Farm Food and more

This morning the organic vegetable box arrived and brought potatoes, carrots, onions, celeriac, round cabbage, spring greens, 3 leeks, bag of small beetroot, 2 apples, 2 oranges, 2 pears and 6 eggs.

Also arrived this morning was my knife block, true to the promised next working day delivery.

So that's all the worktop stuff sorted. I really ought to get down to the cutlery drawers!

I still had a cauliflower left from my visit to the farm shop so I am making cauliflower gratin using a variation of the organic farm’s recipe: (I am also publishing this recipe on my recipe blog)

Ingredients

1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 small cauliflower
1oz plain flour
Little butter for frying
½ pint skimmed milk
3 oz Scottish mature cheddar, grated

Method

Place the onion and garlic in a heavy based pan and sauté in a little oil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Break the cauliflower into florets and add to the pan, continue cooking with a lid on, so the vegetables cook partially in their own steam while you make the sauce.
Place the flour and butter in a saucepan over a moderate heat to make a roux, gradually add the milk, stirring between additions.
Remove from the heat and add the cheese. You can also add mustard and black pepper to give it a nice kick.
Place the cauliflower mixture in an ovenproof dish and cover with the sauce, sprinkle more cheese over the top and bake for about 20 minutes until the cheese is golden brown.

It is amazing how much dirt gets under your nails when you are preparing mushrooms for freezing; my thumb in particular is black! However that is about half a pound frozen. I had meant to use them in some mince, but they had reached that stage where they were better frozen than kept in the fridge.

I have also peeled and cut to size 1 large potato and 2 purple carrots together with one pale yellow one, all to be boiled together. I have prepared the last of some Savoy cabbage to go in the steamer over the potato pan.

Getting the organic vegetable box has really changed my eating habits. How often was I sure I would not like things, without even trying them? Such as balsamic vinegar (because I hated malt vinegar), Savoy cabbage, that ugly, but delicious celeriac, leeks as vegetables on your plate (instead of only in soup) and so on.

The organic vegetable people usually send out a recipe with the delivery and I plan on trying today’s one soon. I shall report back!

Shopping!

Perhaps it had something to do with the frustrations of yesterday that I sat down at the computer in the late afternoon.

However the story goes back a bit. I had a magnetic strip rack on the wall to hold all my knives. Unfortunately it came away from the wall at one end and all efforts to replace it failed. The problem is that it is a hollow wall and the bit of 'wall' where it was was only plasterboard.

So, the knives were lying on the top of the microwave, but this was not a satisfactory solution as I keep them sharp, so they could cause a nasty accident.

I went to big supermarket and bought a steel circles cutlery holder; unfortunately the tips of the knives went through the mesh at the bottom threatening my worktop. So I put all the kitchen cutlery (ladles, spoons, spatulae and so on) which had been in a big stoneware jar into the the steel holder and the knives in the stoneware jar.

Then, as this was not satisfactory either, I went on-line and ordered a knife block. It is rather a nice one, with a flat back to sit against the wall.

Started thinking about making the kitchen look even nicer (to live up to the new black-mix worktop and white tiles with country-ish picture tiles, and terracotta floor tiles, not to mention the redecoration (with thanks to generous elder son and daughter-in-law))...

... and thought that it would be good to have a kettle and toaster in brushed steel to go with the microwave, alongside which they sit.

So off to the Comet web site where I put up 4 of each to compare, selected the ones I wanted and ordered them on-line for collection today.

Got to Comet bright and early and chose a different kettle (after he had brought the ordered one out for me, and then chose a different toaster.) He was very patient and cheerful with me.

And I managed not to look at digital cameras.......

So, I reckon that all it needs is a bit of what we in my family call flubbadub to fill the holes left and a touch up of paint (and I just happen to have a tube of that in my cupboard.)

Now got both installed in the kitchen and they look good.