Dancing At Lunacy

I’m trying to eat more veggies, and I like the idea of buying vegetables that have been grown locally, rather than those that have been forced to meet certain requirements and be flown here for supermarket sales.  So I was delighted to find that there’s a local veg box delivery srvcie, FlavourFirst.com.  Based in Donaghadee, their social media content was warm and welcoming and engaging, and I had no hesitation in signing up for a delivery box.

My husband is away this week, so it’s just me, and I don’t eat a lot of fruit due to the high sugar content, so I went for the entry level veg box at £9.75

Delivery was scheduled for Thursday, and as my house is hard to find, I was anticipating the phone call I got from the delivery driver making sure he was at the right place.  The food was all packed inot a wooden crate with minimal packaging, and a request to reutn any packaging there was  at the next delivery.

I was really excited at the variety and freshness of the ingredients, and immediately started thinking about how I would use them all.

Thursday Supper – I already had a courgette that needed using, so I sliced it into rounds and fried them to colour.  I sliced 2 of the tomatoes from the box, and arranged them into a baking pot,  interleaved with some goats cheese.  Topped the lot with a mix of breadcrumbs, cheddar and parmesan, and baked until golden.  Twas delish (and leftovers for lunch the next day)

The veg box comes with some cooking suggestions, and on Friday I decide to do the roast cauliflower, humous, crispy onions and lemon oil recipe included.

I steamed some cauli florets.

I coated them in curry oil (rapeseed oil with some curry powder stirred in), and  roasted them in the oven for 15 mins.

The onions – I’m not a big onion fan, but wanted to stay true to the recipe for research purposes.  I thinly sliced half an onion, coated in oil, spread on a baking tray and put in the oven, turning frequently.

These were the most difficult part of the dish – the thin bits burned while the thicker bits were still raw.  If I were doing this again I’d use a mandolin or something to ensure the uniformity of the slices.

I’d bought some good humous and sourdough bread, and the end dish combining all the ingredients, with a lemon oil dressing using up the remnants of the curry oil, was a real triumph.

For breakfast, I used some of the chard as a spinach substitute, and microwaved it with some of the mushrooms, and an egg for a tasty omelette.

On Saturday, I tried out a Jamie Oliver recipe I’ve wanted to do for a while.  The broad beans are very therapeutic to shell, even though the volume really diminshes.  And even more after they’ve been boiled and removed from their hard skin.

But served with some creme fraiche and a crispy onion/ breadcrumb toping, they were gorgeous!  I sauteed some of the rainbow chard in garlic oil to accompany it.

The final dish looked really good with its vibrant colours, and tasted fanastic, fresh and delicious.

On Sundays, I go for a long run, and am always ready for a healthy brunch afterwards.  I sauteed a couple of mushrooms and the remaining tomato, and fried a free range egg, toasted some sourdough topped with avocado, and added a glass of V8 for another of my 5 a day.

I’d been insired by the Saturday Kitchen recipe of barbecued trout with samphire in a miso butter.  Google revealed a plethora of miso butter recipes, but it’s basically 2 parts butter to 1 miso, adjust to taste.  Helps if the butter is at room temperature.

I quartered some new potaotes, and steamed the brocoli florets above them, cooking a frozen salmon fillet in the microwave.

The miso butter really brought everything together here, and I think it’ll be great on a baked potato, or on soldiers for a boiled egg.

Overall verdict – I’ve had so much fun thinking up ways to use my delicious fresh vegetables, and I’m looking forward to the next one.

Filed under: Food, Lisburn, recipes | Tagged: delivery box, FlavourFirst, vegetables |