April Newsletter |
| Posted on Apr 19 2007 at 2:57 PM |
Couple of important things to note now that the season is drawing to a close:
- Chris has asked that you contact her with new email addresses and postal addresses etc if you know you have moved in the last season, so she can ensure she has up-to-date records for you to be able to contact you again for the new season.
If the address on your last statement is either incorrect or incomplete, or if you did not receive an email which we recently sent to everyone about Easter deliveries, it means you need to contact Chris at info@linscombe.co.uk - As many of you know, 2007 was our tenth anniversary at Linscombe. We mentioned last year we would like to do a questionnaire, as we managed several in our earlier years to keep track of your requests, but for one reason or another, the time to achieve this more recently has eluded us!
So, we have taken on professional help to be able to approach you with some questions to help us update and improve our service to you. At present we are still developing the questions and approach, which at present looks like telephone would be the preferred option.
So please, if you are contacted on our behalf over the next couple of months, do spend the time to answer questions and perhaps have some comments ready about how you’d like us to improve our service for you, what you do and don’t like about how we currently operate.
We are YOUR box scheme and if we are going to work for you, we do need your feedback.
A quick scrawl to let you have some squash recipe suggestions/links, as one customer sent us an email this week stating that she didn’t want to see another butternut squash for months! It is indeed a tricky time of year for us keeping the variety going in the boxes and we often think how much easier it would be to just buy crops in and not have a “Hungry Gap” at all!
Anyway, most of you will be able to get on the internet and visit our website and look at squash recipes, or just “Google” squash recipes to be spoilt for choice. However, most of them seem to include other non-seasonal produce, so I thought I’d just jot down a couple of ideas here that include other veg in your boxes (please note that the leafy lettuce like veg in your box this week is not lettuce but CHICORY – it is more bitter than lettuce.
To avoid the bitterness very lightly cook with butter and add a dash of pepper, fennel leaf, cheeses and squash – see below, if you want to get more exotic).
Squash:
- Grate half your squash with chopped onion, fry gently then cook further in meat juices (or vegetable stock) and then blend to make a great coloured and very tasty thick gravy (family & friends ate this on Sunday with favourable comments – I don’t think they were just being polite, though I suppose it is possible!!!)
- Grate half your squash and one or two beetroot, throw into a shallow pan with covering of boiled water over its bottom & slice of butter, throw in sultanas & seeds, stir, put lid on, (but remember to keep checking that water not boiled away) after five mins throw in diced broccoli stalks, cover again, then when all tender, throw in chopped broccoli flowers & stir in without further cooking, cover again & leave to stand OFF the heat for broccoli heads to cook. (add leeks & other veg to make this a larger serving). (NB the grating business is only to speed the time taken to cook, so you don’t have to grate if you like to linger over the cooker!!)
- If you have the time and a backlog of squash, dig out your favourite sweet pickle recipe (I have one but not memorised, so I’ll lay my hands on it and ask Chris to post it on the website) and substitute squash as the major vegetable ingredient. Squash pickle is delicious and is the ideal accompaniment to your leafy chicory this week (with generous lumps of a soft cheese). Keep the chunks of squash for the pickle as large chunks and this is great for heaping onto your salad in the months to come.
Enjoy your vegetables (especially the butternut squash) and remember, NEXT week is the last box of this season, we return in June so make sure we have your contact details, and you can find us throughout the “Hungry Gap” with whatever we have available, at Crediton & Exeter Farmers’ markets…… Extra pots, onions, beetroot and yes, butternut squash, available to order with your last box next week.
All the best, Phil, Helen, Tom, David and James
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