RIVER COTTAGE VEG EVERYDAY (HUGH FEARNLEY-WHITTINGSTALL) - THE MEALS ON OUR PLATE THIS WEEK

2 June 2014

This week I reached for an old favourite... River Cottage Veg everyday..
I bought it quite some time ago...and have used it over and over for a few recipes that I love... in fact almost exactly a year ago I made mention on my blog here about the delicious mushroom risoniotto and caponata and flatbreads we had eaten during that week.

So this week started of a little differently .. instead of planning and then buying what I needed.... I worked in reverse....I unpacked my veg order and then planned from what I had.

I am very lucky to be able to order fresh fruit and vegetable online and have them delivered to my door each week. The orders need to be in by 8pm on a Sunday night.... so what happens when its 7.55pm and you realise you haven't prepared your order? ... well you simply opt for the $30.00 family box and then sit back and see what arrives!
Omgosh ...seriously...it was like Christmas...I had no idea as I lifted the lid what would be inside.



I was blown away with the contents so I need to share.... this is what I received...

  • a large butternut pumpkin
  • 1 kg brown onions
  • bag of carrots
  • bunch of asparagus
  • 2 sweetcorn
  • half a cauliflower
  • broccoli
  • iceberg lettuce
  • mandarines
  • continental cucumber
  • punnet of cherry tomatoes
  • pink lady apples
  • 3 zucchinis and a
  • bag of mushrooms
I always get great value and freshness....but this was such a generous box for the money I spent.
Thank you so much Riverland Fresh.

So as I said....this week I planned around what arrived...and what I had left over from the previous week... namely...one Mothership of a pumpkin!



River Cottage Garlicky flatbreads - Ive made these before... and they are super easy. They are made from Hughs magic bread dough ... then cooked on a glowing hot griddle. I made one batch... which supplied us with enough for the fold-overs one evening....as well as making the perfect scooping breads for the huge batch of squash hummus I made (also from the Veg book)

Hot squash fold over - yummo. I modified this slightly so that it contained meat as well. Although the odd meat-free dish is completely acceptable.. my hubby feels like something is missing when the plate comes out without it. So I split some good quality pork sausages and cooked the mince until it was crumbly and stirred it through the squash mix. It was simple...and packed full of sweet roasted pumpkin... delicious.

Sweet corn fritters - These were a bit of a fail.... I'm not sure where I went wrong...but compared to Luke and Scotts I made a few weeks ago.... I wasn't that impressed. Maybe I didn't get my quantities spot on .. oh well. They did fill a spot for breakfast one morning though.

Tahini dressed courgette and green bean salad -  This has been a real favouite of mine...the page in the book falls open on its own. For some reason the tahini dressing just ticks all the boxes for me...and its packed full of greens.

I also used pumpkin over and over....
We had pumpkin soup.... pumpkin hummus... roasted pumpkin brown rice salad and just plain roast pumpkin with our roast meat one night.

I also roasted up all my remaining tomatoes with garlic and basil and made a rich tomato sauce...then I had a brainwave....I made a batch of the magic bread dough and after the final knock-down I rolled it spread it with the sauce...added some spicy caramelised onions for sweetness and a very light sprinkle of cheese...then cut it and packed it into a cake tin...and made the most delicious pizza pull-apart bread.

All in all it was very tasty week...although it was a little heavy on the 'bread; side... I'm blaming the cold weather..... the River Cottage Veg everyday book is still a winner in my eyes.

2 comments

  1. Pretty sure I bought this book after reading your blog last year :-) Might pull it out now and check out some of these recipes :-) I think I have only cooked a couple of recipes out of it so now for some more :-)

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  2. Its a huge book isn't it... I have made quite a few things...and still have a list of recipes I am keen to try.
    I would LOVE to hear of any thing you try and love... I'll add them to my list.
    Mardi x

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