Much along the lines of creamed spinach, only with spring onions (or baby leeks). A comforting side dish as we ease into winter.
1 ½ cup milk
2 TBS butter
2 TBS flour
bay leaf (optional)
1 bunch spring onions
1 tsp butter hard cheese (optional)
Wash, trim and then steam the spring onions (or boil in lightly salted boiling water) until soft but not mushy. Drain.
In a small pot, melt the butter. Remove from heat and stir in the flour, then return to heat and cook, stirring, for one minute. Heat the milk, and then off the heat whisk it slowly into the butter and flour mixture. Add the bay leaf. Return to heat and cook, stirring occasionally over low heat, for eight minutes. Add salt and a grinding of pepper, and fish out the bay leaf. If the sauce is lumpy, strain through a sieve. In a frying pan, sauté the cooked spring onions gently in the last teaspoon of butter, until fragrant. Stir through the white sauce, adding grated hard cheese if desired. Serve warm.
Dear CSA members
This is week nine, the penultimate week of the Summer 2010 CSA.
Not much to report, as even CSAs try to take it easy on public holidays! But your veggie bags will be on their way to you tomorrow, as always.
RECIPE OF THE WEEK: SWEET BUTTERNUT CUSTARD BUNS
Yes, I know this is more labour-intensive than the recipes I usually give, but these are so technically easy, impressive and delicious that I think these sweet Chinese bao (buns) are worthy of a little effort on weekends. The recipe is adapted from Chef Joe Ng of the Chinatown Brasserie in New York which, in my humble opinion, makes the best baked custard buns I have ever tasted. You can find them here, on the blog.
Enjoy them!
Kate
Yes, I know this is more labour-intensive than the recipes I usually give, but these are so technically easy, impressive and delicious that I think these sweet Chinese bao (buns) are worthy of a little effort on weekends. The recipe is adapted from Chef Joe Ng of the Chinatown Brasserie in New York which, in my humble opinion, makes the best baked custard buns I have ever tasted.
FILLING
60g butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup maizena
1 ½ TBS cake flour
1 egg, beaten
½ cup coconut milk or cream
230g cooked, peeled butternut (approx 300g small whole butternut)
pinch salt
DOUGH
360g cake flour
5g dried yeast (half a packet)
1 cup milk, slightly warmed
4 TBS butter, melted
2 TBS sugar
pinch salt
1 egg, beaten
icing sugar (optional)
METHOD
To make the filling, combine the sugar, cornstarch, salt and cake flour in a bowl. In another bowl, beat the egg with the butter. Add the dry ingredients and whisk to combine, and then whisk in the coconut milk.
Puree the butternut with a hand blender or push through a sieve. Mix into the coconut milk mixture, and place in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens and does not taste of flour, about eight minutes. Remove from the heat, and leave to cool.
To make the dough, put the year, sugar, salt and flour in a bowl. Pour the butter and milk into the middle and stir to combine. Turn out onto a counter and knead for about five minutes, until smooth. Place in a bowl and cover, and leave to rise for one hour.
Remove the dough from the bowl, and place on a counter. Roughly shape into a log, and cut into 14 roughly equal sized pieces. Lightly roll each into a ball with your hands, and then roll out with a rolling pin, into a 3-5mm thick circle. Place a spoonful of cooled custard into the middle of each dough circle, and wrap the dough around the custard, pinching the dough together at the top to seal. There will probably be custard left over, but this can easily be taken care of by a spoon and a hungry volunteer.
Place the buns seal-side down on a lightly oiled or lined baking tray, about 3cm apart. Let them proof uncovered for another 30 minutes. Brush with the beaten egg, and bake at 180C for 10-12 minutes, until firm and lightly golden on top (if your oven is fierce, rotate the sheet after five minutes). Dust with icing and serve warm.
You can leave them in the oven (with the oven turned off and the door ajar) for half an hour if you do not wish to eat them immediately, or reheat them covered with a kitchen cloth at 160C before serving. These keep a day or so in a sealed container.
Enjoy them!
Dear CSA members
This is week eight of the Summer 2010 CSA.
FARM OUTING: THE DRAMA CONTINUES
When I called Erick last week to confirm the outing last weekend, he was across the country at an agricultural conference. I’m guessing he thought we would cancel the outing again, as we did last time, and accepted an invitation to the conference without mentioning it to me. So we have rescheduled for the last time, for Saturday 27 March, at 1pm. As always, if you’d like to join us… let me know.
BEHIND THE SCENES
This is the fifth CSA we have run, and by far the most stressful for me. I say this because a CSA is a community project, not a business, where consumers have idea of what happens behind the scenes. Well, behind the CSA scenes I have been speaking with Erick almost every week, giving him feedback on the variety, quality and quantity in the weekly bag. I’ve been telling him things like, don’t put rocket and lettuce, or pumpkin and butternut, in the same bag, and over and over again – increase the quantities. But it doesn’t seem to stick, and while initially I was convinced it was a communication problem (Erick is Xhosa and I am English, and we meet halfway in Afrikaans, sometimes less than successfully), I am starting to think it is an attitude problem. So I told Erick last week that I just don’t feel like running another CSA with him immediately after this one. I need a break, and I think he needs a break too, to think about whether he wants to really commit to a CSA model (where he is paid above-market prices in a lump sum to provide a veggie bag), or rather sell directly to shops and at the Stellenbosch Waldorf market, where he sells each item for a specific price.
But I’m not making longterm decisions in a vacuum, so you will still be asked for your opinion in our usual anonymous online feedback form, probably next week. So think meanwhile about whether you are happy with your CSA bag, and would want to continue in the future.
RECIPE OF THE WEEK: SAUTEED SPINACH WITH CHORIZO AND CHICKPEAS
Yes, I know – meat? It took us eight weeks to get there, but here is the first recipe of this CSA that calls for the non-veggie stuff. For vegetarians, I would obviously skip the chorizo and rather add chunks of cooked butternut at the end for a very different but still delicious dish. For meat eaters who are sadly chorizo-less, I would suggest some pancetta or even decent bacon as a substitute. The recipe is on the blog, here.
Enjoy your veggies!
Yes, I know – meat? It took us eight weeks to get there, but here is the first recipe of this CSA that calls for the non-veggie stuff. For vegetarians, I would obviously skip the chorizo and rather add chunks of cooked butternut at the end for a very different but still delicious dish. For meat eaters who are sadly chorizo-less, I would suggest some pancetta or even decent bacon as a substitute.
1 bunch spinach (or swiss chard, or kale)
1 tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
a small chunk of chorizo, cut into small dice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
Wash the spinach well, removing any large stalks. Chop. In a large frying pan, heat some olive oil and sauté the onion until soft and golden. Add the chorizo, toss with the onion, and then add the garlic. Stir until fragrant, then add the spinach. Toss to coat in the oil, and if possible, cover the pan (a plate or a big pot lid should do the trick). Check occasionally, stirring, until the spinach is fully wilted (add a small splash of water if the pan is dry and the spinach is sticking). Remove the covering, and if there is any liquid, stir until it has evaporated, leaving your vegetables and chorizo moist. Push them to the side of the pan, add a little more olive oil and add your chickpeas, stirring to coat in the oil, until heated through. Add some ground pepper and a good splash of balsamic vinegar. Stir the vinegar through (some will evaporate) and remove from the heat. Serve immediately.
Alternatively, serve at room temperature with large cos leaves to scoop up the chickpeas and spinach, as a sociable appetizer to a meal.
