens and berries

🐌Always wash your veg before eating them.

Harvest box 18/07 (order 17/07)

Get everything ready for your summery salad, and on a day like this you need it! : Lettuce, raw chopped radishes, calendula petals, nasturtium (quite peppery), nasturtium leaves and maybe broad beans pods? Keep the radish leaves and broad beans pods to add them to a stir fry!

To use up your coriander and chard, try this Carrot, spinach (or chard), lemon and coriander tart

In your box, you should have a Kohlrabi or a white cabbage. turned your white cabbage in a creamy coleslaw . If you have a kohlrabi, try this apple and Kohlrabi salad or make a Bacon Kohlrabi Flatbread.

Enjoy your currants raw or turn them into a coulis/syrup for your yogurt or dessert!

Herbal tea of the week are feverfew and lavender

Soap, candle, pot pourri and more: lavender is amazing and as so many uses. You can simply dry it to enjoy this smell longer. If you want to incorporate in your cooking, you can grill it with your meat!!

Feverfew is believed to have painkilling and anti-inflammatory properties. It is sually used to reduce headache pain. Enjoy it as a tea!

Novelty: wild mallow flowers

The mallow tea , a delicate natural remedy, but at the same time effective, for the treatment of digestive disorders, respiratory, bladder inflammation and much more. But Freshly picked leaves and flowers can be eaten raw in salads, or cooked in soups, risottos, minestrone, etc.

Next harvest box on 1/08 (order 31/07) – Ndmaxinfo@gmail.com

Thank you to the helpers today!!

Lentil salad and pineapple, coconut crumble – Everyone’s kitchen

Lentil Salad with savoury tart

Pineapple and coconut crumble

Harvest of the day

For the salad: calendula, nasturtium, parsley, broad beans, bay leaf, onion, mint

Lentil Salad – Serve 6

Ingredients

For the salad:

1 cup uncooked green lentils, rinsed well and picked over
3 cups water (or vegetable broth)
1 bay leaf
1 cucumber, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeds removed, and finely diced
1/2 small red onion, finely diced
1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese, optional

Instructions

In a large saucepan, combine the lentils, water or broth, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and then turn to low and cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until lentils are soft, but still slightly firm. Do not overcook or the lentils will be mushy.

When the lentils are done cooking, use a colander to drain the lentils. Discard the bay leaf. Rinse quickly with cold water. Transfer to a large bowl.

Add the cucumber, red pepper, red onion, parsley, mint, and feta cheese, if using, to the bowl. Stir. Drizzle with dressing and toss until well combined.

Side tart: onion, roasted peppers, broad beans pods and feta!

Coconut and pineapple crumble

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

80g unsalted butter
1 (1.7kg) pineapple cut into 2cm pieces
130g brown sugar
180ml coconut cream
Finely grated zest of 1 lime
Shaved coconut, to serve

COCONUT CRUMBLE

3/4 cup (110g) plain flour
1/3 cup (80g) brown sugar
1/3 cup (50g) cashews, roughly chopped
2 1/2 tbsp shredded coconut
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
80g lightly salted butter, chilled, cut into 5mm pieces

METHOD

1.Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a large baking tray and line with baking paper.

2.For the crumble, combine the flour, brown sugar, cashews, coconut and cardamom in a large bowl. Add butter and, using your fingertips, rub the flour mixture together to create coarse crumbs. Spread on prepared tray and bake, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Set aside to cool completely.

3.Heat butter in a large, deep heavy- based frypan over high heat for 1-2 minutes until it starts to brown. Add the pineapple and stir to coat. Scatter over the sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and starts to bubble.

4.Add the coconut cream, kaffir lime leaves and lime zest, and stir to combine. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to medium- low and simmer for 15-20 minutes until pineapple is tender and sauce has thickened. Transfer to a heatproof, 1.25L-capacity dish. Top with the crumble and scatter with shaved coconut to serve.

Harvest box #5 – Strawberries have arrived!

Remember: When drinking herbal tea or eating edible flowers always check the risks associated with it. Vulnerable people, elderly, children or pregnant women should avoid using some of them. All produce are pesticide free and may contain some intruders. Always wash your veg before using them. 🐌

Although Calendula is edible flower (petals), it is also used to help with skin problem. Have a look here on how to make an infused oil and enjoy all its properties.

Feverfew is the tea of the week! Feverfew is used mostly to treat and prevent headaches.

It is probably not enough strawberries for a fruit salad but enough for this chocolate and strawberry mousse recipe!

Coriander can be added to most dished. Carrot and coriander is a good combination, and rather them making a soup with it, a tart sounds very interesting!

The rocket started to bolt but it gives us wonderful edible flowers. They look like butterfly wings! Leaves and flowers can be added to fresh salad but their flavour will be strong. Making a pesto is another option, and you can use the stem too!

Chard shrinks a lot so it is good to mix it with something else. This salmon and chard pie looks yummy!

The lettuce has been harvested this morning. If it looks a bit sad but the time you want to eat it, wash it and leave it in a bowl will clear water and a bit of sugar. Leaves for a few hours.

Riverford has lovely recipes ideas for cabbage leaves