Recipe Swap II

Posted on 1 February 2012

How did you cook up your box this week? Last week saw casseroles, rissottos and a crocodile soup. Here’s what our Customer Team whipped up over the weekend:

Cathy’s Peanut Butter Veg

This is a delicious, quick, easy and wonderfully healthy recipe, requiring only one pot and one bowl for making the sauce (ok and a pan for the rice too, but that really is it). Quantities are inexact, as it’s fine to vary them according to what you’ve got, and the size of your pan. E.g. I used about half a large bunch of Abel & Cole curly green kale, which was enough to fill my largest saucepan.

Put some brown rice on to cook.
Heat some sesame or olive oil in a big saucepan.
Sauté a chopped onion, two cloves of chopped garlic and some fresh chopped chilli to taste. Add a teaspoon of powdered cumin. Cook for about 5 mins.
Add a couple of handfuls chopped colourful peppers, e.g. red and yellow. Cook for another few mins.
While sautéing is taking place, make the sauce in a separate bowl. This is really easy: just mix about a quarter of a cup of peanut butter (smooth or crunchy, Whole Earth) with a quarter-cup of vegetable stock, or just boiling water. The peanut butter will dilute to a liquidy consistency.
Add lots of chopped kale and cabbage to the pan and pour on the peanut sauce. Cook until the leaves are heated through and wilted.
Chop in some marinated or smoked tofu and allow to heat through.

Serve on a bed of brown rice.

Recipe Swap

Posted on 24 January 2012

Did you cook anything nice with your box this weekend?

It’s a popular fruit-bowl conversation here at Abel & Cole.

Ol’ sideburns Fred has been particularly busy. Like the very hungry caterpillar, he whipped up:

Kohl Rabi gratin

One large kohl rabi should feed two or three as a side. Slice thinly. Layer in an ovenproof dish. Season each layer with chopped sage and rosemary (or other herbs). Almost cover with stock. Season and scatter herbs over the top, and flecks of butter to help add crisp to the top layer. Pop in oven at about 180˚C for an hour and a bit.

Soup

Serves 4

1 head of broccoli
1 cauliflower
2 or 3 courgettes
A large handful of peas

Heat some oil in a pan. Chuck in all the veg (chopped up) apart from the peas. Add 1 tsp of dried cumin, 1 tsp dried coriander (or a handful of fresh chopped coriander) and half a chopped chilli.
Gently cook for 10-15 mins. Add enough stock to just about cover the veg. Simmer, add the peas. Blend till not quite smooth.

And for those of you with Abel & Cole cookbooks, the Slow-Braised Chicory with fennel seeds on p194 is a real corker (says Fred).

And, while pineapples may be few and far between at the moment, Safia’s amazing pineapple tarts in celebration of Chinese New Year are too good not to share.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

(We’d love to hear your recipe ideas in the comments below.)

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Rachel’s foodie tip

Posted on 18 January 2012

I had some chicory in my box last night, and it reminded me of a recipe that I originally wrote for summer leaves, but it’s brill with winter leaves like chicory and radicchio.

Summer (Also Now Winter) Leaves in a Blue Dress

Box string genius

Posted on 12 January 2012

Box string: unexpectedly inspirational.

Pauline emailed in to tell us about her box string bag she made. Bonus points for telling us in rhyme.

Subject – String

What to do – with Abel and Cole String?
Great long strands
escaping from my storage tin.
send it back?
knit a sack?
No…knit a bag,
for future string,
no more need for…
my storage tin!

The double threat: great poet, great knitter. Read more >>

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