Here’s another recipe, this time from Galina, one of our veg members. A different way of using some of those staples we’re so reliant on at this time of year!
Thanks Galina!
Potato and Parsnip Dauphinoise recipe
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
1kg potatoes, thinly sliced
450g parsnips, thinly sliced
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
50g/4 tbsp butter
125g Gruyere or Cheddar cheese, grated
fresh nutmeg, grated
salt and pepper
300ml/1.25 cups single cream
300ml/1.25 cups milk
Method:
1. Set oven to 180 Celsius and grease a large shallow oven dish.
2. Layer the potatoes with the onion and parsnips. In between each layer, dot the vegetables with garlic and butter, sprinkle over most of the cheese, add the nutmeg and season well.
3. Heat the cream and milk together in a saucepan until it is hot but not boiling. Slowly pour over the veg.
4. Scatter remaining cheese over and grate a little more nutmeg on top. Bake about an hour until tender and golden.
Galina says, “I also sometimes add my own spices with the seasoning, like curry powder for example.”
Potatoes
– need to be kept in the dark to prevent green patches forming, which are toxic when eaten raw
– best kept in a cloth or paper bag in a cool, dry place
Dry alliums – i.e. onions/garlic
– best kept in a paper or cloth bag
– best kept in a cool, dry place, such as a cupboard or garage
Uncut squash
– store in a moderate temperature
Salad and other leaves
– best kept in a plastic bag in the fridge or very cool place such as the garage
Everything else – carrots and other roots, leeks, cut squash
– as a general rule keep in plastic to preserve humidity or paper/cloth to reduce
– they all need somewhere cool to cold
Additional, more detailed information on this website:
http://www.vegetableexpert.co.uk/RefrigerationAndColdStorage.html
Please copy and paste as HTML linking isn’t working.
Xandra, one of our veg share members has sent me this recipe for this delicious sounding curry – she thought you might find it useful if you want some ideas for using squash, especially as there will be squash in the share this week!
Thanks Xandra!
Pumpkin/squash curry recipe
Ingredients:
onion – chopped
garlic.ginger} fresh or frozen
chillies frozen or fresh
tomato 1or 2 chopped
squash or pumpkin chopped into chunks
chickpeas
spinach
salt
garam masala 1 teaspoon
cumin seeds or powder 1 teaspoon
turmeric 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon
Method
Fry the chopped onion in a little olive oil and little butter until
onion starts to brown. Add garlic and ginger and chillies. Add cumin
seeds. Add tomatoes. Add the dry spices – if the mixture is dry and
sticking add a tiny amount of water. You should have a sort of pasty
mixture. Add squash and let it cook for a few minutes. Add chickpeas
and spinach and cook until squash is tender. Don’t add any more water
as there will be plenty from the spinach. If you want the dish to be
dry cook without a lid as the lid will just keep in the water from the
spinach.
I froze some chopped up Crown Prince squash raw (my own garden one actually). Opinion on the internet was divided about whether it would work or not, or whether it should be cooked before freezing. I roasted it from frozen and it was fine. Thought it might be useful for some of the members to know.
Also, very impressed with the quality of the celeriac and swedes. Where can you get an English organic celeriac as late as this and how on earth much would it cost?
Judy
Keep an eye on our new website, check out your favourite event and then have a little look round the rest of the site to see what else is going on.
Barn Dance with Cuckoos Nest and caller Jo Freya
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Sat 26 March, All Saints Church Hall, Vicarage Road Birmingham B14 7RA
Doors open at 7:30, dancing starts at 8pm
Food and light refreshments available but unlicensed, so bring your own alcohol.
Tickets £7 (children £3.50) from 0121 246 9873
More info at www.tradartsteam.co.uk/calendar.html?a=viewevent&id=160
Newfoundland Dance Tunes workshop
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And for the musicians among you, here’s advance notice of an afternoon workshop on 10 April at mac, Birmingham. As a part of their Shore to Shore tour, Fergus O’Byrne and Jim Paynes will lead musicians in the playing of Newfoundland dance tunes and the steps that go with them. We’re organising this event with Wren Music and mac. Tickets are £12, and there’s more info at www.tradartsteam.co.uk/calendar.html?a=viewevent&id=161
Keep an eye on our new website, check out your favourite event and then have a little look round the rest of the site to see what else is going on.
Moseley Village Band has its February meetings on Thursday 10th and Thursday 24th from 7:30 to 9:15pm at St Columba’s Church Hall, Alcester Road, Moseley. If you play an instrument, particularly a bass line instrument (tuba, trombone, bass clarinet, cello, double bass), why not come along and give it a try? More info and photos at www.tradartsteam.co.uk/Moseley-Village-Band.html
There will be a traditional music session on Sunday 21 January at the Prince of Wales pub in Moseley. All musicians are welcome to come along and share a few tunes. More info at www.tradartsteam.co.uk/music-sessions.html
And here’s advance notice of an afternoon workshop on 10 April at mac, Birmingham. As a part of their Shore to Shore tour, Fergus O’Byrne and Jim Paynes will lead musicians in the playing of Newfoundland dance tunes and the steps that go with them. We’re organising this event with Wren Music and mac. Tickets are £12, and there’s more info at www.tradartsteam.co.uk/calendar.html?a=viewevent&id=161
Hello,
Master Composter training is coming up in Warwickshire on 9/10th July. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer to spread the composting word please contact Caroline Faulkner at Warwickshire County council for more information (carolinefaulkner@warwickshire.gov.uk) or download an application form from the website.
www.warwickshire.gov.uk/mastercomposters
Thank you,
Kate Newman
Warwickshire Volunteer Co-ordinator
Master Gardener Programme
Garden Organic
Ryton on Dunsmore
Coventry
CV8 3LG
Master Gardener programme – encouraging and supporting people and communities to grow fruit and vegetables throughout Warwickshire.
—
Growing your own is easy, achievable and rewarding and to prove it Garden Organic is challenging everyone in the UK to make the One Pot Pledge® to give it a grow. First time gardeners, Gardening Gurus, Schools and Community groups are all welcome to join the campaign to get 30,000 more people growing something edible in a pot in 2010. Visit www.onepotpledge.org to get involved.
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Registered Charity No. 298104. Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in Cardiff No. 2188402. Garden Organic is the new working name of the Henry Doubleday Research Association. Ryton Organic Gardens, Coventry, Warwickshire, United Kingdom. CV8 3LG
Saturday, 19th June, 7:30 p.m.
The Community Centre, Radford Semele
TO HEAR THE BIRDS SING –
Conversations with my heart
An evening with author Marie Younkin-Waldman
TICKETS £5.00
See more at: www.ToHearTheBirdsSing.com
Marie, who lives and works in Rhode Island, USA, will talk about her life with deafness: growing up, marriage, raising children, studying for her degree, holding down a job hosting an award-winning TV Chat Show and then her dramatic life-changing cochlear implant. Her story will move and inspire you.
Advance sales at:
• The Post Office
• The Village Club
• The Village Stores
• Michael Preston – 22e Southam Road
Tel: 01926 451501
Ground Clearance Work Party
Friday 25th September, 9,30am – 4.30pm
Work is finally starting to happen on the Allotments at Dobson Lane! Action21 needs your help, in clearing the brambles and debris on site – this is in preparation for getting the land ploughed and then plotted into allotments.
Please come along to asssist staff, directors and other volunteers, and you can also register your interest in an allotment on the day. It should be a fun day and a good chance to find out about the vision for the allotment development.
Hot drinks will be available throughout the day and a lunch for those who volunteer for the whole day. Please wear old work clothes with long sleeves, long trousers and sturdy footwear. If you have tools such as loppers, rakes and gloves then please bring these along too.
Please note that the allotment site is right at the end of Dobson Lane, adjacent to the cemetery. If you have any questions about the day, please contact Louise Male, the project manager for the allotment restoration (and Canalside member!), on 01926 456076 or louise@action21.co.uk
Many of you will know Ali, one of our longest standing workshare volunteers, who has recently taken 6 months out to travel round the world visiting different friends and family. Her first stopover was the States and a couple of weeks ago she sent me the following link to an article about the Dervaeses, a family living in downtown Pasadena doing inspirational things from their very own backyard. Here’s a snippet from the article to whet your appetite:
“For the past eight years, the Dervaeses have worked every inch of their 4,356 sq ft garden (including the front drive, which is covered in buckets of strawberries) and have produced more than 6,000lb of fruit and vegetables a year. From this modest tenth of an acre, which wraps around the front and back garden, situated 150 yards away from an 11-lane motorway, the family produce enough food to meet 80 per cent of their dietary needs in summer and 50 per cent in winter (the remainder is anything they can’t grow, such as oil, flour, rice, butter and cheese). They even have enough left over to sell to local restaurants.”
Want to read more…? Then click on The Dervaeses for the whole thing. There is also a link in the article to the Dervaeses’ own website (pathtofreedom.com) which really does make for amazing reading.